SALON

Sunday, Sep 16, 2012 9:15 PM UTC

Kolb throws, runs for TDs as Cards top Pats 20-18

By

Topics: From the Wires,

Kolb throws, runs for TDs as Cards top Pats 20-18Fans cheer for New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski before an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals, Sunday, Sept. 16, 2012, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)(Credit: AP)

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Kevin Kolb took advantage of mistakes the Patriots made. Stephen Gostkowski failed when the Cardinals gave him one last chance.

Kolb threw for one touchdown and ran for another, Gostkowski missed a potential winning field goal in the final seconds, and Arizona upset New England 20-18 on Sunday.

The Patriots took over when Vince Wilfork recovered a fumble by Ryan Williams at the Cardinals 30-yard line with 1:01 left. A 30-yard run into the end zone by Danny Woodhead was nullified by a holding penalty against Rob Gronkowski. New England then moved to the 24 before Tom Brady spiked the ball to stop the clock with 6 seconds remaining.

But Gostkowski, who had made his other four field-goal attempts, sent a 42-yard try wide to the left.

The Cardinals (2-0) won behind Kolb, filling in for John Skelton, who missed the game with a sprained right ankle. The Patriots (1-1) lost tight end Aaron Hernandez to an ankle injury in the first quarter.

Kolb overcame a shaky start, then threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Andre Roberts 6 minutes into the third quarter after a blocked punt and ran for a 5-yard score on the third play of the fourth as the Cardinals took a 20-9 lead.

Trailing 20-12 after Gostkowski’s 53-yard field goal, Brady led his best drive of the game. He completed eight of 10 passes for 82 yards, capped by a 5-yard touchdown throw to Gronkowski, making it 20-18 with 2:06 left. But his pass to Gronkowski for a 2-point conversion was broken up by Kerry Rhodes.

The loss was the first in 11 home openers since the Patriots moved into Gillette Stadium in 2002. The Cardinals ended a five-game losing streak against the Patriots, beating them for the first time since Sept. 29, 1991.

The Patriots made numerous uncharacteristic mistakes. Patrick Peterson intercepted Brady on the Patriots’ first offensive play, the Cardinals sacked him four times and they blocked a punt by Zoltan Mesko, the first time that happened to him in 122 punts as a pro.

That block gave Arizona the ball at the Patriots 2-yard line. After Williams ran for no gain and Kolb threw an incompletion, the quarterback hit Roberts on a quick slant for the touchdown.

The teams were tied at 6 after a lackluster half in which Brady passed for just 75 yards and Kolb for 59.

Arizona wasted an excellent opportunity on the game’s first series when it settled for Jay Feely’s 38-yard field goal after marching 60 yards on 12 plays. He added a 47-yarder after the Cardinals failed to get a first down on the series after Peterson’s interception.

Then the Patriots stalled after moving from their 25-yard line to the Cardinals 28, coming away with only a 46-yard field goal by Gostkowski. He tied the game with a 29-yarder with 9:08 left in the first half.

Brady completed 28 of 46 passes for 316 yards and extended his streak to 34 games with at least one touchdown pass, fourth-best in NFL history. Kolb was just 15 for 27 for 140 yards but was sacked only once, threw no interceptions and made several good passes while rolling out.

___

Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

More Howard Ulman.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
FBI reportedly joins Bachmann campaign finance probe
142 points143 points | 4 comments
vote
Jon Karl makes things worse: He regrets “inaccurate” Benghazi email but says his story based on it “still entirely stands.” Really. ABC News?
120 points121 points | 22 comments
vote
“Jodorowsky’s Dune”: The sci-fi classic that never was.
56 points57 points | 14 comments
vote
Doug Henwood: Capitalism Thrives on Class Exploitation
42 points43 points | 4 comments
vote
Paul Krugman’s right: Austerity kills. "In an economy where we’re all in the same boat, one person’s spending is another person’s income. So when the government cuts spending, it reduces people’s income, leading to less business, more unemployment, and a vicious spiral of slowing down the economy."
44 points45 points | 20 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations