2020 Long Island EFL Week #5 Arizona Cardinals (2-2) vs. New England Patriots (2-2)

[Long island EFL]

MEL GRAY'S 276 YARDS TOO MUCH FOR NEW ENGLAND AS CARDINALS UPSET PATS AT HOME!

 

THE COUNTDOWN: September 30, 2020. Foxboro, MA. This week we will feature Professor O'Connell's video to commemorate the late great Gale Sayers. In Sayers name this week, we can't help but feel the excitement and love for the game as we are well into incredible Week #5. The Long Island Electric Football League has reached an enormous intensity. No team or coach is safe an upset loss or incredible win! This game between the New England Patriots (2-2) and the Arizona Cardinals (2-2) has become a Breaking point for both teams as they remain in the Playoff hunt! New England has a chance to tie for first place with Miami and the New York Jets in the AFC East, while Arizona is battling for a playoff spot between the Rams and the Seahawks in the NFC West, so it makes this game very interesting as an interleague matchup.

The Patriots have played outstanding football and so have the Cardinals, and sometimes in the league it's just a difference between an overtime victory that is enough to propel a team into the playoffs. That's the way leagues should be full-on competitive with no team safe and every team just a play away from becoming the next best team and rival. This season has really been amazing. When a team dominates it shows how great the league is, especially when everybody else is right there at the top competing with the very best teams in the league.

 

THE PLAY BY PLAY: Arizona Cardinals (2-2) vs New England Patriots (2-2)

Coach Levi Vick's Patriots have come alive. On the opening kickoff, Rob Gronkowski the "Gronk" scored a touchdown on a blazing hundred yard run into the end zone, 7-0, Patriots take the lead on their home turf! What an explosive run!

This is going to be one of those games! Arizona's Mel Gray returned the favor to New England with a stunner of his own! Gray ran back a scorching hundred yard touchdown to tie the game at 7-7, in the first minute and a half of the game! Wow!

 

On the kick-return for the Patriots, Gronkowski took it back 43-yards and Laurence Maroney took over. Maroney had runs of 5, 20, and finally a 33-yard touchdown run right down the gut of the Arizona defense to make the score 14-7, with 5:55 left to go in the half, and the Patriots are playing some tremendous football at home!

 

The Cardinals made one mistake on the kick-return. They had 10 men on the field and they were penalized 10-yards on the play after an 86-yard kick return by Mel Gray. The Patriots swarming defense stamped and delivered a 13-yard loss to Arizona and running back OJ Anderson, in a brigade led by John Hannah who literally ran right through the middle of the Arizona front line. Ever since New England made that change early in the season from Matt Light's player base to Hannah's, New England has transformed looking more like the 2016 Patriots, who were AFC Champions. And on second down, the Patriots just kept coming at the Cardinals, pushing Anderson back to the 49-yard line forcing a third down as the first half came to a close!

At the start of the second half Arizona quarterback Ty Murray threw a missile to Larry Fitzgerald for a gorgeous 49-yard touchdown score to tie the game 14-14, with 14:46 left to go in the game!

 

On the next set of downs for New England, the Cardinals defense came up big, stopping Maroney on his first two runs, forcing a third down pass. The Patriots could not complete the pass on third down and 17, from their 18-yard line. They were forced to kick the ball to dangerous Mel Gray, who was having a great game. 

Gray has come up big in the high-pressure spot before, and this time he ran back his second 100-yard run for a touchdown in the game on a blazing run right down the left sideline of the field! Gray just hit 286 yards with two touchdowns with 7:13 left to go in the game! Mel Gray along with the number of other players this week have raised the bar in Week#5, as the Cardinals capture the lead 21-14!

 

 

And suddenly the Cardinals defense has crumbled the Patriots again, pushing them back to their own 15-yard line on second down. New England is forced to pass, and the Cardinals defense has stepped-up to stop the Patriots running attack. On a huge play for the Patriots Rob Gronkowski took a fast Tom Bray pass 44 yards downfield for the first down with 2:36 left to go in the game! The Patriots will have to try to manage the clock very carefully and with a rookie Coach, Levi Vick, and that is not going to be easy against Kevin "Mac" Maloney's Cardinals. With one shot left at the end-zone at the 13 yard line, Randy Moss could not get open, and the Cardinals win a thriller 21-14 in a comeback victory! What a game it was!

 

The Arizona Cardinals (3-2), stay in the race with Mel Gray the hero! Gray had three carries for 286 yards, with two 100 yard touchdown returns as Arizona flies back to the desert to play their biggest game of the year next week against the high-flying Philadelphia Eagles! New England will play the AFC Champion Miami Dolphins who have lost two in a row.

 

 

Edited September 30, 2020 by Long island EFL
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