REPORT CARD
Cardinals insider Bob McManaman hands out his position-by-position grades for the Cardinals following their game Sunday against the New England Patriots. Observations were made on immediate available information.
Passing offense: C
Kyler Murray completed 23 of 34 passes for just 170 yards, no touchdowns and one interception. It marks the first time this season he has been held without a touchdown pass. The plays were there to be made; they just didn’t happen. No one caught a pass for 20 yards or longer. The offensive line held its own, as Murray was really only sacked once for a loss. Did Arizona miss Larry Fitzgerald? Yes, but that’s not why the Cardinals lost.
Rushing offense: B
Kenya Drake ran powerfully on most of his 25 carries for 78 yards and two touchdowns. What really hurt was him not getting in from 1 yard out on a 16play drive that went for naught at the end of the first half. He came up just short of the goal line. The Patriots also were able to take away Murray’s dangerous scrambling abilities, keying on him on every single zone-read situation and doing it well. As it were, the Cardinals finished with a respectable 138 yards rushing, even if Murray only had 31 of them on five runs.
Pass defense: A
There wasn’t much else this unit couldn’t do. It held cam Newton to just nine completions for 84 yards and no touchdowns. It also intercepted him twice and sacked him three other times, doing everything virtually right to take the Patriots’ passing game out of the equation. It’s not like New England has much of a passing game, though. Penalties were the only real blemish.
Rush defense: B
The Cardinals held the Patriots to 110 total rushing yards and no one had 50 or more on the day, which should count as a major success considering how well New England runs the ball. The problem was, the Patriots made their carries count when they really needed them two, such as on both of James White’s rushing scores and Newton’s clutch, 14-yard scamper on third and 13 near the end of the game. Isaiah Simmons’ ill-timed unnecessary roughness penalty only exacerbated things at the end of that run.
Special teams: D
When you allow a 55-yard kickoff return as the Cardinals did with Donte Moncrief, which helped set up one touchdown in a low-scoring game, and then you allow an 82-yard punt return for a touchdown that only gets nullified by a somewhat questionable illegal blindside block, and on top of that your kicker missed a 45-yard field goal that might win the game, you’ve had a bad day on special teams.
Coaching: B
If you want to criticize Kliff Kingsbury or any of the other coaches for anything, blame them for some of the penalties that keep occurring. There were six more on Sunday for 50 yards and a couple of them were huge negatives. I thought Kingsbury’s play calling overall was spot on, including his decision to give the ball to Drake at the end of the first half that didn’t work and the smarts to let the clock run down to three seconds so as to not give the Patriots any chance of scoring late. Yes, there were some communication issues, but tip your hat to the Patriots for their play and perseverance.