The offensive line, which paved the way for a very productive running game in the preseason (yes, we know it was only preseason) failed to create a lot of room to run through, although second-year right tackle D.J. Humphries, making his first National Football League start, did receive kudos from general manager Steve Keim.
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This is a Patriots team that has gone to five straight AFC Championship games that wasn’t given a chance against the Cardinals. I considered Cameron Fleming, who played better than expected at left tackle Sunday night, but my Patriot of the week had a few more impact blocks: Martellus Bennett.
The Cardinals lost 23-21 to Patriots backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in the season opener for both teams at University of Phoenix Stadium. “It makes it a lot easier on us when you have good coaches like that”.
Jimmy Garoppolo, a third-year pro in his first start, completed 24 of 33 passes for 264 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions.
“I’m just trying to really mimic what I would normally do during the season”.
The Cardinals’ defense failed to stop New England on 10-of-16 third downs, and had trouble defending back-up quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo despite knowing what was coming. The Pats needed an average of 7 yards on those eight third-down conversions, so Garoppolo made up for some early-down mistakes, particularly on his third-and-15 masterpiece to hook up with Danny Amendola for 32 yards to spark the Patriots’ game-winning march. The note of expectations for this O-line wasn’t a thing Sunday night because their were none.
He gets all of the credit on that last Patriots drive, setting up what was the go-ahead field goal, Garoppolo completed hard third down conversions (15 and 3 yards), the first of which was all Garoppolo’s doing as he bought time with two moves and three a ideal strike for 32 yards to Danny Amendola. Also, they gave RB LeGarrette Blount plenty of room to run when he wasn’t running over people himself.
This guy has been the most consistent running back for the Patriots in the last 3 years, whenever his name is called upon he always delivers. The man has been committed to this Patriots offense since walking off (literally) the field as a Pittsburgh Steeler back in 2014.
Meanwhile, Bill Belichick has gained a reputation over the years of being the most ruthless mind in football.
“Football is great to watch on TV, you get so many different angles and replays”. Perhaps maybe another one of Belichick’s great finds, but only time will tell. They’re a really explosive football team, they’re a great football team, and we expected it to be tough, and it was.
With some help from what we can only assume is the work of Photoshop, Brady posted the week one cover of his own newspaper on Facebook, which was fully equipped with a creative headline (“Pats Anger Birds”) and a ideal illustration (Martellus Bennett and Dont’a Hightower slingshotting Angry Birds into the University of Phoenix Stadium).
“Obviously, we would have loved to be able to get down and score a touchdown, but we weren’t able to do that”, Fitzgerald said. Long really controlled the Cardinals to stay inside and contributed with 3 tackles and a big sack in crunch time. The “underneath” that Belichick’s defenses are famous for giving up, was there to be had most of the game, but never hurt the Patriots. I think kicker Stephen Gostkowski put it best when asked about playing in the face of adversity.
Arizona’s Chandler Catanzaro missed a 47-yard field goal with 41 seconds to play. We knew as a team.
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The New England Patriots are heading home with their heads held high.
