When the Patriots visit the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday night, they will see old friend Chandler Jones.
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Add in the salary-cap flexibility the Patriots gained, which contributed to free-agent moves that included signing one of Jones’ replacements – veteran defensive end Chris Long – and this is the classic quality/quantity type situation. The Cardinals have won seven of those meetings.
With two competitive teams on the field, this primetime matchup could end just as remarkably Sunday in Glendale. The dual threat tight end grouping has been a challenging area of play for the Arizona Cardinals in recent years, so this will offer some leverage to the Patriots.
The last time we saw Tom Brady was in the Patriots’ preseason finale on September 1 when Brady played the entire first half in a 17-9 loss to the Giants.
The Patriots, who were defeated by Denver in the AFC title game, have plenty of talent surrounding Garoppolo.
Quarterback Carson Palmer is 36, but is also coming off a career year in which he threw for 4,671 yards and 35 touchdowns against just 11 interceptions during the regular season. For that reason, a lot of eyes will be on this game as fans will try and see if his backup, Jimmy Garoppolo, is the heir apparent to Tommy Football.
It’s also time to find out if all those defensive changes the Giants made – Olivier Vernon, Damon Harrison, Janoris Jenkins, Eli Apple – warrant any enthusiasm for them and new coach Ben McAdoo.
Bruce Arians is as outspoken as Bill Belichick is not.
In three seasons in New England, Kline appeared in 33 games with 18 starts.
Let’s say Garoppolo comes in and stumbles badly.
Garoppolo said Brady had the same mentality prior to leaving for his suspension.
3. Will New England TE Rob Gronkowski play?
It would be stunning if the Patriots’ offense wasn’t designed around a heavy rushing attack, quick-hitting screens to wide receivers and running backs and simple, one-read timing routes. Rob Gronkowski will probably play, but isn’t 100 percent. You play to be in the game and play. “If they plan on returning to the conference championship or Super Bowl, it would be extremely hard to do so without Gronkowski slicing the middle of defenses wide open”. But that’s the situation Garoppolo is thrust into as he takes the reins for the first four games of the season for the suspended Tom Brady. So Sunday’s game may be as much as a chess match as it will be a physical competition. The players need to understand what’s collectively bargained and put all the issues on the table to make for a better game. Naturally, he came to the defense of his fellow quarterback.
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FILE – In this December 21, 2014, file photo, Green Bay Packers wide receiver Jordy Nelson (87) makes a catch in front of Tampa Bay Buccaneers strong safety Bradley McDougald (30) during an NFL football game in Tampa, Fla. The Patriots released center Bryan Stork and have elevated second-year lineman David Andrews. Arians has met up with Belichick before, but never as a head coach. It’s a question of when, not if, he’ll hit that mark. I think it narrowed about this today for WEEI dot com the fact that.
