It’s play calling. It’s scheming against the opposition’s weakness. It’s a hyper-focus on detail.
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New England Patriots quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo (10) leaves the field after an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016, in Glendale, Ariz.
In a spot on offseason trade from da Bears, Martellus Bennett joins the offensive line.
This was a New England Patriots team that entered the game as 9.5-point underdogs, their biggest margin since Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002.
For starters, the defense really bounced back after the first couple of drives.
New England missed All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski (hamstring), lacked three starting offensive linemen, and lost the turnover battle -2. He showed poise and smarts to rally New England to victory in what should have been its toughest test in a month without Brady, who is somewhere peeling off National Football League logos, posting goofy mock headlines on his Facebook page and plotting revenge upon his return from his four-game DeflateGate suspension.
So it would be up to third-year backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. Far from flawless, it was efficient. Lead the New England Patriots to a late score and victory. He was composed. He was confident.
But Garoppolo was merely an instrument. It fell wildly incomplete, nearly certainly due to being a bit jacked up for his first career start, but the play allowed Garoppolo to move and throw right away. They flustered the Cardinals’ corners with crossing routes.
“This is awesome”, Patriots wide receiver Chris Hogan said after Sunday night’s win. “We’ll see where they put it”.
What do they Patriots do when most of the country thinks they are going to lose? “The proof is in the pudding”. He was unable to get behind the Patriots defense, and in turn, it wound up really slowing down the Arizona offense quite a bit.
Keep it locked here at Chowder and Champions for continuous New England Patriots coverage.
The Cardinals had a chance to win it, driving to the Patriots’ 29-yard line in the final minute of play.
Fantasy Impact The biggest return from the game on Sunday is Edelman looked healthy and recovered from his foot injury.
The Cardinals need to find a way to open up holes in the run game for Johnson, largely because that will open up the field for Brown and the passing game. Players trotted onto the field and assembled the huddle. “It is not flawless but he made a lot of good plays”, Bilichick said. “You are the ones that think we are undermanned and underdogs but we are just anxious about what we can control and that is going out there and having a good week of practice and try to do that in the game”. Our coaches put us in these situations all throughout camp and we practiced it.
We’ll see if losing a game like that has a lasting effect on a team with so much uncertainty.
“I mean, I’m really, really concerned about the story line”. Football in hand, he was almost tackled by team chaplain Jack Easterby who gave him a bear hug as he headed back to the Patriots locker room. “That is a good thing we have going for us”.
That’s the scary part. Their chances to win the AFC East improved to 68 percent, with the rest of the division having no greater than a 15 percent chance.
The Miami Dolphins are up next for the Patriots at Gillette Stadium.
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The Patriots, also without injured tight end Rob Gronkowski, ran the ball almost half the time – they threw 65 percent of the time last season – but in many ways, this offense didn’t look much different with Garoppolo at the helm.
