The Arizona Cardinals were unable to get their first win of the season on Sunday. They got an early lead and pulled ahead briefly in the second half but things fell apart late. In the end, it was a 38-20 loss to the Carolina Panthers, dropping them to 0-2-1 on the season.
What can we take away from the game?
They got early offense
In their previous two weeks, the Cardinals struggled to get in sync early in the game. They changed that against the Panthers. They scored a touchdown in their first drive of the game. They also scored a touchdown on the opening possession of the second half. In both instances, it gave them the lead.
They were better on third down and in the red zone
The red zone had been an issue all season and third down was a problem last week. The Cardinals scored two touchdowns in three red zone trips against the Panthers. After going 2-for-11 on third down in Week 2, they improved that to 9-of-17. However, they only went 2-for-7 on third down in the second half.
Kyler Murray used his legs
Murray finally opened up the part of his game he was most known for — his running. He led the team in rushing with 69 yards, including a 20-yard run, and seemed to unlock something new in the offense.
However, it didn’t last.
Murray sacked way too many times
The sacks keep coming. He was sacked eight times on Sunday against the Panthers. It was bad but not as bad as it seems. One was running out of bounds behind the line of scrimmage instead of throwing the ball away. Once he was tripped by a teammate. Once he slipped. On many, he simply waited too long to get rid of the ball or to try and scramble. However, eight sacks is far too many.
Chandler Jones’ sacks are very productive
Jones had two sacks and forced a fumble each time. In three games, he has three sacks and all three have forced a fumble. He has recovered two of them.
After Jones, there was little pressure on Kyle Allen
Jones had the Cardinals’ only two sacks of the game. The Cardinals only had three combined QB hits. They simply did not get pressure on Allen, even when they had three edge rushers — Jones, Terrell Suggs and Cassius Marsh — in the game at the same time for some plays.
Backup QB picked the defense apart
As a result of the lack of pressure, Allen thrived. He completed over 73 percent of his passes (19-of-26) for 261 yards and had four touchdown passes. Having a healthy quarterback was just what the Panthers needed.
Christian McCaffrey ran over the Cardinals
The run defense wasn’t good. McCaffrey rushed for 153 yards on 24 carries. 76 of those yards came on one play but it wasn’t as if the defense was stuffing him much otherwise. Take out the 76-yard touchdown run and he had 77 yards on 23 carries. That’s not great but not bad. But it is never okay to give up a 76-yard run.
More tight end issues but no century mark
The Cardinals did not give up 100 receiving yards to a tight end for the first time this season. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a problem. Olsen led the Panthers with six catches for 75 yards and had two touchdowns. On the season, tight ends have five touchdown receptions against Arizona.
The offense sputtered
The Cardinals had 141 yards of offense in the first half. They had 216 total yards after their first possession of the third quarter. They finished with 248 yards. Their final five drives netted minus-16 yards and resulted in two turnovers.
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