Numbers didn't lie in the New England Patriots' 20-18 upset loss to the Arizona Cardinals Sunday.
There's no way around it -- the Patriots' Week 2 casualty was an absolute stunner. Prior to Sunday, the Patriots had never lost in 10 straight home-openers at Gillette Stadium.
“Yeah. We didn’t play very good," Patriots guard Logan Mankins said, according to the team's website. "Not scoring a touchdown until the fourth quarter, kicking field goals, penalties, pressures, negative runs – the offense, we didn’t bring our best game and it really showed.”
Quarterback Tom Brady was sacked four times, his offense was five-for-15 on third down, and he tossed just one touchdown to one interception.
New England also converted on only one of four red zone trips.
And to cap it off, the Patriots had a punt blocked, which set up an Arizona touchdown, and kicker Stephen Gostkowski missed a 42-yard field goal at the end of the game to seal the loss.
"I mean, you miss kicks, you throw interceptions, you fumble the ball, you miss tackles," Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said. "Over the course of a long season, those things happen. There’s no one play that lost the game; we did a lot of things that allowed us to lose this game.
"We had a lot of opportunity out there to make more plays than we did. Hopefully it never comes down to a 42-yard field goal at the end. Hopefully we do a better job on offense so it’s not that kind of game at the end."
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