In a now famous clip, Patriots quarterback Mac Jones boiled over on the sidelines against the Bills, extolling his coaches and teammates to push the ball down the field more because the quick passing game “sucks”. On Monday against Arizona, the Patriots will have the perfect opportunity to grant Jones his wish.
The Cardinals come into the game at 4-8, losers of four out of their last five. In that stretch, they’ve given up 31 or more points in three of the four losses. The Cardinals pass defense numbers rank mostly near the bottom of the league, but they’ve been a bit better in their last five games overall. However, in their last loss to San Francisco, they gave up 7.9 yards per pass and four passing touchdowns. For the season, the Cardinals rank 23rd in passing yards allowed, last in passing touchdowns allowed, 26th in sacks and last in red zone defense. The Cardinals are also 1-6 at home this season.
For a Patriots passing game that has struggled most of the season, Monday night is an opportunity for them to play more like they did on Thanksgiving night against Minnesota, a team with a comparable pass to defense to the Cardinals.
I would expect the Patriots will take more shots against the Cardinals, similar to the Nelson Agholor touchdown below, than they did against Buffalo and a patchwork Patriots offensive line will have a better chance of holding up against Arizona.
PATRIOTS OFFENSE IS ALIVE AND WELL!
Mac Jones to Nelson Agholor 🫡 pic.twitter.com/g7zioVGZ2B
— Jordan Moore (@iJordanMoore) November 25, 2022
The Patriots playoff hopes are slim and they will be all but eliminated if they lose to the Cardinals on Monday night. In order to avoid that, New England will have to take advantage of the Cardinals pass defense with some shots over the top and they will need to score touchdowns in the red zone. The formula will not be much different than it was against the Vikings, but the Patriots will need the end result to be drastically different.