New England’s Monday night matchup with the Cardinals changed dramatically when Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray was carted off the field on the third play from scrimmage following a non-contact knee injury.
Facing backup Colt McCoy the rest of the way, the Patriots still found themselves in a dogfight on the road, until eventually pulling away in the fourth quarter for the 27-13 win.
The teams went to the locker room with New England trailing 13-10 at halftime, pulling to that score with a 51-yard Nick Folk field goal to close out an injury-filled first half for both squads.
The win improves the Patriots to 7-6 on the season, for now jumping back into the No. 7 seed in the AFC playoff picture and out of last place in the AFC East thanks to a tiebreaker over the Jets.
Before turning the page to next Sunday’s battle with Josh McDaniels’ Raiders in Las Vegas, here are some of the highs and lows from the Monday night win in Arizona.
Thumbs up
Kevin Harris/Pierre Strong – With Damien Harris inactive and Rhamondre Stevenson dealing with an ankle injury the rookie Harris stepped in and stepped up against the Cardinals in the first half. Harris had a hard-nosed 9-yard run on a second quarter drive that set up his own 14-yard touchdown, the first of the big sixth-round pick’s NFL career. Strong, the speedy fourth-round pick, then got his chance to chip in in the second half, including a 44-yard run down the left sideline to set up a short field goal. Strong then added his own first-career rushing touchdown from 3 yards out in the fourth quarter and led the rushing attack with 70 yards on just five attempts.
Marcus Jones – After his recent punt return and offensive touchdowns, the rookie continued to add to his legend as a three-way player in Arizona. Given the lack of depth at cornerback, the rookie third-round pick saw plenty of reps in the secondary including nice coverage on a deep ball for DeAndre Hopkins in the second quarter and a huge hit on tight end Trey McBride in the third. He then earned his first NFL interception on McCoy would be deep shot. He also took his usual return reps on both kickoffs and punts. Jones saw his most significant time on offense on the season, finishing with one catch for 12 yards and two rushes for 2 yards. Jones not only deserves credit for significant reps in all three phases, but also continuing to find ways to impact the game whenever he’s on the field.
Raekwon McMillan – The veteran linebacker was in the right place at the right time to take advantage of a boneheaded play by Hopkins. The veteran receiver was too loose with the football after a catch in the third quarter, allowing it to slip out of his hands at his own 22-yard line. McMillan picked the ball up and ran it back 23-yards for a touchdown to give the visitors a lead on the game-changing play.
Josh Uche, Matthew Judon and the pass rush – Uche was an active pass rusher all night, but didn’t get his name on the stat sheet until notching a sack while also being held in the third quarter. Uche then hit McCoy as he threw, affecting the throw on what ended up the Jones interception. Judon shared a sack with Lawrence Guy earlier in the game and then added another late full sack to get to 14.5 on season. Uche also added a second and third sack in the fourth quarter, improving his season total and career high to 10. New England’s pass rush was a consistent issue for McCoy most of the night, beyond just the six sacks.
Thumbs down
Injuries – New England began the game with top options at WR (Jakobi Meyers), RB (Damien Harris) and CB (Jalen Mills) inactive due to injuries. By the time the first quarter had ended the Patriots had already added to the injury list at each of those positions with DeVante Parker (head), Rhamondre Stevenson (ankle) and Jack Jones (knee) all dealing with injuries. Parker and Jones did not return. While Stevenson did, it was for a short time before he was also ruled out for the rest of the night.
Devin McCourty – As the last line of the New England defense the veteran safety was defenseless when he took on James Conner in the hole and then held on as the running back dragged him a good 5 yards into the end zone on his 10-yard scoring run in the second quarter. McCourty has not been as capable cleaning things up in the back end this season as he had so well in the past.
Offensive penalties/mechanics – Trent Brown had yet another false start on the first offensive series, forcing a longer third down that failed. In the second quarter, Mac Jones and Co. had consecutive penalties on third down, a delay of game followed by an illegal shift call on Stevenson and Kendrick Bourne. Jones then let out an audible F-bomb when forced to call a timeout with the play clock running down on the first drive of the second half.
Jones seemed to have issues on multiple occasions with the play calls coming in on a timely basis. These were just more examples of offensive execution that remains in shambles, even if they did come in a victory.
Trent Brown – In addition to his false start, the big tackle had another flag for being illegally downfield. Brown also got beaten for a sack by Zach Allen and was pushed around at times in the running game. New England’s biggest offensive lineman and arguably its most talented, Brown continues to struggle with penalties, consistency and, at times, seemingly with his effort.
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