The grades are out for the Patriots-Cardinals game, and here some numbers that stand out to me.
Top Defensive Player: Chandler Jones (4.7)
Top Offensive Player: Sebastian Vollmer (3.3)
Worst Defensive Player: Jermaine Cunningham (-1.3)
Worst Offensive Player: Logan Mankins (-1.9)
Amazingly the top four players on offense were the offensive lineman. All graded out highly in pass protection, and average in run blocking.
I don’t know how Donald Thomas ended up with the 4th best score. I thought he was the worst player on offense. But apparently that was Logan Mankins.
Gronk had his worst graded regular season game since 2010 in Cleveland (-1.7). He had a -2.0 in the Super Bowl but I don’t count that one since he was on one ankle.
Brandon Spikes was the second highest graded defender (4.6) and had an impressive 7 stops (solo defensive tackle that constitute an offensive failure).
Spikes however was picked on in coverage a bit, allowing 3 catches of the 4 times he was thrown at for 26 yards.
Ninkovich bounced back after an average week in Tennessee with a 1.6, including 2 QB hurries, and 3 stops. He did have 2 missed tackles as well.
Kyle Arrington had a rough day in coverage with a -1.9. He was thrown at 5 times and all were completions for 62 total yards.
Devin McCourty had one of his best days in coverage. He was thrown at 4 times and gave up 0 completions.
A rare non-dominant day for Vince Wilfork, grading out an a -0.6. He still had a sack, 2 QB hurries and 2 stops though.
Patriots were brutal running to the left side, not surprisingly with Calais Campbell sitting over there. -2.4 running behind the tight end on the left, and -3.9 running behind Mankins at LG.
They had their most success running right behind the center, but still only scoring a measly 1.0.
The grader only qualified 8 of 50 plays as having Brady under pressure. Also only had 8 blitzes for the Cardinals.
The middle flat was yet again where the Pats did their most damage in the passing game. Brady was 10-11 for 87 yards and a TD there. To the outside flats Brady was 8-10 for 49 yards
From 10-20 yards Brady was 5-13 for 54 yards. For 20+ yards he was 2-6 for 61 yards.
Return game was average with McCourty scoring a -0.2 on 2 kick off returns, and Welker and Edelman combining for a 0.8 on 2 punt returns.