The New England Patriots blanketed the Arizona Cardinals on Monday night, winning 27-13.
With the victory, the Patriots stay in the thick of the playoff hunt at 7-6 while the Cardinals will likely look ahead to next season at 4-9.
Offensive spotlight: The biggest story of this game happened on just the third play, as Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray suffered a non-contact knee injury after scrambling for three yards. From early reports, it doesn’t look good.
Cardinals QB Kyler Murray is expected to have an MRI tomorrow but there is "little doubt that it’s torn," a source told me, referring to the quarterback's ACL.
— Josh Weinfuss (@joshweinfuss) December 13, 2022
Colt McCoy relieved Murray and finished with a 64.7 grade on first review in the loss.
Defensive spotlight: Jahlani Tavai has been on the best stretch of his career so far. The Patriots linebacker currently has an 84.2 grade on first review, which would be his third 80-plus grade in five weeks. Those are also the only games of his four-year career where he’s graded above 80.
Tavai forced two incompletions on the night and also came up with a coverage stop and five tackles.
Rookie spotlight: With Rhamondre Stevenson going down with an ankle injury, Pierre Strong Jr. stepped up as the lead running back for the Patriots. The fourth-rounder from South Dakota State rushed for 70 yards on just five carries, averaging a staggering 14 yards per attempt. Strong also scored the first touchdown of his career in the victory.
Offensive line spotlight: The Patriots offensive line dominated the Cardinals, finishing with an 87.7 pass-blocking grade on first review. If that holds, it’d be their highest single-game mark of the season.
The interior of that line especially thrived. Guards Cole Strange and Michael Onwenu in addition to center David Andrews didn’t allow a pressure across 37 pass-blocking snaps.
Box Score
Passing
| New England Patriots | ||||||
| Player | Fantasy | Comp/Att | Yds | YPA | TD | Int |
| Mac Jones | 8.5 | 24 / 35 | 235 | 6.7 | 0 | 1 |
| Arizona Cardinals | ||||||
| Player | Fantasy | Comp/Att | Yds | YPA | TD | Int |
| Colt McCoy | 11.24 | 27 / 40 | 246 | 6.2 | 0 | 1 |
| Kyler Murray | 0.66 | 1 / 1 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
Rushing
| New England Patriots | ||||||
| Player | Fantasy | Car | Yds | YPC | TD | Long |
| Pierre Strong Jr. | 17 | 5 | 70 | 14 | 1 | 44 |
| Kevin Harris | 8.6 | 8 | 26 | 3.2 | 1 | 14 |
| Mac Jones | 8.5 | 3 | 1 | 0.3 | 0 | 2 |
| Rhamondre Stevenson | 3 | 3 | 8 | 2.7 | 0 | 4 |
| Arizona Cardinals | ||||||
| Player | Fantasy | Car | Yds | YPC | TD | Long |
| James Conner | 23.4 | 15 | 85 | 5.7 | 1 | 23 |
| Colt McCoy | 11.24 | 5 | 24 | 4.8 | 0 | 9 |
| Kyler Murray | 0.66 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Keaontay Ingram | 0.1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Receiving
| New England Patriots | ||||||
| Player | Fantasy | Tgt | Rec | Yds | YPT | TD |
| Pierre Strong Jr. | 17 | 2 | 2 | 20 | 10 | 0 |
| Hunter Henry | 10 | 3 | 3 | 70 | 23.3 | 0 |
| Kendrick Bourne | 9.7 | 5 | 5 | 47 | 9.4 | 0 |
| Nelson Agholor | 8.2 | 10 | 5 | 32 | 3.2 | 0 |
| Tyquan Thornton | 6.8 | 5 | 4 | 28 | 5.6 | 0 |
| DeVante Parker | 4.4 | 2 | 2 | 24 | 12 | 0 |
| Rhamondre Stevenson | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0.7 | 0 |
| Marcus Jones | 2.2 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 12 | 0 |
| Jonnu Smith | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Arizona Cardinals | ||||||
| Player | Fantasy | Tgt | Rec | Yds | YPT | TD |
| James Conner | 23.4 | 7 | 6 | 29 | 4.1 | 0 |
| DeAndre Hopkins | 13.9 | 11 | 7 | 79 | 7.2 | 0 |
| Robbie Anderson | 9 | 4 | 4 | 50 | 12.5 | 0 |
| Marquise Brown | 7.4 | 8 | 4 | 34 | 4.2 | 0 |
| Trey McBride | 5.8 | 6 | 3 | 28 | 4.7 | 0 |
| Corey Clement | 3.1 | 1 | 1 | 21 | 21 | 0 |
| Stephen Anderson | 2.7 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 3.5 | 0 |
| A.J. Green | 1.7 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 3.5 | 0 |
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