The Arizona Cardinals didn’t win in Week 1, settling for a 27-27 tie with the Detroit Lions. However, after falling behind by 18 points, it almost feels like a win in the debuts for coach Kliff Kingsbury and quarterback Kyler Murray.
The game was ugly. Then it was amazing. Then it was disappointing.
Here is what we learned in Week 1:
Atrocious offense for 3 quarters
The Cardinals had 58 yards of offense at the half. They had 100 yards after three quarters. Kingsbury’s offense was supposed to bring yards and points. This looked as bad as last season’s historically bad offense. Kingsbury blamed himself, saying he thought he was trying to do too much.
He also said he tried get “too cute” and use too many different personnel groups.
They didn’t give up
Despite being down by 18 points in the fourth quarter, the Cardinals showed resiliency. Kingsbury was impressed by Murray and the turnaround.
“To go through that as a rookie in your first start, to find a way to bring his team back like he did, that says a lot about him,” he said.
Kingsbury also said he was impressed with the way the players fought through the adversity.
“It’s easy to lay down when it was going that bad,” he said.
Justin Murray gets start
After starting right tackle Marcus Gilbert went down with a knee injury on Thursday, the Cardinals kept everyone in the dark about who would start in his place. Rather than move people around the offensive line, they put Murray in the lineup after he’d been with the team only a few days. It was always the plan.
“That’s why we picked him up,” Kingsbury said after the game. “Sharp guy, works hard at it and picked it up.”
David Johnson produced like it was 2016
After gross misuse in 2018, it looks like the Cardinals know what to do with Johnson. He ran the ball 18 times for 82 yards, good for more than 4.5 yards per attempt. He also caught six passes for 55 yards and a scored a touchdown. In all, it was 137 yards from scrimmage. It is only one game, but that sort of performance projects to more than 1,300 rushing yards and almost 2,200 total yards from scrimmage.
Larry is a legend still
Kyler Murray said it best after the game: “The man’s still got it.” He had eight catches for 113 yards and a touchdown, including a 41-yard catch early in the fourth quarter that seemed to ignite the offense. He also had a 45-yard catch in overtime, setting up Arizona’s field goal.
They got sacks from their pass rushers
Chandler Jones had a sack, forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Terrell Suggs had two sacks and a forced fumble. Suggs added two tackles for loss, and Jones had two other QB hits.
Kyler Murray didn’t run much
Murray moved around a lot but did not try to use his legs to make big plays. He was sacked five times and rushed only three times for 13 yards. It was almost as if he were actively trying not to run.
Good and bad pass defense
The Cardinals didn’t do particularly well in defending the pass. Matthew Stafford threw for 385 yards and three touchdowns. The Cardinals did not get an interception. T.J. Hockensen and Danny Amendola each had over 100 receiving yards. However, the Arizona defense did make some plays. Chris Jones had a big downfield pass breakup. Tramaine Brock broke up what would have been the game-winning touchdown pass in overtime and broke up the final throw of the game to preserve the tie. Byron Murphy was physical and made plays.
A tie was better than a loss
No one on the Cardinals was thrilled about the result of the game, but they weren’t upset. The common quote was that “it’s better than a loss.” This tie, unlike the tie they had in 2016 against the Seattle Seahawks, felt better because they had to rally from 18 points down. It looked like they were going to lose badly and they salvaged the game, even if it wasn’t a win. It is better than a loss and, as one player said after the game, they are “still undefeated.”
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