Well I do not know what is in the water in Glendale, AZ but the someone better test it because for the second week in a row the Arizona Cardinals pulled out a win from the jaws of defeat.
This Sunday after giving the New England Patriots nearly every opportunity to win this game in the end it was Arizona that came out on top 20-18 Sunday afternoon in Foxboro, MA.
I’m really befuddled because the uniforms were the Patriots uniforms that looked like Tom Brady, Wes Welker, Rob Gronkowski, Jerod Mayo and a slew of others. But who ever these guys really were on Sunday they were not the New England Patriots.
That was a pretty poor display from the get go when Brady threw a pick on the teams first possession of the game and it ended when Stephen Gostkowski pulled a field goal wide left. On Troy Brown Day at Gillette what this team really needed was Carlton Fisk and some of his body language.
I watched a team today that appeared uninspired. There was no fire, no urgency they just looked flat from that first batted ball. Actually they looked flat to start on defense allowing the Cardinals to get on the board first with a Jay Feely 38-yard field goal capping a 13 play, 60-yard drive to start the game.
But unlike Week 1 in Tennessee there was no response.
Through the entire game I saw an offense that sputtered badly. Passes over thrown or dropped. Missed blocks, bad blocks, bad penalties it just wasn’t very good.
Like most of you I waited for them to awaken in the second half. Surely Bill Belichick and the staff kicked some ass at halftime and made some adjustments and they would come out and … THUD.
Let’s face it this team didn’t even run the two minute drive correctly giving back the game winning touchdown on a holding penalty after the defense put them in position to win.
As John Szim on my Twitter timeline wrote “watching the Red Sox all year desensitizes you to losing games I guess.”
At least it’s only one loss and hopefully the bad stuff is out of their system and they can move on get ready for the Baltimore Ravens next Sunday night.
Cardinals at Patriots Gamebook. This includes the box score, all the stats, play by play, drive charts and more.
Cardinals at Patriots Game Recap.
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Turning Point of the Game
Patriots K Stephen Gostkowski misses a game-winning field with 6 seconds left.
Offensive Player of the Game
Patriots WR Wes Welker had 5 catches for 95 yards and became the franchise’s all-time leader in receptions with 562.
Defensive Players of the Game
Cardinals DE Calais Campbell had 10 tackles (7 solo), 2 sacks, 2 tackles for loss and 3 quarterback hits.
Game Notes
Starters for the Patriots were:
On Offense:
- LT: Solder
- LG: Mankins
- C: Wendell
- RG: Thomas
- RT: Vollmer
- TE: Gronkowski
- TE: Hernandez
- WR: Lloyd
- WR: Edelman
- QB: Brady
- RB: Ridley
On Defense:
- DE: Ninkovich
- DT: Wilfork
- DT: Love
- DE: Jones
- LB: Mayo
- LB: Spikes
- LB: Hightower
- LCB: D. McCourty
- RCB: Arrington
- S: Chung
- S: Gregory
Inactives for the Game:
Patriots
1. RB Shane Vereen (foot)
2. CB Alfonzo Dennard (hamstring)
3. WR Greg Salas
4. TE Daniel Fells (shin)
5. DE Jake Bequette
6. DE Justin Francis
7. DT Marcus Forston
Cardinals
1. QB John Skelton (ankle)
2. WR LaRon Byrd
3. RB William Powell
4. LB Jamaal Westerman
5. G Senio Kelemete
6. T Pat McQuistan
7. TE Jim Dray
The spread (Patriots minus 14) WAS NOT covered. The over/under (48) WAS NOT covered. I GAVE the points and took the UNDER. I am now 1-1 vs. the spread and 1 for 2 calling the under/over.
New England is 23-10 in September since 2002.
Since 1999 the Patriots have the best record in the NFL at 148-62.
The Patriots are 67-14 at home in the regular season since Gillette Stadium opened in 2002.
Against the NFC the Patriots are 18-3 at home since 2002.
New England is 3-2 vs. Cardinals at home, 2-1 since they moved to Arizona and 1-1 at Gillette Stadium.
The Patriots have won 15 of their last 18 home openers.
New England is 10-1 in Gillette Stadium home openers.
Arizona leads the overall series between the teams 7-6.
The Patriots had won the last 5 meetings. It was their longest current winning streak against any team before the loss.
New England is 4-4 vs. the Arizona/Phoenix Cardinals and was 2-3 when the team was in St. Louis.
Bill Belichick is 3-1 vs. the Cardinals in his career. He is 2-1 against them as the head coach in New England.
Belichick’s 193 wins are good for a tie for 8th all-time with Chuck Knox, who coached the Rams, Bills and Seahawks.
Tom Brady is now 1-1 vs. Arizona.
Brady has 303 TD passes in his career he is now 5th all-time. Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 4th with 342.
Brady has 125 career wins he is now 5th all-time. Peyton Manning is 4th with 141.
He is now 13th all-time in passing yards with 40,531.
Brady has thrown at least 1 TD pass in 34 consecutive games.
WR Wes Welker now has catches in 104 consecutive games, 87 as a Patriot. The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.
Welker is now the team’s all-time leader in receptions with 562.
G Logan Mankins, TE Rob Gronkowski and Welker said it was a poor week of practice and it may have carried over to the game.
TE Aaron Hernandez suffered a high ankle sprain the x-rays were negative. He left Gillette Stadium on crutches and in a walking boot.
The Patriots sacked Cardinals QB Kevin Kolb 1 time, while allowing Brady to be sacked 4 times.
New England’s turnover differential is PLUS 3. The defense has recovered 3 fumble and has 1 INT. The offense has given away 0 fumbles and has 1 INT.
The Patriots were 1 for 3 in the red zone. They had 1 TD and 1 FG and were held scoreless once when they missed a field goal.
New England was 5 for 15 (33.3%) on third down conversions and 0 for 0 on 4th down attempts.
New England’s much improved looking defense allowed only 245 total yards and 16 first downs (8 rushing, 7 passing and 1 on penalties).
This was Arizona’s second time playing at Gillette Stadium; their other Foxboro appearances were at Foxboro Stadium.
Arizona has won 9 of the last 11 games tied for the best mark in the NFL in that span with New England.
Before Sunday Arizona last beat New England on September 29 1991 at Arizona, 24-10. They had not won a road game in the series since 1984.
Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt is now 1-1 vs. New England in his career.
Whisenhunt is in his 6th season with the team, he is 42-40 since taking over and is 4-2 in the playoffs for an overall record of 46-42.
Arizona Cardinals QB Kevin Kolb is 7-11 in his career with Philadelphia and Arizona in 6 seasons. He is 1-0 vs. New England.
The Cardinals were 4 for 14 (29%) on 3rd down conversions and 0 for 0 on 4th down attempts.
Arizona was 2 for 2 (100%) in the red zone scoring 2 TD’s, 0 FG’s and were not held scoreless.
David Scott (replacement) was the game referee. The temp at kickoff was 64 and it was partly cloudy.
Attendance – 68,756 at Gillette Stadium Foxboro MA
Post Game Interviews
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and Patriots QB Tom Brady post game press conference transcripts via PatsFans.com
This Week in the AFC East
Pittsburgh spanked the NY Jets, 27-10
Miami destroyed Oakland, 35-13
Buffalo whipped Kansas City, 35-17
AFC East Standings
Jets 1-0/1-0
Patriots 1-1/0-0
Dolphins 1-1/0-0
Bills 1-1/0-1
Next Game
The Patriots visit the Baltimore Ravens next Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore MD. Kick off is at 8:20 p.m. on NBC.
Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII
photo credit: ap photo
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