Behind enemy lines: Cardinals-Patriots Q&A preview with Patriots Wire
The Arizona Cardinals do not play in Week 14 until Monday night when they host the New England Patriots.
The Cardinals and Patriots are infrequent opponents, so Patriots Wire managing editor Jordy McElroy gives us some insight about the Cardinals’ Weel 14 opponent.
Check out his answers to some questions below.
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.
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The overall season for the Pats
Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports
What has the season been like overall for the Pats? What have been the greatest ups and the most frustrating downs?
The greatest ups have been the Patriots’ defensive front making sack lunches out of opposing quarterbacks. Between Matthew Judon and Josh Uche, there’s more than enough lunches to go around—trust me. New England’s defense is Super Bowl-caliber as long as they aren’t facing a mobile quarterback, which makes Monday’s game against the Cardinals especially intriguing.
Okay, now for the frustrating downs.
Man, this offense absolutely stinks. When Vance Joseph made the wisecrack about the Patriots offense looking like it was being called by a defensive guy, he was right on the money. Matt Patricia has been a complete disaster with the play-calling, and it has led to regression from a legitimately talented quarterback in Mac Jones.
Mac Jones' development
Where is Mac Jones in his development?
I can guarantee you one thing: Mac Jones would be further along in his development with better coaching. It’s kind of crazy even saying that when the Patriots have arguably the greatest coach of all time in Bill Belichick. And yet, this offensive coaching situation looks like a college science project thrown together at the last minute by some dude-bro named Chad.
Seriously!
Matt Patricia, a longtime defensive coordinator, is calling the offensive plays, and the Boston Sports Journal’s Greg Bedard recently floated the possibility that Evan Rothstein, Patricia’s former defensive assistant with the Detroit Lions, was drawing up the passing game. It’s mostly hand-offs and six-yard checkdowns for Jones in one of the most predictable offenses in the NFL.
Now, let’s add on the fact that the offensive line has been completely beat to hell. That’s a lot for a veteran quarterback to deal with in one year, much less a second-year player still in the developing stages of his career.
Pats' puzzling defense
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The Pats’ defense is 7th overall in yards and points but allows 29.0 ppg in their losses. How does that work?
Bless you.
Talking about the Patriots’ anemic offense was about to get my blood pressure up. That’s a wild statistic—isn’t it? A big reason for it goes back to my prior comment about the defense struggling against mobile quarterbacks.
Justin Fields and the Bears dropped 33 points on the Patriots. Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens racked up 37 points. Kirk Cousins and the Minnesota Vikings blew up the scoreboard for 33 points against the unit. No, Cousins isn’t burning anyone with his legs, but he does have more offensive firepower than Thanos with the Infinity Gauntlet.
When the Patriots defense has struggled, those games have turned into huge point dumps. I guess some inconsistency is to be expected from a team that’s blending youth in with experience.
Surprising standouts
Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports
Who have been surprising standouts this season?
Running back Rhamondre Stevenson is the player that immediately jumps out. He was obviously a burgeoning talent as a rookie, but the dramatic leap he’s taken in his second year as a pass-catcher is nothing short of amazing. The Patriots might actually have an elite running back on their hands.
Rookie cornerback Jack Jones has flashed as well in his first year with the team. I’ll be light with the praise in hopes of not jinxing him in a hellacious matchup against the Cardinals’ stacked receivers. But he’ll see a lot of work in this game with Jalen Mills being ruled out.
The third standout would have to be linebacker Josh Uche, who has come on surprisingly strong late in the season. You know you’re doing something when New Orleans Saints’ star defensive end Cam Jordan throws out a Von Miller comparison, when watching tape from the Patriots’ Week 13 game against the Buffalo Bills.
Matchups
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Which matchups do you like most for the Pats and which are you most worried about?
I don’t like the thought of Jonathan Jones being matched up with DeAndre Hopkins. And just like that, my blood pressure is starting to rise again. Look, Jones is as feisty as they come, but he’s completely undersized as an outside corner. He has been cooked with little help over the top in back-to-back outings against elite receivers. It was Justin Jefferson on Thanksgiving and Stefon Diggs last week.
Now, it’s Hopkins on Monday. I don’t know what Jones did to anger the football gods to have to deal with that murderer’s row gauntlet.
Another matchup that has me shaking in my boots is Kyler Murray against the Patriots’ defensive front. We’ve seen it time and time again with the unit failing to contain mobile quarterbacks. Even if the secondary doesn’t give up the big play, this could turn into a game of Murray playing hero ball with his legs and keeping the chains moving on third downs.
With that said, I do like the Patriots’ passing attack opening up a bit more against Arizona’s secondary. After the way things went against the Bills, I’m expecting Matt Patricia to be a bit more aggressive. The Patriots will be missing their top receiving target Jakobi Meyers, but the tight ends are starting to come on. They also still have enough veterans to make plays, assuming the play-calling comes without training wheels.
Prediction
Who wins and how does it go down?
I’m going with the Patriots in what should be a really tough game on Monday. This is a must-win for New England, and they’ll finally be facing a defense they can move the ball against. Historically, they’ve done a tremendous job of nullifying J.J. Watt. I expect the same to be the case in this game with Mac Jones and the offense coming alive for a much-needed win on the road.
Patriots 33, Cardinals 27
