Arizona Cardinals general manager Steve Keim didn’t mince his words when discussing his team’s performance in their 23-21 loss to a back-up-quarterback-led New England Patriots on Sunday night. He’s expected to start each of the next three contests – all home games – before handing the reins back to the now suspended Tom Brady in Week 5. “They obviously don’t want anybody game-planning with that, and that’s definitely not something I’m a part of so it’s just a “good luck” here and there”.
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“I’m happy to win, fortunate to win”, Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. I think they can and there’s never a reason to doubt the Patriots, but this was an emotionally powerful game.
“We came down here and played a tough, physical football game against a good team”. But with the superstar quarterback sitting out the first four games of the 2016 National Football League season for his role in the “Deflategate” scandal, his 24-year-old backup stepped up as a capable replacement, completing 24 of 33 passes for 264 yards, and throwing for one touchdown and no interceptions. Without Gronkowski, held out because of a sore hamstring, Garoppolo spread his 24 completions to six receivers. New England was also given a 59 percent chance to win the division before the start of the regular season. “We were just able to make a couple more plays than the Cardinals were tonight”.
“Brady was the game’s Lin-Manuel but he’s gone, wow, and though it may upset Gisele, look who’s starting now”, chimes in a woman in a Patriots top. “It’s a great way to watch how a lot of the flows of the games are going”. I know Coach Belichick covers so much situational football with our team on a week-to-week basis. “I still have some family in the struggle”, Peters said. The team went in there and it looked like they were focused, prepared. You have to overcome all that when you play on the road.
The strategy was particularly important after Gostkowski’s 32-yard field goal gave the team a 23-21 lead with 3:44 to play in the fourth quarter of Sunday night’s game. As poorly as we played, we still should have won. He seemed confident, mobile, and capable of carrying this team for the next 4 games.
“That’s their whole forte, their crossing routes, their quick out routes, and we just did a poor job of stopping the third receiver breaking out most of the night”, Arians said.
“Nothing insane. Once you get into it, after the first play or so, it’s just football. There was no doubt in this locker room that Jimmy could go out there and play”.
Also noteworthy: Brady didn’t lock into one game. We still got a long way to go, moving on to Miami.
Theoretically, the hardest game on the New England Patriots schedule is done with.
Much has been made of Brady and Garoppolo’s relationship and some took the “smoother operation” comment as Garoppolo being happy now that Brady is now gone for the first four weeks. “He’s got good vision”, Belichick said.
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“Jimmy Garappolo played very, very well”, Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said, “knew he would”.
