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Friday, Dec. 5, 2025
The New Hampshire

Sports


The New Hampshire

No Brady? No problem. Pats look to squish the fish this weekend

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   No matter the circumstance, the New England Patriots always find a way to make your heart stop year after year. The Patriots escaped with an instrumental first victory of the year versus the Arizona Cardinals 23-21, thanks to a valiant effort from quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and head coach Bill Belichick and his staff. Even without Nate Solder, Sebastian Vollmer, Rob Gronkowski and Tom Brady, the Patriots and Belichick were able to develop a solid game plan to beat Carson Palmer, Larry Fitzgerald and Bruce Arian’s high-powered Cardinals team.  It came down to a missed field goal by Chandler Catanzaro and Patriot fans saw their team move to 1-0. Meanwhile, the rest of the AFC East competition lost on Sunday, launching the Patriots into first place to start the year.











The New Hampshire

No Nawnsense predictions for the 2016 New England Patriots

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There is no question about it, the New England Patriots will be a different team without star quarterback Tom Brady through the first four weeks of the season. Plus, Sunday night’s opening matchup versus the swarming defensive-minded Arizona Cardinals could be the toughest in the Bill Belichick era. Deflategate has been a story of its own the last few years even after the Patriots won Super Bowl XLIX two years ago. Consequently, commissioner Roger Goodell won the long exhausted battle that Brady did not want to fight anymore. As a result, third year quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo gets thrown into the mix. He will make his first NFL start on Sunday night. The moment could not be any brighter for the Eastern Illinois product to showcase his abilities in front of the world on primetime television. Just do not be optimistic in this one Patriots fans. “Jimmy G” is many seasons away from being in the same context as Tom Brady, so pump the breaks because I don’t find 4-0 realistic. 3-1 is possible, but not probable.