New England Patriots Links 9/12/12 - Pats Prepare For Steelers as Cardinals Come to Town

Bill Belichick moves on to preparing for the Arizona Cardinals.

Good football team, does a lot of things well, has some really outstanding players, very dangerous in the kicking game. We’ve have to make a quick turnaround here and really have a good week of preparation for the Cardinals. They’re a hard team to prepare for scheme-wise, they do a lot of different things. I don’t know if I’ve seen as many personnel groups and formations from a team as what these guys have shown. They really put every combination together, really that’s conceivable. Of course they run all the blitz packages that we’ve seen in Pittsburgh and that’s a multitude of them. It’s going to be a tough week. They’ve won eight of their last 10 games. They got off to a slow start last year, 1-6 and then won most all their games at the end of the year and beat Seattle. This is a team that’s I’m sure gaining confidence every week and they played very well over the last 10 games or so.

Josh McDaniels offers some thoughts on what challenges the Cardinals defense will present.

Well, I had an opportunity to coach against the Cardinals twice last year. Coach [Cardinals Defensive Coordinator Ray] Horton has done a good job of implementing the system that he had at Pittsburgh for a long time. I wouldn’t say it’s exactly the same, but there are a lot of similarities to it. They’re a team that plays a lot of linebackers from their base defense. They give you a lot of different looks. They’re a team that I would say has an extensive pressure package. They do a great job of trying to disrupt the passing game with pressure and also at the same time do a good job of affecting the running game, at the same time with those same pressures. They’re an aggressive defense, a lot of good players. I think they’re a fast team. They have a lot of good team speed on defense. They have guys that make plays at all three levels. Certainly, over the last 10 games they’re 8-2 and have done a good job of really settling into what they want to do and they’re playing well.

Matt Patricia addresses the difficulty of having to prepare for two quarterbacks.

I think in general just trying to prepare for Arizona as a whole, with as many skill players and the quality offensive scheme that they have as far as the blocking and the run game. Obviously Larry Fitzgerald is a fantastic player for them who does numerous things [in] multiple roles and is a real significant player in their offense. Early Doucet and [Andre] Roberts, all of those guys including the running backs and the quarterbacks, do a great job with the system that’s in place, so I think really they’ll just be able to keep moving no matter what the situation may be out there and be able to run their offense the way they want to run it. We definitely have our work cut out for us here.

I think both of them are obviously both very talented players and have done a lot for them out there through the preseason. They fit well into what they’re trying to do from a system standpoint. We’ll certainly have to be prepared and have our work cut out for both.

TEAM TALK

• Game Preview: New England Patriots vs. Arizona Cardinals. Broadcast info, series history, team connections, and more.
• Erik Scalavino takes one last look at Patriots-Titans before moving on to his news and notes from Gillette.
• Paul Perillo says Rob Gronkowski's shoe-top grab was not only a terrific catch, but it also came at a deceptively key juncture.
• Erik Scalavino tackles the Ask PFW mailbag: September 11 edition.
• Patriots win over Titans draws highest local ratings for Sunday opener in franchise history.
• Patriots Today - That's a wrap on week one. (3.16 min. video)
• Patriots Today - Patriots open up on WEEI. (4.17 min. video)
• Patriots Today - 3rd annual Mayo Bowl. (2.30 min. video)

LOCAL LINKS

• Greg A. Bedard says the Cardinals defense will present a much stiffer test for the Pats offense than did the Titans.
• Karen Guregian looks into the curious case of Wes Welker. Josh McDaniels says it was a game-plan scenario, but Troy Brown isn't so sure.
• Kirk Minihane debunks the conspiracy theory bandwagon-jumpers that Belichick is freezing out Welker. It doesn't make sense.
• Tom E. Curran breaks down the Patriots with his 34 lines on 17 issues column. Worth a read this week.
• Mike Reiss takes a closer look at the 3 TE package.
• Greg A. Bedard credits the nearly flawless play on the defensive line, explains what they were asked to do and how they did it.
• Paul Kenyon notes Jermaine Cunningham is defying the odds, taking a third-year leap instead of the second.
• Christopher Price lists the best opening acts by Patriots rookies.
• NESN lists their top ten Monday Night Football matchups for 2012.
• Karen Guregian Patriots Notebook: Belichick appears to be preparing for the Cardinals as if he would for the Steelers; Pats threw the ball 31 times and ran it 35 times in Sunday's win; Patriots will have to prepare for two QBs, John Skelton and backup Kevin Kolb; Belichick credits all around hard work for Jermaine Cunningham's rise; Rob Gronkowski and a group of Pats helped build a playground in Worcester yesterday.
• Mike Reiss catches us up with how some former Patriots players are doing with their new teams.

NATIONAL NEWS

• The Sports Xchange (Yahoo! Sports) Week 2: Cardinals-Patriots. Matchups to watch and why the Patriots will win.
• Mike Sando (ESPN) Brady, Cardinals might want to step outside.
• Ian Rapoport (NFL.com) For New England Patriots' defense, it's a new day; Week 1 notes.
• Dave Dameshek (NFl.com) The Shame Report: Week 1. (4.40 min. video) Gronk's failed TD spike makes the list.
• John Clayton (ESPN) Week 1 Review.
• Jason Whitlock (Fox Sports) NFL Truths: Week 1. "It’s a damn shame Pro Bowl guard Brian Waters is going to miss a chunk or all of this season because the Patriots are justifiably refusing to rework his contract."
• Don Banks (SI) Vick's turnover woes becoming a dangerous trend; Week 1 notes.
• Jim Corbett (USA Today) NFL games we can't wait for in Week 2. What, no Pats-Cards?
• Peter King (SI) MMQB Tuesday Edition; Mail.
• Albert Breer (NFL.cm) Defenses get creative in trying to slow NFL's offensive takeover.