GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The New England Patriots and Arizona Cardinals came within one win of the Super Bowl last season.New England lost at Denver in the Patriots sixth straight AFC championship game, Arizona was blown out at Carolina in the Cardinals second appearance ever in the NFC title contest.The Patriots and Cardinals, a combined 25-7 in the 2015 regular season, meet Sunday night, an intriguing matchup of New England coach Bill Belichick and Arizonas Bruce Arians.Except the Patriots wont have their best player. Tom Brady must sit out the first four games as punishment for the Deflategate, episode.In his place. Jimmy Garoppolo will make his first career start on national television in the noisy atmosphere of University of Phoenix Stadium.31Garoppolo has thrown 31 passes in his two-year career, completing 20, in his two seasons as Bradys backup. In 2015, Garoppolo was 1 for 2 for 6 yards.Garoppolo called it a great opportunity.He wont have Rob Gronkowski to throw to, with the star tight end ruled out of the game because of a hamstring injury. The team confirmed Friday night that Gronkowski had been downgraded from questionable to out for the game. Also missing the game will be offensive linemen Jonathan Cooper and Nate Solder.The Cardinals had prepared for a healthy Gronkowski. Arizona defensive coordinator James Boettcher called him the best in the game right now at tight end.`There wasnt a whole lot of video on Garoppolo for the Cardinals to study but that didnt stop Arians from heaping on the praise. Arians said Garoppolo reminds him of a young Tony Romo.Very athletic, very accurate, Arians said. Not a real powerful, deep throwing arm, but very accurate. He gets it out of his hand fast. Tony was the same way coming out and had a lot of success early.The Cardinals should know not to take a backup quarterback lightly. Pittsburgh third-stringer Landry Jones rallied the Steelers to a victory over Arizona last year.Arizona quarterback Carson Palmer barely played in the preseason and shrugs off the two interceptions he had returned for touchdowns.Here are some things to consider when the Patriots meet the Cardinals:OLD COACHES: The game features two of the three oldest coaches in the NFL: Belichick is 64, Arians 63. They also are two of the top three coaches in wins the last 60 games.I think Bruce has done a great job, Belichick said. ... Theyve put together a good football team with good talent. They have a good system. They are hard to prepare for.Arians said the same of Belichicks Patriots.Expect the unexpected, Arians said.The players will get psyched for this game, but not the coaches, Arians added.We dont get to play, he said.FAMILIAR FOE: The Patriots certainly will recognize one of the players they face. Chandler Jones, acquired in a trade with New England in the offseason, will line up at outside linebacker. He had 12 1/2 sacks as a defensive end for New England last season.I had this one circled with a red marker, Jones said.Bolstering the pass rush was Arizona general manager Steve Keims No. 1 objective. Arizona traded Cooper and a second-round draft pick for Jones.Did Jones offer some insight into the Patriots?He talked to the guys, but theres really not much more than `He (Garoppolo) is really accurate, and `Hes very athletic, Arians said.RUNNING GAME: The Cardinals are expecting big things from second-year running back David Johnson, based on his play last season. Johnson was the fourth player in NFL history to top 500 yards rushing, 400 yards receiving, 500 yards in kickoff returns and 13 touchdowns.The others are Tim Brown, Gale Sayers and Maurice Jones-Drew.QUESTIONABLE CORNER: The Cardinals are starting rookie Brandon Williams at cornerback opposite All-Pro Patrick Peterson. Williams, who played the position only one season at Texas A&M, struggled in one-on-one coverage in the preseason. Is he ready for the role?Hes the best weve got, Arians said. He better be.Expect the Cardinals to mix up the coverage schemes and give Williams some help.AMENDOLAS BACK: Patriots wide receiver Danny Amendola didnt see any preseason action, and was limited during training camp as he recovered from knee and ankle issues. He returned to full practice participation once camp ended, and is expected to start alongside Julian Edelman.