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It was not what the Arizona Cardinals needed in their first game. After investing heavily in the pass rush, a first and second round pick, they came up against a team that gets rid of the ball quickly.
The New England Patriots did not do anything different than they normally do, it is a quick passing attack, one that thrives on timing and rhythm before taking their big shots down the field.
It doesn’t matter who the quarterback is, no all that matters is that is what they do.
Last season on average Tom Brady got rid of the ball in 2.35 seconds from snap to throw. In fact, that 2.35 time was heavily weighted by what he was doing towards the end of the season when his weapons were healthy, the beginning of the season was even faster:
Through three weeks of the 2015 season, the Patriots have taken the quick game to another level. According to data tracking done by Pro Football Focus, Brady has gotten the ball out in an average of 2.09 seconds over the course of his 133 passes this season, the fastest time since PFF began recording the stat back in 2011. Before 2015, the quickest anyone had averaged before throwing the football was Peyton Manning’s 2.24 seconds last season.
In order to combat a fast passing attack is you need interior disruption, or a freak of nature like Von Miller.
That is not the strength of Chandler Jones and Markus Golden coming off the edge, in fact the only player that has that ability to do it from the interior or the edge is Robert Nkemdiche.
Jones and Golden both got sacks in the game, the stats are nice, but they needed to get Garoppolo out of rhythm, they needed to either make them go even faster, or they needed to make it more difficult for him.
This week, they get a better offensive line, healthier wide receivers and a better quarterback with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. If you allow Jamies Winston to sit back and throw the ball at Brandon Williams, it is going to be a long day again defensively.
The Buccaneers like to get the ball down the field and their offensive line is pretty good, but it is time to see a little more return on their investment.