This Week
The New England Patriots welcome the Arizona Cardinals to Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA on Sunday at 1 p .m. It is the Patriots home finale.
The Patriots are 4-3 at the Razor and 3-0 against the NFC. The Cardinals are 3-4 on the road and 2-1 against the AFC.
Here are the rosters for the Cardinals and Patriots.
Here are the projected starting lineups for the game.
The Line
As of Wednesday the line on the game from Yahoo! Sports is Patriots -8. The over/under is 44½.
Tickets
The Patriots are reporting the game as a sell out. It is the 159th consecutive sellout dating back to the 1994 season opener. The record includes preseason, regular season and playoff games.
Tickets to the game, if available, may be purchased through Ticketmaster. You can check the availability here.
Getting To The Game
If you’re lucky enough to be going to the game at the Razor make sure you check out the links.
Here is the up to date weather forecast for the game from The Weather Channel.
Click for stadium directions, parking information, parking map, specific MBTA train times for this game and a Gillette Stadium seating chart.
Tailgating
Here’s a bunch of different tailgating recipes from Tailgaiting America. There’s something there for everyone and every type of meal or snack. I’ve tried some of the recipes and they’re very good and for good measure here is one of my own.
And with tailgating many people enjoy some adult beverages. With that in mind check out Drink Nation for how to make all sorts of great drinks. You can look things up by name, ingredient(s) or by theme.
Whether it’s at the game, a bar or someone’s house moderation is always the key to a great time. Please don’t drink and drive and designate a sober driver. Remember You Drink, You Drive, You Lose.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Television
FOX is televising the game regionally and Kenny Albert will do the play-by-play while Daryl Johnstonwill handle the game analysis with Tony Siragusa on the sidelines. Check for your local FOX affiliate and see if you are getting the game.
Direct TV NFL Sunday Ticket has the game on Channel 708.
For those of you overseas here is some general information on NFL Broadcasts for the 2008 season.
Patriots All-Access airs Saturday at 7 p.m. on WCVB TV 5 in Boston. It will also be simulcast on the team website at the same time. Make sure you check out the Patriots Football Network for information on when you can see Patriots All-Access in your market.
Radio
The Patriots Rock Radio Network broadcasts the game from flagship station WBCN-FM 104.1 in Boston. Gil Santos handles the play-by-play and former Patriot Gino Cappelletti does the color.
It all starts with Gary Tanguay, Scott Zolak and Andy Gresh and the pregame show at 10 a.m. along the network.
The post game starts after the final gun and continues for three hours.
If you are outside of the broadcast area of the stations on the Patriots Rock Radio Network you can purchase NFL Field Pass which allows you to listen to any NFL game live. You can also pick which teams broadcasters you want to listen to.
All NFL games are also available on Sirius Satellite Radio. The Patriots Rock Radio Network call is available on Channel 130, the Cardinals Radio Network call with Dave Pasch doing play-by-play and former Cardinal Ron Wolfley with analysis is available on Channel 121.
Since the satellite merger XM Satellite Radio also carries all the NFL games and in most cases has just the radio call of the home team. This game can be heard on XM Channel 106.
Last Week
The Patriots beat up the Raiders 49-26 on the road, while the Cardinals lost 35-14 to the Vikings at the University of Phoenix Stadium.
History
- This is just the 12th meeting between the two franchises since the 1970 merger. The Cardinals lead the series 6-5.
- The Patriots have won the last four meetings between the clubs, the last two of which have been played in Arizona.
- The teams have not met since 2004 when New England won 23-12 at Sun Devil Stadium on the campus of Arizona State.
- Five of the last six meetings have been played in Arizona. The Cardinals have not been to Foxboro since September 15, 1996 a 31-0 Patriots win.
Connections
- Patriots QB Matt Cassel went to USC with Cardinals QB Matt Leinart and G Duece Lutui.
- Patriots LB Tedy Bruschi is a graduate of the University of Arizona.
- Cardinals QB Brian St. Pierre is a native of Salem MA and played football at Boston College where Patriots C Dan Koppen was a member of his offensive line.
- Patriots RB Heath Evans played college football with Cardinals LB Karlos Dansby and CB Roderick Hood at Auburn.
- Cardinals C Pat Ross is a Boston College graduate.
- Patriots G Logan Mankins and S James Sanders were college teammates at Fresno State with former Patriots and current Cardinals TE Stephen Spach.
- Cardinals WR Sean Morrey is a native of Marshfield MA and went to Brown University in Providence RI.
- Patriots QB Matt Gutierrez and Cardinals LB Pago Togafau were college teammates at Idaho State.
- Cardinals LB Monty Beisel played for the Patriots in 2005.
- Patriots OL Wesley Britt and Cardinals FB Tim Castille played together at Alabama.
