Last Sunday was the official start of football season and to most people's surprise, the Patriots beat the Cardinals. Due to Deflategate, Tom Brady is suspended for the first four games of this season, he cannot appear at Gillette Stadium, nor can he have contact with any team personnel. Additionally, Brady cannot engage in any team football-related activities or have conversations with his teammates, this includes any activities or conversations that occur away from the team facility. In the meantime, Brady has been practicing with his wife supermodel Gisele Bündchen. Also, according to former Patriots running back Hall of Famer Kevin Faulk, Brady is practicing with his former star receivers Wes Welker and Randy Moss.
On a side note, these regulations are ridiculous and Roger Goodell continues to punish not only the Patriots but the entirety of the NFL with his rehearsed statements and pension for playing judge, jury, and executioner. Anyway, I digress, since Tom Brady wasn't starting the season opener, the Cardinals were the favorite to win particularly because of their notable quarterback Carson Palmer, their running back, and their good defense.
However, on the 11th the Patriots, with Jimmy Garoppolo starting and both Gronk and Nate Solder not playing, won 23-21. Since 2002, the Patriots have been 13-2 in season openers because Belichick runs and utilizes one of the best teams in the NFL phenomenally. Nevertheless, to my surprise, everyone has seemed to forget about the rest of the keys players that help Brady win, like Julian Edelman, James White, Malcolm Bulter, and Danny Amendola just to name a few.
It should be noted and widely promoted that the Patriots are not a team carried just by Brady alone, each member of the franchise plays a great role that has allowed the Patriots to go to the Super Bowl six times in the past 15 years, winning four of them. Yet everyone continues to overlook the rest of the team. To the fans, however, it was not a surprise that the Patriots won Sunday, but it was very close.
The Patriots scored a touchdown within about the first 10 mins and then the Cardinals scored and it kept going back and forth with flags being thrown for unsportsmanlike conduct and such, but none for the many facemask grabs or head butts. The referees not calling lots of these illegal hits, that can result in injury across all of the NFL’s franchises past and current games, is just another reason a new commissioner should be hired to replace Goodell.
Nonetheless, some highlights of the game included the touching Patriots social media goodbye posts montage from former Patriots teammates for newly traded Cardinals outside linebacker Chandler Jones, courtesy of NBC. There was also a lot of Edelman action, which I thoroughly enjoyed, since he is the key wide receiver for the Patriots, and my soulmate; he was not able to play for most of the last season due to his foot injury. Edelman was at peak performance during the game and was a constant choice for Garoppolo to throw too. Edelman even got so squirrely that the commentators thought in another life he could have been an MMA fighter. At the end of the game, when speaking to a reporter about giving a message to Brady who was watching at home, Edelman said that he love his buddy and they would try to win a couple more for him.
As the game ended it looked like the Cardinals were going to win their home opener, however, their kicker missed the field goal and the Patriots were triumphant. Overall, the game was entertaining and gripping and I cannot wait to see how the rest of the season unfolds. Will Garoppolo continue to hold his own in Brady’s shadow? When will Gronk and Solder come back? Will Brady lead the Patriots to another Super Bowl championship? Will Edelman be able to play for the entire season? Only time will tell, but I cannot wait to see what Belichick has up his 3/4 cut-off sweatshirt sleeves for this season.
