Arizona Cardinals Lose Opener to Patriots

The Arizona Cardinals ended up in a slugfest with the New England Patriots but in the end came up short

The Arizona Cardinals started out slow in both halves.  The New England Patriots took full advantage.  It all came down to a missed field goal by Cardinals kicker Chandler Catanzaro in the end.

The Cardinals defense allowed quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to pretty much have his way all night.  Garoppolo finished the evening going 24-33 for 264 yards with one touchdown.

Those aren’t earth-shattering numbers but he made few mistakes.  Other than a first-half fumble, Garoppolo gave Patriots fans something to believe in for the next three weeks until Tom Brady returns to action in October.

As for the Cardinals, quarterback Carson Palmer wasn’t horrible, going 24-37 for 271 yards and two touchdowns.  Both touchdowns went to receiver Larry Fitzgerald.  His second touchdown reception was the 100th of his career.

The Cardinals ran the ball just 19 times on Sunday night.  David Johnson had 16 of those carries for 89 yards, including a monster 45-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Winning the turnover battle 2-0 wasn’t enough for the Cardinals defense.  They gave up too many third down conversions. The Patriots went 10-16 on third down.  That won’t get the job done.

Despite all the struggles on both sides, the Cardinals still had a chance to win it in the end.  The Cardinals were able to get the ball down to the Patriots 29-yard line to put the team in position to take a 24-23 lead.  However kicker Chandler Catanzaro kicked a bad snap wide and it was all over.

Now the Cardinals have a week to make adjustments.  They have the Tampa Bay Buccaneers coming in next week.  Hopefully they won’t overlook them.  Something tells me the Cardinals got a wake up call Sunday evening, so that shouldn’t happen.