Cardinals beat Falcons, but there's not a lot to celebrate
https://www.azcentral.com/story/spo...r-falcons-comes-bitter-aftertaste/3971688002/
...It’s the first time the Cardinals have won consecutive games since the end of the 2017 season.
Kudos to the Cardinals for that. Beating the Bengals and Falcons, who are 1-11 combined, is nothing to brag about, although it beats the alternative.
Celebrations resulting from Sunday’s victory should be muted. The Cardinals choked away a 17-point lead in the second half to one of the other worst teams in the league, the Falcons. And they only secured the victory when Falcons kicker Matt Bryant missed an extra point with 1:53 remaining.
The week before, the Bengals came back from 14 points down to tie. Both games came down to a final kick, a field goal against the Bengals that gave the Cardinals a win, and a missed extra point by the Falcons that would have tied the game.
After each game, the Cardinals mused that owner Bill Bidwill, who died four days before the Cincinnati game, was not only watching his team, but also pushing footballs around on the missed kicks.
If Bidwill had that kind of control, then he must have kept the outcome of both games in jeopardy for his own amusement.
Afterward, the Cardinals insisted they would enjoy this victory and not return it due to defects.
That’s understandable, especially since it’s hard to win in the NFL, especially for a team like the Cardinals (2-3-1).
But it’s impossible to ignore the myriad issues the Cardinals have to address, like a new-found penchant for relinquishing leads.
To say the Cardinals blew the lead on Sunday is not correct.
What happened is they had a 17-point lead taken from them by an opponent who suddenly, inexplicably, began to play better in every phase. The same thing happened last week in Cincinnati.
Yes, the Falcons’ defense is terrible, but the Cardinals did take advantage. Offensively, the Cardinals improvement this season is obvious. Murray changes games, and Kingsbury is figuring out how to incorporate weapons such as running backs David Johnson and Chase Edmonds.
It helps, too, that four of the five starters on the offensive line have played every game.
The problem Sunday is that when the offense went into a lull in the third quarter, the defense went into the tank.
Ryan passed for 112 of his 356 yards in the quarter, and another 71 in an 83-yard touchdown drive that tied the score with 10:50 left.
It’s a recurring theme that the Cardinals had better change if they are going to beat anyone but the dregs of the league.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/spo...r-falcons-comes-bitter-aftertaste/3971688002/
...It’s the first time the Cardinals have won consecutive games since the end of the 2017 season.
Kudos to the Cardinals for that. Beating the Bengals and Falcons, who are 1-11 combined, is nothing to brag about, although it beats the alternative.
Celebrations resulting from Sunday’s victory should be muted. The Cardinals choked away a 17-point lead in the second half to one of the other worst teams in the league, the Falcons. And they only secured the victory when Falcons kicker Matt Bryant missed an extra point with 1:53 remaining.
The week before, the Bengals came back from 14 points down to tie. Both games came down to a final kick, a field goal against the Bengals that gave the Cardinals a win, and a missed extra point by the Falcons that would have tied the game.
After each game, the Cardinals mused that owner Bill Bidwill, who died four days before the Cincinnati game, was not only watching his team, but also pushing footballs around on the missed kicks.
If Bidwill had that kind of control, then he must have kept the outcome of both games in jeopardy for his own amusement.
Afterward, the Cardinals insisted they would enjoy this victory and not return it due to defects.
That’s understandable, especially since it’s hard to win in the NFL, especially for a team like the Cardinals (2-3-1).
But it’s impossible to ignore the myriad issues the Cardinals have to address, like a new-found penchant for relinquishing leads.
To say the Cardinals blew the lead on Sunday is not correct.
What happened is they had a 17-point lead taken from them by an opponent who suddenly, inexplicably, began to play better in every phase. The same thing happened last week in Cincinnati.
Yes, the Falcons’ defense is terrible, but the Cardinals did take advantage. Offensively, the Cardinals improvement this season is obvious. Murray changes games, and Kingsbury is figuring out how to incorporate weapons such as running backs David Johnson and Chase Edmonds.
It helps, too, that four of the five starters on the offensive line have played every game.
The problem Sunday is that when the offense went into a lull in the third quarter, the defense went into the tank.
Ryan passed for 112 of his 356 yards in the quarter, and another 71 in an 83-yard touchdown drive that tied the score with 10:50 left.
It’s a recurring theme that the Cardinals had better change if they are going to beat anyone but the dregs of the league.
