GLENDALE, Ariz. — In the days before the season opener, Cardinals outside linebacker Chandler Jones took a page out of his old team’s playbook, denying any particular fire in his belly to face the team that traded him just last spring.

He coyly demurred that he wasn’t caught up with the idea of revenge, or proving himself.

Early in the second quarter Sunday night, the Patriots were facing third and 8, exactly the situation they wanted to avoid putting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in.

Their fears were realized when Cardinals outside linebacker Markus Golden spun by tackle Marcus Cannon like a revolving door at the Scottsdale mall and strip-sacked Garoppolo.

Jones was tied up with tackle Cameron Fleming on the play, but when the loose ball popped down at his feet, he dived and recovered it. Jones then launched into a celebratory routine with safety D.J. Swearinger, dancing on the turf like he thought it was the Patriots’ grave. No one watching would have thought it was just another game to Jones.

Jones and Swearinger were promptly penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct for the “choreographed demonstration,’’ as the referee called it. But the Cardinals, who spin mistakes into gold, scored their first touchdown of the game on the following drive.

Jones did a bit more two-stepping in the Patriots backfield, finishing his night in steamy Glendale with five combined tackles, a sack, and two quarterback hurries.

But he had few other chances to celebrate. That third-down stop was one of few for the Arizona defense, which allowed the Patriots to convert 10 out of 16 third-down attempts.

“I thought that was the whole game,’’ Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said. “We could not get off the field on third down.’’

Jones was, apparently, out of words after the loss. He was one of the first players off the field and did not show up in the locker room to take any questions.

“He was pretty motivated and we wanted to get this one for him,’’ linebacker Deone Bucannon said.

In the fourth quarter, Jones sacked Garoppolo for a 6-yard loss, leaving the Patriots facing a second and 16 at the 19-yard line. Garoppolo threw an incompletion on the next play.

The Cardinals had just taken the lead and the crowd was roaring. The moment, and the hole, seemed too big for Garoppolo and the Patriots to get out of.

Garoppolo threw a 32-yard pass to Danny Amendola. The Cardinals defense still couldn’t get off the field, and the resulting first down preserved the drive that ended in Stephen Gostkowski’s 32-yard, game-winning field goal with 3:44 remaining in the game.

Bucannon said that, by the time the fourth quarter rolled around, all the extended drives the Arizona defense had allowed throughout the game left them gassed and in a compromised position to stop the Patriots when they really needed to.

“It tires us out, but you know, that’s our fault,’’ he said. “Need to get off the field on third down, that’s a big down, and they always had a good, manageable third down and we just need to do it on first or second down.’’

The Cardinals defense, which allowed 19.6 points per game (seventh in the league) in 2015, allowed the Patriots 363 yards of total offense, 3.4 yards per rush, and 7.3 yards per passing play.

Linebacker Kevin Minter swore the Arizona defense hadn’t slept on the depleted Patriots and said they didn’t see anything from New England that they weren’t expecting.

“They just executed,’’ Minter said. “I mean, I was telling a guy earlier, yeah, they’re still the Patriots, man. The proof is in the pudding.

“They’ve done it for years, whoever they put in there. They find a way to get it done and you know, hats off to them.’’

Jones had the experience to know that as well.

He tried to do his talking on the field but in the end came up just short.

Nora Princiotti can be reached at nora.princiotti@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter at @NoraPrinciotti.