Jimmy Garoppolo helps Patriots beat Cardinals 23-21

“We were obviously not ready to play”.

The Patriots are now 1-0 without Brady and will play home games against the Dolphins, Texans, and Bills before Brady returns in Week 5 to face the Browns. To kick off 2016, they started down 24-3 and scored 30 of the next 33 to get a win. They started to get in a groove, and was able to get pressure on Garoppolo and force a couple of turnovers. They played well in so many areas. We are going to Arizona, another road game. He had 89 yards on the ground and a touchdown and another four catches for 43 yards. Carson Palmer settled down after a rough start, and the Cardinals didn’t turn the ball over. It was a great first drive.

“He’s the backup who’s got them jacked up in Beantown”. That’s a part of every game, but it’s uncharacteristic of some players on the Cardinals.

LeGarrette Blount ran for 70 yards in the win over the Cardinals. The Cardinals were pass-heavy all game and Johnson had limited reps, he looked primed to explode versus New England and it was fortunate he was not as heavily involved as he perhaps should have been.

Despite slogging through much of the game, Arizona had a chance to grab a lead with:36 left, but Chandler Catanzaro’s 47-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left, handing Jimmy Garoppolo his first win as an National Football League starter and the Cardinals their first loss in a season opener since Bruce Arians’ first year as head coach in 2013. New England needed to get a touchdown but they suffered bad clock management. The Cardinals can live with a less than stellar game from rookie defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche as he still is learning and will get better as time goes along.

Probably the ugliest play of the entire game on defense was the opening drive touchdown. “You never want to knock a guy trying to make a play”.

“I watched that one channel, that Red Zone channel, that captures everything”, Brady said. “He was just an average spectator on special teams”.

Catanzaro, an undrafted kicker in the 2014 NFL Draft who had made 89.1 of field goals in his first two seasons, made no excuses for his performance after the game (via ESPN and the Associated Press). “That’s a tough place to play”.

“A lot of times you don’t know how well you did until you watch the film after the game. the athleticism of all the players, and how hard the hits are, and how quickly the decisions are made, it’s just so much fun to watch”, Brady added.

Not only did both the San Diego Chargers and New Orleans Saints drop their games to the Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders in heartbreaking fashion, they also lost key contributors for the season. It’s a New England sports’ team, anything can happen.

Cue Riggle, as a wide-eyed Garoppolo clutching his Pats clipboard as he ventures down the stairs to remind everyone of his name: “I’ve waited all my life for this, does anyone know where my helmet is?”