With their playoff chances slipping away, the Arizona Cardinals will host the New England Patriots on Sunday at Glendale, Ariz.
Both teams are on three-game losing streaks, but while the Patriots (3-10) are in last place in the AFC East and long ago lost hope for a postseason berth, the Cardinals (6-7) are crunching the numbers to figure out how they can remain in the chase.
Arizona is two games out of both the NFC West lead and the last wild-card spot, giving them two options to chase. While they would need to jump three teams to land a wild-card berth, they have to slip past two teams — the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams — to take the division.
None of it matters if the Cardinals can’t get past the Patriots, and even then a victory would merely mean an 11 percent chance of reaching the playoffs, according to the NFL’s playoff probability counter.
Arizona’s most recent defeat came against the NFC West-leading Seahawks, 30-18 after giving up 17 points in the first quarter last Sunday. It was their second loss to the Seahawks, giving Seattle the tiebreaker between the teams, essentially putting Arizona three games back in the division if the Seahawks win out.
Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray passed for 259 yards but threw an interception on one first-quarter drive, then threw another pick on his first pass of the next possession.
“Heavy is the crown, I tell him,” Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon said of Murray. “He gets a lot of blame, and he gets a lot of praise, too. That’s life in the National Football League as the franchise quarterback.”
James Conner had 90 yards rushing on 18 carries for Arizona, and Trey McBride had seven receptions for 70 yards. But the Cardinals’ defense gave up 176 rushing yards, including 134 to Zach Charbonnet.
“I’ve got to find some answers,” Gannon said. “We haven’t played good ball the last couple of weeks, and that falls on me.”
The Patriots will enter off their bye week after getting an extra week to correct mistakes made during consecutive defeats to the Los Angeles Rams, Miami Dolphins and Indianapolis Colts.
In a 25-24 loss in their most recent game, on Dec. 1 against the Colts, the Patriots surrendered a 19-play, 80-yard drive — and the go-ahead touchdown — with 12 seconds remaining.
New England quarterback Drake Maye threw for 238 yards with one touchdown and one interception that came on New England’s opening drive of the second half. In his rookie season, Maye has fared well, completing 67.2 percent of his passes for 1,696 yards, 11 TDs and eight interceptions in nine games (eight starts).
“Really, the goal remains the same, and that’s to play our best football at the end of the year,” Patriots coach Jerod Mayo said. “It’s all about winning. … It’s all about going out there, playing complementary football, and that’s what we want to see.”
The Cardinals were without running back Emari Demercado (back) and punter Blake Gillikin (foot) in practice Wednesday, while defensive linemen Naquan Jones (shoulder), Roy Lopez (ankle) and Darius Robinson (calf) were among those with limited participation.
The Patriots were without wide receiver Javon Baker (concussion) on Wednesday, as well as cornerback Marcus Jones (illness). Limited participants included safeties Kyle Dugger (ankle) and Jabrill Peppers (knee), and offensive lineman Cole Strange (knee).
