Revisiting my five ways Arizona could win
So, let's take a look back and see what came true.
1. Calais Campbell and Darnell Dockett wreak havoc- CHECK The Patriots offensive line got dominated by not only these two, but several members of the Cardinals impressive front seven. Calais Campbell in particular had a good day with 10 tackles, two sacks and three quarterback hits. Darnell Dockett added four tackles, one for a loss and also tipped a pass that was intercepted. Sam Acho also got into the mix sacking Brady once and hitting him twice.
2. Tom Brady gets injured- X/CHECK I'll give myself partial credit for this one as the Patriots did lose Aaron Hernandez very early in this game. That's a huge blow to this offense, which struggled all day to move the ball. While it wasn't Tom Brady who left the game, the Hernandez loss is still extremely significant.
3. Larry Fitzgerald goes off- X Larry Fitzgerald only had one catch for four yards. The Patriots/Kevin Kolb completely shut him down. This was a good day for the Patriots D, no player on the Cardinals really had a good day. Chandler Jones harassed Kevin Kolb all day, though it didn't really show on the stat sheet as Kolb was very good at throwing the ball away quickly. The Patriots really only allowed the Cardinals to have two decent drives, of which they got 10 points out of. The other 10 points came from being put in a bad position due to their offense (Interception) and special teams (blocked punt).
4. Stephen Gostowski has a big day- CHECK This one was very true, the Patriots could not get in the end zone. The Patriots didn't score a touchdown until the fourth quarter and Gostowski made field goals from 46, 34, 51 and 53 before missing the game winner in the end. The Cardinals were the number two red zone defense in the league last year while the Patriots were the fourth best red zone offense. I thought if one of those two would break it would be the Cardinals defense, obviously that didn't turn out to be true.
5. Patrick Peterson makes highlight reels- X Peterson only had one return for three yards on a punt. Gostowski did a great job of keeping the ball away from the Cardinals returners. Peterson did have one successful 17 yard run out of the wildcat and had one pass defended as a corner, but overall he did not have as huge an impact on the game as was feared.
---
The overall takeaway here? The Patriots really hurt themselves yesterday. While the Patriots defense held up their end of the bargain and stopped Larry Fitzgerald and held the Cardinals offense in check for the most part, the Patriots offense killed the team. The offensive line got dominated by the Cardinals' front seven. The Patriots could not do much besides kick field goals. An even mediocre game from the offense and special teams and this game is won handily by the Patriots. Also, perhaps I should've included referees as one of the ways the Cardinals would win as this undoubtedly had an effect on the game.
