Knocking off a talented Arizona Cardinals squad without Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski boosted the assessment of the New England Patriots in the national spotlight, and that boost reflected itself in ESPN’s new NFL power rankings, released on Tuesday morning. Oakland won 35-34. “I didn’t really ask for any feedback there”, Del Rio said of his game-winning decision.
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Matt Prater atoned for a missed extra point in the fourth quarter by hitting a go-ahead, 43-yard field goal with eight seconds left to push Detroit past in 39-35.
“Missed assignments”, Arizona inside linebacker Kevin Minter said. “But me and Cat (Catanzaro) have a job to do and I’ll definitely take some blame on that one”.
A Cardinals’ team that set a number of franchise records on offense a season ago and returned every key skill position player looked flummoxed early on, and Palmer said the team failed to execute when given the chances to put points on the board in the first half. They never called on him to win the game for them, as they often utilized the run with Blount bowling over defenders left and right. “You’re angry, disappointed, embarrassed, and that’s the way we should all feel”, Keim said while speaking on Sports 98.7 FM in Phoenix. The snap was low and holder Drew Butler said he trapped the ball near where it was supposed to be. That’s all of us – coaching, playing, offense, defense, special teams.
Andre Ellington didn’t do anything on kick returns, averaging only 15.3 yards per attempt. That’s certainly an area that needs improvement. “We have to find a way to be able to get it going and maintain the positive drives to be able to score”.
“It’s pretty awesome”, Brady said regarding watching football on TV.
The Giants won their first game under new coach Ben McAdoo as Eli Manning hit Victor Cruz for a go-ahead touchdown with 6:13 remaining to send NY past the Cowboys 20-19 near Dallas. Obviously a very disappointing loss.
“Nothing to the point that can’t be corrected”, Arians said.
“Yeah, it’s great to have him back and he does a tremendous job with the individual techniques of the players and also in terms of making them aware of their assignments and adjustments and scheme things that come up, too”.
In addition to his three field goals, Patriots place-kicker Stephen Gostkowski played a major role in his team’s 23-21 season-opening win at Arizona by pinning the Cardinals deep in their own territory with his kickoffs. This also goes along with the fact that the Cardinals will be facing a quarterback in Jameis Winston who just tossed four touchdown passes in Week 1, while absolutely dominating the Atlanta Falcons’ secondary. If the Cardinals fall short again, they will be 0-2 for the first time since 2005, when the team finished 5-11 under the late Dennis Green. “It was a great way to start the season for our team”.
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That Patriots TD drive came after Arians uncharacteristically declined to go for it on fourth-and-one near midfield in Arizona’s first possession. Those 2007 New York Giants, of course.
