Fear the Pats

[TJ]

#8 we have James Bettcher.

Top 5 defense is such a liability for this team....

 

[TJ]

The score in preseason games matters not but you can tell a lot by how the team plays and we just haven't played that well. And that Seattle game didn't become meaningless until after we lost it. Sure, you could make the case we knew late in the 2nd quarter it probably didn't mean much but we were already getting killed by then. And we played our best players until late into that game so it's not like the coaching staff mailed it in.

And that GB win was an OT victory, at home, against a team that had played .400 ball in their previous 10 games. We have not been a good team over the past 5 game stretch, there's no other way to call it IMO. Being talented and being a good team is not always the same thing in the NFL. I'm not predicting doom and gloom for this season, I just think it's too early to start calling this team great. That shouldn't happen until we actually start playing that way.

Russell Wilson is completing < 50% of his passes through two preseason games, no TDs and a pick. Their entire #1 offense has looked like garbage. Should we also be dancing on Seattle's grave?

 

[AzStevenCal]

Russell Wilson is completing < 50% of his passes through two preseason games, no TDs and a pick. Their entire #1 offense has looked like garbage. Should we also be dancing on Seattle's grave?

You're changing my story, why? I've never suggested we're horrible, I'm just disagreeing with the notion that we're already super bowl contenders. We're not until we show we are.

Between regular season, postseason and preseason, we have a stretch of 5 games that suggest we have problems. Are there mitigating reasons, yes? But every team has excuses. Our excuses have to explain away two poor preseason performances, a mediocre OT home win against a weak playoff opponent and two incredibly embarrassing blowouts. Getting blown out by two good teams doesn't mean you're lousy, but it doesn't scream super bowl contender either IMO.

 

[eastcoastSUN]

Does anyone have a solution for Gronk??? I mean really? SMH

Other than throwing a killer party the night before, there's not much you can do with Gronk.

Ok I've got the solution - we're gonna need some of his college buddies at UA to get him to go drinking the night before the game, end up at a random gas station in Yuma owned by someone who only speaks Portuguese, and make a game out of who can break into the gas station bathroom. Can anyone from UA help with that?

 

[Chris_Sanders]

I'm sure this forum will explode should we go 0-4

Remember when the DBacks were nearly undefeated in Spring Training this last year? Exhibition games are absolutely meaningless and has little to no carry over or meaning to the regular season.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Two things:

1. Do we have a solution for Gronk? Are we going to have Deone shadow him all game? Something that is swept under the rug could be the emergence of Bennett in the Pats 2TE set, since Gronk will draw double coverage. Bennett is still better than anyone on our roster at the TE position.

2. The Pats just picked up the Mingo guy from Cleveland. His production dropped off considerably last year but who knows what a change of scenery/system could do?

Pick which player you think Mingo is, which one you would rather have, and then bonus points if you can tell me whom the other one is. Both were drafted in 2013.

Player A: 97 career tackles and 7 sacks - 46 games

Player B: 61 career tackles and 10 sacks - 27 games

 

[Reign Blood]

In game 1 of the regular season anything can happen. There's no tape to watch and you know somehow the Pats will have an upper hand. We need to bring it to Garropolo and shake him up.

Rise up Red Sea and lets get this guys!

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Sorry left out the important games played

 

[Dback Jon]

The Cardinals have no reason to fear ANY team.

Have respect for, yes. Fear, no.

If you are fearing playing another team, then why bother suiting up?

 

[football karma]

Belichek with a full offseason to game plan?

Im concerned

that being said: its more than just Brady being out. Ninkovic is out, Sheard is a ? for the opener, the o-line is missing a bunch of people

it might just be too much to ask of the Patriots

 

[cardncubfan]

Pick which player you think Mingo is, which one you would rather have, and then bonus points if you can tell me whom the other one is. Both were drafted in 2013.

Player A: 97 career tackles and 7 sacks - 46 games

Player B: 61 career tackles and 10 sacks - 27 games

I would say A is Minter.

 

[GoldGloveschmidt]

I would say A is Minter.

A is Mingo

B is Alex Okafor




We would be a championship team if Minter could get 7 sacks. Lol! 1.5 in his career.

 

[cardncubfan]

A is Mingo

B is Alex Okafor




We would be a championship team if Minter could get 7 sacks. Lol! 1.5 in his career.

I was thinking Mingo was an ILB. I was wrong.

 

[TJ]

You're changing my story, why? I've never suggested we're horrible, I'm just disagreeing with the notion that we're already super bowl contenders. We're not until we show we are.