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Vente Air Max 95 . -- Cam Newton pranced into the end zone, placed his hands over his chest and did his familiar Superman pose. Site Air Max 95 Pas Cher .com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch. http://www.airmax95france.fr/ . Vaives lawyer Trevor Whiffen claims the former 50-goal man wasnt provided with a copy of the claim beforehand and that he would not have agreed to the allegations made against the NHL had he been asked to review its contents. Air Max 95 Pas Cher . Nathan MacKinnon, Jamie McGinn and Jan Hejda also scored for the Avalanche, who won despite being outshot 38-23. MacKinnons goal, also on the power play, came with just over a minute remaining. Achat Air Max 95 Pas Cher .C. -- Manny Malhotra had two goals and an assist, leading the Carolina Hurricanes to a 6-3 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. Imran Khan is Pakistans most famous player and most successful captain. As smooth off the field as he was competitive on it, he made his Test debut as an 18-year-old medium-pacer, transforming himself into a genuinely quick opening bowler and formidable batsman. He led Pakistan to victory in the 1992 World Cup, after which he entered Pakistani politics.Was it inevitable that you would become a cricketer? My two cousins were Test captains. One, Majid Khan, became Test captain while I was playing. One was an Oxford Blue [Javed Burki] and one a Cambridge Blue [Majid]. If youre living up to people who have made it big, you face more pressure than ordinary cricketers. Doors open easier but youre always judged against them. I was always told that I had less talent than them.You made your Test debut in England aged 18. What happened? I had always had ambitions as a batsman but I was selected as a fast bowler because Pakistan hardly had any. Id played very few first-class matches, and while in home conditions my slingy action was effective, in England I was totally at sea. I was dropped after that first Test and my team-mates openly told me Id never get back into the team. But Id been determined to be a Test cricketer since I was nine and there was never any chance, no matter how many setbacks I faced, that I would give up.What turned you into a quick bowler? In 1972, Australia came to England. I watched Dennis Lillee bowl and thats when I decided I wanted to be fast. It was the first time Id seen a genuine fast bowler. Pakistan didnt have any, and I just loved it. It appealed to my instincts, my aggressive way of playing. I was a medium-pacer then and Worcester would encourage me to bowl that because I had a natural inswinger. But I was never satisfied, so if I ever got hit, I would try and bowl faster. Thats how I got this aggressive streak, to seek revenge when a batsman tried to dominate, that made me into a fast bowler. I understood the limitations of how I used to bowl, so I completely restructured my bowling action between the ages of 18 and 25. I spent the winter after I finished at Oxford University [1975-76] in Pakistan, and that was really the turning point, because on those wickets you needed to have air speed. My first-class team [Pakistan International Airlines] encouraged me to bowl fast. In a year Id gained pace and was genuinely fast.You came third behind Jeff Thomson and Michael Holding at the famous speed test in Perth in 1978... We were bowling bouncers and Jeff Thomson was bowling full-tosses, so there was a slight distortion, although he was probably still quicker. Out of eight balls I bowled, seven were quicker than Holding. I wasnt even at my peak - I was quicker in the next two years. In my peak I got nearly 100 wickets in about a year, 40 in a series against India, but I did my shin bone and missed three of my best years as a bowler.What are your memories of Kerry Packers World Series Cricket? It was the highest standard Ive played. It was the greatest number of fast bowlers ever concentrated in one place - very high-calibre fast bowling. There were people like Tony Greig, Lawrence Rowe, Roy Fredericks, who were outstanding batsmen, but all three of them sank under the barrage of quick bowlers.Did captaincy improve you as a player? The more pressure I took, the stronger I got.Teams follow captains they believe in. I used to tell them: Do not be scared of losing, youll never know how to win. I discovered why I was successful and others who were more talented than me werent. My whole policy was aggressive: how am I going to win? Most who captained me used to enter a match thinking we should not lose. The result was that team selection became defensive. Its a big difference in strategy and attitude. I took this fear of losing away from them and thats why we used to pull off incredible victories from losing positions. We played superior opposition and did very well. You become fearless and that is a very important component in successful people, organisations, even countries.Did you find it difficult being a bowling captain? Batting captains never had a clue about bowlers. Most captaincy is done on the field. As a bowler I was far better equipped to deal with that than batting captains. The only batting captain I rated was Ian Chappell. He had a very good cricket mind and could deal with bowlers well. Apart from him, very few were good because they didnt understand bowlers. Because I was a bowling captain, I taught Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis from scratch. They had hardly played any first-class cricket and I would tell them what to do every ball because I had been through the process myself. I would set their fields and I would tell