Patriots will lean on defense

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.

“Last year is last year”, Palmer said after Tuesday’s practice.

BADGER’S BACK: Do-everything defensive back Mathieu, with a big new contract, has returned from his second knee surgery in three seasons. That, coach Bruce Arians said, was the most striking thing once Jones came in. Though he turns 31 this season, the former 2,000-yard rusher for the Titans, promises he has much, much more to give this year after recovering from a gunshot wound to the shoulder in the spring of 2015. While a lower completion percentage than the league’s elite quarterbacks may spark a cause for concern in some analysts, anyone who has followed the Cardinals’ offense since Arians arrived knows Arizona is going to take its fair share of downfield attempts, which is going to eventually hurt a quarterback’s completion percentage.

“I’m sure the game plan will be different becaue he’ll have more under his belt and so forth”.

He’ll be facing an Arizona defense that finished fifth in total yards allowed, sixth in rushing yards allowed and eighth in passing yards allowed season.

While we try and figure out what to expect from Jimmy Garoppolo as the Patriots starter through the first four games of the 2016 season, it’s worth taking a look back and seeing what Tom Brady accomplished in his first four games as a starter in 2001. In all, his per game average was 19-for-30 for 205 yards with one touchdown and no picks per contest.

“I’m definitely ready”, he said, “being smarter, getting in the training room, getting smarter in my nutrition and staying healthy”. Both Larry Fitzgerald and Michael Floyd measure in at 6-3, and their size could provide a challenge for Patriots corners Malcolm Butler (5-11, 190) and Logan Ryan (5-11, 195). At the age of 24 and in his second year in the National Football League, he fundamentally had even less experience as a professional quarterback than Garoppolo did to that point in his career, having worked in one game the previous season in relief of Drew Bledsoe.

Considering the schedule and the quarterbacks they will face in 2016, there’s a chance for the Cardinals to lay down plenty of destruction from all directions.

“It’s not going to be easy”, Campbell said. But with a team such as his, he has every right to be. We’re not afraid of the hard work, though. “Everybody knows what type of playmakers they have, but you just gotta focus on your responsibilities and trust the man next to you that he’s gonna do his job and let the chips fall where they may”. “I don’t know”, Palmer added. “We are pretty good”.

It would be near impossible to get Rowe ready to play corner, safety and special teams in his first week with the team, but the team wouldn’t ask him to load up his plate that way so early.

“You never want to be too high, too low”, Garoppolo said of trying to keep his emotions in check come Sunday night. “Definitely a huge confidence boost going forward”.