Between regular season, postseason and preseason, we have a stretch of 5 games that suggest we have problems. Are there mitigating reasons, yes? But every team has excuses. Our excuses have to explain away two poor preseason performances, a mediocre OT home win against a weak playoff opponent and two incredibly embarrassing blowouts. Getting blown out by two good teams doesn't mean you're lousy, but it doesn't scream super bowl contender either IMO.

I'm not changing your story. I'm giving you a team-by-team comparison between two teams that are universally considered contenders to show you why the worry is unmerited. The Seahawks, dating back to Week 16, lost to the Rams at home, were a lucky missed FG from losing to the Vikings in the playoffs, beaten soundly by the Panthers, and for the first two preseason games, have looked unimpressive. If we're using the end of 2015 and the current preseason as a measuring stick for the 2016 regular season, then it's likely that Seattle is also in trouble.

The teams that are doing well in the preseason are teams like Atlanta and Houston. Even the 9ers dropped 31 on the defending champ Broncos in Denver last week.

I can't buy that two preseason games and games from the 2015 season have any carry over into the 2016 regular season. Too much evidence points to the notion that teams that play to win preseason games are often losers in the regular season.

As Aaron Rodgers would say, "R-E-L-A-X."

 

[AZCrazy]

We have serious questions everywhere else. .

We have the best roster in the NFL. You sir, are heidi high. If we have questions, everyone else is scrood.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

A is Mingo

B is Alex Okafor




We would be a championship team if Minter could get 7 sacks. Lol! 1.5 in his career.

Correct! Mingo is hot garbage compared to Alex Okafor

 

[AzStevenCal]

We have the best roster in the NFL. You sir, are heidi high. If we have questions, everyone else is scrood.

In the modern NFL, every team has questions. But if you're not a little concerned over our lack of a consistent outside pass rush, a secondary in flux, our poor special teams play, our lapses in quarterback protection, our dependence on an aging and injury prone signal caller, then fine, order your super bowl tickets. I'm more than willing to watch this team become great but I'd like to see them play to that level before I start praising them.

 

[Harry]

I think the Cards try Branch on Gronk first. If TM's judged fully heathy he may get a shot if Branch is overwhelmed. The key is not to stop him but to limit him. It also will help if they pressure him intensely when he's blocking. Wear him done. In game one most players aren't ready for 4 quarters of intense work.

 

[Lorenzo]

half of the two headed monster is gone for a few weeks. I still fear the head coach for what he was able to do with matt castle...

 

[SoCal Cardfan]

If I've learned anything about this team since they came to Az... It's that 9 out of 10 games I would write in ink as "gimme's"...... end up being embarrassing blowout losses.

I've somewhat learned how to control my blood pressure with this team..... I just expect to be beaten EVERY game, and when it goes the other way (which fortunately, it has a lot lately) I'm pleasantly surprised.

The day I feel confident enough to bet the house on a Cards win, is the same day I wake up and say "Why hell yes.... I would love to see what being homeless is like."

 

[AzStevenCal]

If I've learned anything about this team since they came to Az... It's that 9 out of 10 games I would write in ink as "gimme's"...... end up being embarrassing blowout losses.

I've somewhat learned how to control my blood pressure with this team..... I just expect to be beaten EVERY game, and when it goes the other way (which fortunately, it has a lot lately) I'm pleasantly surprised.

The day I feel confident enough to bet the house on a Cards win, is the same day I wake up and say "Why hell yes.... I would love to see what being homeless is like."

I don't think that feeling is unique to Cards fans. There's a few teams that have been so good, so often and for so long, that their fans go into each game with confidence but they are the exception. I love the fact we're approaching that exception area but we're not quite there yet. I'd feel a lot better if we didn't have an aging QB and no backup but I'd rather be in our shoes than I would most of the rest of the league. But the day I feel confident enough to bet the house on anything is the day I own multiple houses.

 

[SoCal Cardfan]

I don't think that feeling is unique to Cards fans. There's a few teams that have been so good, so often and for so long, that their fans go into each game with confidence but they are the exception. I love the fact we're approaching that exception area but we're not quite there yet. I'd feel a lot better if we didn't have an aging QB and no backup but I'd rather be in our shoes than I would most of the rest of the league. But the day I feel confident enough to bet the house on anything is the day I own multiple houses.

That's what bums me out more than anything... More so than arguably any other time, we have a coaching staff who could work wonders to groom a young QBOTF.

But just like the many who have come before them... They just can't seem to find one that's "groomable"