them what to think.What were the raw ingredients that you saw in Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis? Wasim was the most talented bowler I have seen apart from Holdingg.dddddddddddd A natural. But he needed the art of taking wickets, fitness and advice, which I gave him. Waqar was a very strong bowler, not as gifted as Wasim, but much stronger physically. Mentally, Waqar was very tough. Wasim would give up a little bit when things got down; Waqar would keep coming back. But Wasim was much more talented.How do you compare with the three other great allrounders from the 1970s and 80s: Botham, Hadlee, Kapil Dev? We were all great competitors. I had my duels with all three. Botham was a better batsman than all of them, Hadlee was a better bowler than the others, and Kapil Dev, at one point, had great batting potential but never developed it. Its not easy at that level to keep developing both skills.Ian Botham peaked very early. I think he was already on the downer at 26 or 27 because he had become very big. He started off as an allrounder of more promise than all of us because he had a great side-on bowling action and outswing. But by his late 20s his bowling was no longer effective. And batting-wise, the reason I dont think he fulfilled his potential is his performance against West Indies. I judge batsmen on their performance against the big boys and in critical situations. In that sense, Bothams performance against West Indies was just appalling - averaging about 14 with the bat and around 40 with the ball [in fact, 21 and 35].Your bowling average was 21 against West Indies, the dominant team of the era. Did you raise your game against them? The tougher the competition, the better it got out of me. Sometimes I used to lose motivation against the smaller teams. The lure of beating West Indies in the West Indies was the main reason I came out of retirement [in 1988]. We drew 1-1 but with neutral umpires we would have won 2-0 and I would have retired then because it was my ambition to beat the ultimate team in world cricket. Im the only captain that never lost to West Indies in three series, all drawn.They tested you completely. It demanded the greatest concentration, guts and a proper technique to face them. The batting was great too. Viv Richards was head and shoulders above everyone else. A genius. It was his reflexes, his timing, lightning footwork and his attitude. He was very courageous - a batsman who would take on challenges. His statistical record does not reflect his ability or the number of match-winning innings he played. He used to get bored, whereas other batsmen would bat for their averages.What are your memories of the 1992 World Cup? Great euphoria. I handpicked that young team and for them to win the World Cup from that impossible situation was a source of such happiness to the Pakistanis. I was so proud of that team. When I retired, I left the best Pakistan team in its history. I was very disappointed that it never achieved its potential. Match-fixing allegations dogged them. Do you regret admitting to using a bottle top during the 1981 county season? I regret that it distorted the whole discussion on ball-tampering; it took it to another level. I was trying to explain that ball-tampering had always been part of cricket. It was only when you crossed a certain limit that it became cheating. He [journalist Ivo Tennant] asked me point blank and I said, Yes. Id played a match at Sussex against Hampshire. It was a dead wicket, petering towards a draw. We had drinks and there was a bottle top. I scratched the ball trying to get resistance on the other side. I said: That is cheating, youve crossed the line. I was illustrating the point. Then other people jumped in, people trying to settle scores, people taking money from tabloids to say: I saw Imran ball-tampering. They were such liars and they made money. In that sense, I regretted it.There must have been times when the pressure got to you, leading Pakistan for 10 years? Cricket is the only captaincy in sport where you face pressure. In Pakistan the pressure is more than in other places because when the team loses, the captains head comes on the chopping block, otherwise the board is removed. There were about 17 changes in the 10-12 years after I left. When I came in, there was a players revolt against the captain and I was the compromise. In my 10 years I never had a problem. I had the complete respect of the team.How did cricket prepare you for politics? Politics is cut-throat. I find myself far better equipped than my colleagues because I learnt to compete and take knocks from sport. There is no better preparation for politics. It is the ultimate in character-building. Being a political leader is like being a cricket captain. You walk out to a stadium full of people, all responsibility on you, and if you can learn to take that responsibility, it equips you to do anything in life. 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