REPORT CARD
Cardinals insider Bob McManaman hands out his position-by-position grades for the Cardinals following their game Sunday against the Miami Dolphins. Observations were made on immediate available information.
PASSING OFFENSE: BKyler
Murray completed 21 of 26 passes, but he didn’t complete nearly enough to DeAndre Hopkins, who wasn’t targeted a single time in the first half. Christian Kirk stepped up with five catches for 123 yards, including a 56-yard touchdown. Even though Murray finished with 283 passing yards and was only sacked once, imagine how this game might have turned out had Hopkins (three catches, 30 yards) been utilized with more urgency.
RUSHING OFFENSE: AArizona
was missing starting running back Kenyan Drake because of an ankle injury and yet still rushed for 178 yards, its third-highest output this season. Murray was the difference, running 11 times for a career-high 106 yards and a touchdown. Chase Edmonds was steady, but never broke a run longer than six yards. He finished with 70 yards on 25 carries — a 2.8-yard average per run. In the biggest moments late, the run game fell short.
PASS DEFENSE: C
Dolphins offensive coordinator Chan Gailey opened things up for quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and the rookie left hander took advantage of it, finishing with 248 yards on 20 of 28 passing. Tagovailoa threw two touchdowns, one to Preston Williams and another to Mack Hollins that tied the score late. Markus Golden and Josh Mauro, making their season debuts in their second stint with the Cardinals, each had a sack. Cornerback Kevin Peterson had a rough game in coverage and left with a concussion. Penalties were once again a problem.
RUSH DEFENSE: B
Miami ran the ball 25 times and finished with 91 yards on the ground. Salvon Ahmed, in his first action of the season, led the way with 38 yards on seven carries. Jonathan Howard got the start with both Myles Gaskin and Matt Breida out with injuries and the Cardinals limited him to just 19 yards on 10 carries. They let Tagovailoa escape from what seemed to be a certain sack late and scramble for a 17-yard gain that helped set up the game-tying touchdown.
SPECIAL TEAMS: D
Kicker Zane Gonzalez made a 37-yard field goal early, but with the game on the line and a chance to force overtime, he didn’t get nearly enough on a 49-yard attempt and it fell short. Andy Isabella fumbled the second-half kickoff and somehow managed to recover the ball. Kirk, meanwhile, lost four yards on the Cardinals’ only punt return. It wasn’t pretty overall.
COACHING: CKliff
Kingsbury cost his team three points at the end of the first half when he inadvertently called time out, thinking Isabella had gotten enough yardage for a first down on a third-and-7 pass play. He was short of the marker, however, and it gave the Dolphins enough time to pad their lead to 24-17 on a field goal. Others will criticize Kingsbury for taking the ball out of Murray’s hands and giving it to Edmonds on a late, fourth-down attempt, but the play was there if it would have been executed. Not getting the ball to Hopkins falls squarely on Kingsbury, however.