5 Cardinals strengths the Patriots need to contend with
The Patriots start their season against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday Night Football, and the biggest story is Jimmy Garoppolo making his first career start in place of Tom Brady.
As Bill Belichick knows, however, the Cardinals are one of the best teams the Pats will face this season. Inexperience under center is just one of the obstacles standing between the Pats and a Week 1 victory.
Here’s a look at 5 things the Cardinals do particularly well:
- Forcing turnovers
The Cardinals were second in the NFL to the Panthers last season with 33 takeaways, led by their safety duo of Rashad Johnson and Tyrann Mathieu (5 interceptions each). They ended 16.7 percent of defensive possessions with turnovers, again second only to Carolina. This strength will by a major factor in determining the Patriots’ offensive fate Sunday night: expect Belichick’s strategy to involve limiting high-risk passing plays for Garoppolo.
2. Big plays on offense
John Brown had 7 receptions of 30 yards or more last season, Michael Floyd had 6, and rookie J.J. Nelson and running back David Johnson had four each. Carson Palmer likes to throw deep, and the Cardinals rarely take their collective foot off the gas pedal: they tied with Pittsburgh for a league-high 6.3 yards per passing play and led the league with 7.8 net yards gained per pass attempt. Devin McCourty has a tough task ahead of him Sunday night.
3. Converting on third down
The Cardinals ranked second in the league with a 37.1 percent conversion rate on third down, and Carson Palmer’s 109.1 QB rating on third downs was second only to Russell Wilson’s 113.8. Larry Fitzgerald is a safety net in third down situations, with 45 percent of balls thrown his way ending up in first downs.
4. Limiting running backs
Arizona allowed the 6th fewest rushing yards last season, was one of nine teams to allow single-digit rushing touchdowns, and also ranked in the top 10 in fewest yards per rush attempt and fewest first downs allowed by rushing. LeGarrette Blount will have his work cut out for him trying to establish a ground game, and James White may have trouble getting anything going catching passes out of the backfield. The Cardinals allowed 3.3 receptions and 36.9 receiving yards to running backs per game last season, but subtracting two big games from Mark Ingram and Giovanni Bernard, those numbers drop to 2.2 catches and 22.4 yards per game.
5. Limiting tight ends
Tight ends facing Arizona caught four passes for 36.9 yards per game, and the biggest day a tight end managed against them was San Fransisco’s Vance McDonald, who caught six for 71 yards. Jimmy Garoppolo will surely need his tight ends to stay big and stay open to make his first start go smoothy, but the Cardinals will likely make the latter hard to achieve, especially without Rob Gronkowski on the field.
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