CARDS’ REPORT CARD
Cardinals insider Bob McManaman hands out his position-by-position grades for the Cardinals following their game Sunday against the Browns:
Passing offense: A
How can it be anything else but an ‘A’ when your quarterback throws for four touchdowns in the team’s fourth rod win of the season and he’s getting the plays called in from the sideline by an assistant wide receivers coach instead of the head coach, who’s under quarantine due to testing positive for COVID-19. Look, Kyler Murray wasn’t perfect, but he was close enough given the circumstances. He didn’t have a turnover, he spread the ball around and three different receivers had TDs.
Rushing offense: A
Arizona might have had more rushing yards in its win two weeks ago at the Rams, but putting up 144 on a Browns’ defense that was stellar against the run is impressive. James Conner carried the bulk of the load and was a horse with 71 yards on 16 carries. He was especially reliable during an 11-play, 93-yard drive that chewed up a lot of the lock in the fourth quarter to put the Browns to bed. The run blocking was superb for much of the game. Murray’s four fumbles were a problem, but he didn’t lose any of them.
Passing defense: B
In holding Cleveland to 14 points, I’d say this unit more than held its own. There were two drives at the end of the first half the Cardinals and defensive coordinator Vance Joseph would like to have back, especially the 57-yard Hail Murray from Baker Mayfield to Donovan Peoples-Jones for a touchdown at the end of the second quarter. Short of that, however, most of the plays that needed to happen got made, whether it was by cornerback Robert Alford, pass rushers Markus Golden and J.J. Watt, or linebacker Jordan Hicks. Everybody contributed. Arizona sacked Mayfield five times and forced three turnovers.
Rushing defense: A
The Browns were averaging 187.6 rushing yards per game and even though they were playing without No.1 running back Nick Chubb because of a calf injury, they kept Cleveland’s other talented tailback, Kareem Hunt, in check. Hunt was held to 66 yards on 14 carries before leaving with a calf injury during the fourth quarter. Arizona caused two fumbles and recovered each of them. Only four of Cleveland’s 16 first downs came via the run.
Special teams: A
Matt Prater was 3 for 3 on field goals, including a 51-yarder, and the Cardinals didn’t let anything the Browns did on special teams affect the outcome of the game. Arizona, meanwhile, made no glaring mistakes despite coordinator Jeff Rodgers being busy helping out with head-coaching duties.
Coaching: A
Some critics might find plenty of little things to nitpick, but hey, when you’re without your head coach, who just happens to be your offensive play caller and you still score 37 points, there’s no sense in nitpicking. Spencer Whipple did an impressive job stepping in for Kliff Kingsbury and making the play calls and relaying them out on the field to Murray. So much could have gone wrong across the board and it didn’t. Kudos also to Joseph, Rodgers and running game coordinator/offensive line coach Sean Kugler as each of them stepped in to help replace Kingsbury and quarterbacks coach Cam Turner.
Best bet
The Browns were 31⁄2-point favorites but got beat by 23 points. The teams combined for 51 points, however, to hit the over on the over/under line (49.5).