WHERE DID THIS COME FROM?! Odds in this game to be anything close were way out the window coming in. The Cardinals? Yeah they looked alright in their first game, but that was against a weak NFC West opponent. How about going into New England, one of the most hostile environments to play on the road in all of the NFL and play a game that most everyone in their right mind is picking against you. The match-ups are just not there. No one can cover the 2 tight-end tandems of Hernandez and Gronkowski. Brady’s poise seems to be in full-effect even if the game is not going his way. He and Belichick just find a way to win games, especially at home. Last time the Patriots dropped a home opener…2001. That’s more than 10 years ago; back in the days of Drew Bledsoe’s famed injury and the magic that was Adam Vinatieri. Needless to say the Cardinals had a lot going against them before the ball was placed on the tee for kickoff Sunday.
What they did on Sunday was more then incredible. It dramatically reshaped the way we see two franchises. The Cardinals have a new defensive identity. After finishing a pedestrian 18th in total defense last year, they have found a way to shut down THE Tom Brady. The Patriots are a team as vulnerable as ever. Well…not really. They made a couple of mistakes, but in all honesty they could have won that game a number of ways. If Brady looked at his second read on the 2 point conversion instead of forcing it into a tough play for Gronk, if Gronk didn’t hold that guy when Woodhead was way down the field, or if ‘Goatskoski’ didn’t miss his first kick of the season on a potential game winner, things might be a little different in Foxboro. More importantly I wouldn’t even be talking about this game. It is what it is though, and as the quote goes “the numbers don’t lie”.
Back to the Cardinals defensive performance: The way that they got after Brady with the mixed blitz packages today reminded me of the 2007 Giants defense that literally stole the show in the Super Bowl, or maybe even the Browns taking hard shots on Brady in 2010 causing them to upset them 34-14. Call me crazy, but I see this team making a run for the division title. Patrick Peterson on the edge, made plays of a shutdown cornerback almost reminiscent of Champ Bailey. And Calias Campbell is a force that cannot be stopped. His motor keeps running even with double teams. 10 tackles, 3 assists, 2 sacks, and a number of hurries on Brady made him arguably the MVP of that game. He was the reason that the Patriots were out of rhythm with their offensive progression. Some people might point fingers at the fact that Aaron Hernandez was injured early on in the game. So what? Brady still had plenty of options to throw the ball to.
The one play that really got me was the 3rd and 9 on about the 48 of the Cardinals (or something like that) with about 30 seconds to go before the half. Patriots have 2 timeouts left and the Patriots have been driving down the field looking for a score to help open up what has been so far a closely fought match. Brady from the gun gets pressured right up the middle and forces a short throw to the right side. He lands up on his back and just walks off the field, shakes his head, and plops down sulking on the bench. That, my friends is a defense getting into a quarterback’s head. I cannot even count the amount of times Brady was in the exact same position and points were up on the board before you could turn the channel to check how the other game is going. Even though there were games with Manning throwing 500 yards, Vick overcoming another poor performance and winning, or even the “Lucky” win of the day. My friends, this is the game of the day.
By Jimmy Luehrs