Erin Coscarelli looked into her crystal ball and thinks she saw the Arizona Cardinals and the New England Patriots facing of in Super Bowl 51.
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Sunday night will be Garoppolo’s first regular season start in his three years as an National Football League player. But they are two of the most successful head coaches in the league, and Arians knows Belichick will have his team prepared regardless of what players he does not have. In that time, Brady, who will miss Sunday’s game as part of a four-game suspension for the Deflategate scandal, has completed 4,953 of 7,792 passes for 58,028 yards, 428 touchdowns and just 150 interceptions, while being named to 11 Pro Bowls and winning two league MVP awards.
In his place. Jimmy Garoppolo will make his first career start on national television in the noisy atmosphere of University of Phoenix Stadium. Gronk alone hauled in 11 touchdowns previous year and racked up 1,176 yards off 72 receptions.
No need to inform Jimmy Garoppolo of the magnitude of the opportunity that’s in front of him.
There wasn’t a whole lot of video on him for the Cardinals to study but that didn’t stop Arians from heaping on the praise.
San Diego (+6.5) at Kansas City: The Chiefs are on the short list of best teams in the AFC but they have a young secondary that will be challenged by veteran Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers.
Here’s what Minter knows about Garoppolo: He’s accurate, he’s a mobile quarterback and he’s athletic. This means that Shaq Mason, himself coming off a broken hand, or rookie Ted Karras will see a lot of playing time at right guard.
One of the least-discussed headlines entering this game, around here anyway, is what to expect from Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer. Pittsburgh third-stringer Landry Jones rallied the Steelers to a victory over Arizona past year.
Carson Palmer: With a bit of good fortune, Jimmy Garoppolo avoided turning the ball over in about six quarters of preseason work.
He should have a full complement of targets to throw to.
Wide receiver Danny Amendola didn’t see any preseason action, and was limited during training camp as he recovered from knee and ankle issues.
Gronkowski has had limited participation in practice this week with the injury he sustained during a joint training camp practice with the Chicago Bears on August 15.
The Patriots offense will have to utilize their tight end combo of Rob Gronkowski and Martellus Bennett to perfection throughout this game, in order to win. Add in the fact that they maintained their team that went deep in the playoffs previous year and got even better.
It is fair, however, to wonder which Palmer we’ll see Sunday as he takes the field for his first meaningful game since the Cards’ ill-fated trip to Charlotte eight months ago.
“I have great respect for the guys that fought to stand up for the rights of the players, just as myself and certain players did in 2011”, Brady said during the radio interview. They have a good system. “He’s going to prepare hard this week and be ready to go in the game”. Can Bruce Arians throw counter punches to Belichick and keep his team in it?
Afterward, Tom will be a little down, but I’ll give him a best-friend noogie and say, “Come on, Tom – let’s go get some ice cream!”
FAMILIAR FOE: The Patriots certainly will recognize one of the players they face.
Arizona has turned to former Patriots defensive end Chandler Jones, who is now an outside linebacker with the Cardinals, for any advice on Garoppolo.
As the 2016 regular season is upon us, we asked Coscarelli to turn fantasy into reality and get her take on some of the hottest topics and biggest storylines on – and off – the field. “I tried not to follow it just because it was everywhere”, he said.
Bolstering the pass rush was Arizona general manager Steve Keim’s No. 1 objective.
Did Jones offer some insight into the Patriots?
The Garoppolo Effect: Gronkowski’s value isn’t only in that he has perhaps the game’s largest catch radius.
RUNNING GAME: The Cardinals are expecting big things from second-year running back David Johnson, based on his play last season.
The others are Tim Brown, Gale Sayers and Maurice Jones-Drew. Williams, who played the position only one season at Texas A&M, struggled in one-on-one coverage in the preseason.
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And this from cornerback Malcolm Butler: “This is a good team we’ve got to go play”.
