Cards close in loss in spite of setbacks

Cardinals insider Bob McManaman hands out his position-by-position grades for the Cardinals following their game Sunday against the Eagles:

Pass offense: B

Kyler Murray completed 28 of 42 passes for 250 yards with a touchdown and one interception. The pick, which came during a deep shot in the first quarter, didn’t hurt the Cardinals as the Eagles went three and out on their ensuing possession. Was it Murray’s best effort? No, but he made the most out of his top three targets in Marquise Brown (eight receptions, 78 yards and a TD), Rondale Moore (seven catches, 68 yards) and Zach Ertz (six catches, 48 yards). Murray tried three other deep shots during the game and none of them were close, which is a problem Arizona must fix.

Rush offense: C

The Cardinals might have rushed for a total of 124 yards, but they haven’t had a runner dominate a single game yet through the first five weeks. Making matters worse, featured back James Conner (team-high 55 rushing yards on nine carries) left with a rib injury in the first half and didn’t return. Arizona also lost running backs Darrel Williams (knee) and Jonathan Ward (hamstring) also were injured and weren’t able to return, leaving Eno Benjamin as the only available running back left. Murray made some noise with his legs (42 yards on four runs), but it wasn’t enough. More designed run calls for him have to be a part of the plan moving forward.

Pass defense: B

Jalen Hurts made some slick throws, especially to wide receiver DeVonta Smith (10 receptions, 87 yards) and tight end Dallas Goedert (eight catches, 85 yards), but he didn’t exactly torch the Cardinals’ defense. He didn’t throw a touchdown, was sacked twice and only threw for 239 yards. Safety Jalen Thompson appeared to have picked him off once, but the play was ruled an incomplete pass. Likewise, a would-be strip sack by J.J. Watt and a subsequent fumble return for an apparent touchdown by Zaven Collins was called back and ruled an incomplete pass. The effort was there with this group.

Rush defense: C

Hurts led the Eagles with 61 rushing yards on 15 carries, but the real damage were the pair of 1-yard touchdown runs he scored that put the Cardinals behind early, 14-0. Arizona held Miles Sanders to 58 yards on 15 runs, which was under the 75-yard average he had coming into this game. His longest run was 12 yards. Linebacker Isaiah Simmons (gamehigh 13 tackles) and cornerback Byron Murphy Jr. (nine tackles, three for loss, along with a pass breakup and half a sack were outstanding.

Special teams: C

The Cardinals were successful on some fourth-down trickery during the final possession of the first half when Darrel Williams took a direct snap and ran seven yards for a first down. That kept the drive alive and eventually led to a 20-yard field goal by Matt Ammendola. At crunch time, however, when the Cardinals needed a 43-yard field goal to force overtime, Ammendola missed the kick wide right. This loss doesn’t fall on the replacement kicker’s shoulders, but the Cardinals can’t wait for trust veteran Matt Prater to return from a sore hip.

Coaching: C

Despite another slow start and falling behind 14-0, the Cardinals fought back and made this a game they could have won. Maybe they would have had they completed some deep shots down the field or if Kingsbury hadn’t decided to have Murray spike the ball with 22 seconds remaining after he thought Murray had scrambled for a first down that wasn’t. By that point, Kingsbury said he had made his mind up regardless. Time wasn’t on his side, and it was a helter-skelter situation, but he needs to be 100 percent correct in those types of situations. A tiny bit more patience may have served him well.