- Cardinals TE Leonard Pope was an understudy to Patriots TE Ben Watson at Georgia.
- Patriots LB Pierre Woods went to Michigan with Cardinals NT Gabe Watson, DT Alan Branch and WR Steve Breaston.
- Cardinals S Antrel Rolle was college teammates at the University of MIami with Patriots NT Vince Wilfork and S Brandon Meriweather.
- Patriots OL Russ Hochstein attended Nebraska with Cardinals DB Ralph Brown.
- Cardinals LB Chike Okeafor and Patriots OL Matt Light played college football at Purdue.
- Patriots TE David Thomas was a college teammate of Cardinals C Lyle Sedlein at Texas.
Other News
This is the link to head coach Bill Belichick’s Wednesday press conference on the Cardinals. You can also see what Arizona head coach Ken Whisenhunt had to say about the game in a conference call with the New England media.
PATRIOTS
Out
LB Tedy Bruschi (knee)
Doubtful
S James Sanders (abdomen)
Questionable
LB Gary Guyton (ankle)
CB Ellis Hobbs (shoulder)
OL Mark LeVoir (ankle)
OL Matt Light (shoulder)
OLB Vince Redd (ankle)
DB Lewis Sanders (shoulder)
DB Ray Ventrone (ankle)
DE Ty Warren (groin)
WR Kelley Washington (thigh)
CARDINALS
Out
LB Clark Haggans (to injured reserve)
DE Travis LaBoy (ankle)
Questionable
RB J.J. Arrington (knee)
WR Anquan Boldin (shoulder)
WR Early Doucet (hamstring)
WR Sean Morey (shoulder)
LB Pago Togafau (knee)
S Adrian Wilson (toe)
Here’s a look at the updated Patriots playoff scenarios.
Bill Belichick coached teams are 2-0 vs the Arizona Cardinals. He is 1-0 with both New England and Cleveland.
The Patriots have been successful against NFC teams in recent seasons, compiling a 30-5 (.857) record against the conference since 2001, including a 3-1 record in Super Bowls.
Overall in his NFL career Belichick is 136-86 in 14 NFL seasons. He is 15-4 in the playoffs and when you combine the regular season and postseason Belichick is 151-90.
Matt Cassel is 8-5 since he took over for the injured Tom Brady.
The Patriots are -2 in turnover differential for the season.
Based on points per game the Patriots offense is ranked 7th in the league, while the defense is 20th.
New England is 50-12 since Gillette Stadium opened in 2002.
The Patriots are 30-5 against the NFC since 2001 including 14 consecutive wins. They are 7-1 against the NFC West since Belichick took over as coach.
New England is 24-4 at Gillette Stadium against first time opponents to the facility. After Sunday’s game only Atlanta and Carolina have not played at the Razor.
2008 Patriots schedule/results
News from this weeks opponent:
Head coach Ken Whisenhunt is 16-14 in his two seasons as a NFL head coach. He has never faced New England.
Kurt Warner is 1-1 in his career against the Patriots, the loss is in Super Bowl XXXVI. He is 55-41 in his career during the regular season (15-23 with Arizona, 5-4 with NY Giants and 35-15 with St. Louis). He is 5-2 in the playoffs for an overall record of 60-44.
Warner has not played against New England since Super Bowl XXXVI.
Based on points per game the Cardinals offense is ranked 2nd in the NFL, while the defense is ranked 27th.
Arizona is +2 in turnover differential this season.
The Cardinals drafted one player in the first round this year, DB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (Tennessee State – 16th overall). In all they had 7 picks over seven rounds. They have 16 players on their roster with 2 years or less of NFL experience.
Arizona has more players from Michigan (4) than from any other college or university.
The Cardinals sent WR Larry Fitzgerald and DT Darnell Dockett to the 2007 Pro Bowl. They had no one named an All-Pro.
Arizona has never played in a Super Bowl or for a conference championship. The franchise won one NFL Championship in 1947 as the Chicago Cardinals.
Phoenix is the third city the Cardinals have called home. They were in Chicago from 1920-1959, they moved to St. Louis for the 1960 season and stayed through the 1987 season when they moved to Phoenix.
The Cardinals didn’t make the playoffs until the 28th season (1947) when the beat the Philadelphia Eagles for their lone championship. They lost in the title game rematch in 1948 and then missed the post season every year until 1974 and 1975 when they made the playoffs in back-to-back seasons. Since then they have only made the playoffs twice in the last 32 seasons.
2008 Cardinals schedule/results
Next Week
The New England Patriots travel to Buffalo to face their AFC East rival Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium in the season finale at 1 p.m.
Editor’s note: Before Steve left, he helped with the majority of the preparation for this post.
