Share

New England Patriots vs. Arizona Cardinals

The Patriots and Cardinals will face off under the bright lights of “Sunday Night Football”. However, the Pats played two Super Bowls in the stadium, losing Super Bowl XLII against the New York Giants and winning Super Bowl XLIX against the Seattle Seahawks.

Advertisement

New England’s organizational success is something the Cardinals would like to emulate as they chase their third straight postseason berth and first Super Bowl title.

If the defense is able hold the Cards down enough in Week One, it may be the New England’s biggest bright spot both in Brady’s absence, and when he returns. They still have Ben Roethlisberger throwing to Antonio Brown, though, and veteran DeAngelo Williams was a terrific stand-in past year for Bell. QB Ryan Tannehill looks to reach the playoffs for the first time in his five-year career. Two powerful offenses may dictate a bit of a shootout but the amount of potential All-Pro defensive players on the field may have other ideas come kickoff time.

For the past two offseasons that talk has centered around the Patriots and their polarizing quarterback, Tom Brady.

If Jimmy Garoppolo is going to rely on a couple of guys to get him through this one, Julian Edelman will be one. The Patriots lost to the Super Bowl 50 Champions, Denver Broncos, while the Cardinals lost to the Carolina Panthers. It’s a really impressive team.

“We had a great defense and a good kicking game”. That draft pick turned into starting guard Joe Thuney and wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell. Add in Markus Golden and Calais Campbell and the Cardinals’ front is going to be trouble for everybody in the league. Jones is likely licking his chops at facing his old team but he won’t be the only one. The numbers back it up on both sides of the ball. The biggest of note is obviously Patriots’ tight end Rob Gronkowski, who is battling a nagging hamstring and may not be quite 100 percent come Sunday night. “I’ve been very fortunate to have a lot of great players and I’ve had a lot of great coaches here – coaches that have gone on to other opportunities and coaches that are here that have been considered for other opportunities as well”. The Cardinals also have Tyrann Mathieu seeing his first extended game action since tearing his ACL and will be starting rookie Brandon Williams at corner after Mike Jenkins tore his ACL, while veteran Justin Bethel is dealing with a foot injury.

This time, the Patriots will be led by quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo as the team hopes they can pull together a win. He is one of the best pass catchers in the league last season despite being in his first year.

Palmer does slightly worse this season statistically, but it allows the Cardinals to become more reliant on David Johnson, Chris Johnson and Andre Ellington.

After starter Teddy Bridgewater went down with a non-contact knee injury, the Vikings sent a first and fourth round pick to the Eagles for Bradford, the latest in a long line of headscratching moves to acquire a player with a career passer rating of 81.0 and career earnings north of $100 million.

Advertisement

In addition to these two (future) Hall of Famers, Patriots running back, Dion Lewis, defensive end, Rob Ninkovich and offensive tackle, Sebastian Vollmer, are also out.

Carson Palmer doesn't appear to have much sympathy for Tom Brady