New England Patriots: Did they ruin the Arizona Cardinals’ 2016 season?
By Brian Hines
To start the 2016 season, the New England Patriots were able to defeat the Arizona Cardinals with a backup quarterback. Did this ruin the Cardinals’ season before it even started?
The Arizona Cardinals were viewed as an early Super Bowl favorite to begin the 2016 season. In Week 1, Arizona welcomed the New England Patriots in a contest which seemed to be a potential Super Bowl preview.
Even though the Patriots were without quarterback Tom Brady and tight end Rob Gronkowski, the game did not disappoint. The back-and-forth game ended with the Patriots winning 23-21, thanks to a last second missed field goal by Chandler Catanzaro.
The game was a nail bitter, but it was nowhere near a Super Bowl preview.
The Patriots built off a successful Week 1 victory, winning the Super Bowl after piling up 13 more regular season wins. For the Cardinals however, the season was a major disappointment.
Arizona ended the year 7-8-1, finishing second in a weak NFC West. After a 13-3 year the season before, head coach Bruce Arians hinted that the Week 1 loss set the tone for the rest of the season.
"“I think the biggest reason was losing the opener on Sunday Night Football to the Patriots on that missed field goal,” Arians said on the PFT Live podcast. “That took a lot of swagger out of our football team, then we came back and lost to the Rams in another close game. We didn’t win the close games we had won in the past but it all goes back to that first one.”"
Since the Bill Belichick/Tom Brady era, the Patriots have had a history of ruining NFL franchises. When the 11-1 Houston Texans rolled into Foxboro in their letterman jackets, the Patriots trampled them 42-14. The Texans won just two more games in 2012 before losing 41-28 to New England in the playoffs.
The most recent case might have come from Super Bowl XLIX. After the Malcolm Butler interception and 10-point fourth quarter comeback, tensions have been high in Seattle.
After Super Bowl LI, the Falcons are now next on notice.