Mistakes on offense, defense, special teams doom Arizona Cardinals in loss to Seahawks

Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said there was plenty of blame to go around for his team’s 19-3 loss Sunday at the Seattle Seahawks, citing mistakes on offense, defense and special teams.

For starters, Arians said the offensive line didn’t give quarterback Drew Stanton enough time to throw. Stanton went 14-of-26 for 149 yards, no touchdowns and one interception, and he was sacked three times.

“We ran the ball OK but we did not protect the quarterback well. We had guys open,” Arians said.

When Stanton did have time to operate, his receivers didn’t always do their part. Wide receiver Jaron Brown and running back Andre Ellington both dropped multiple passes Sunday, and Brown’s drop on what should have been an easy touchdown reception in the final seconds of the first half proved costly.

“We didn’t protect him well enough in the first half, then we got that nice drive right before the half and we don’t catch a touchdown,” Arians said.

Arians was also critical of his defense’s inability to tackle quarterback Russell Wilson, as well as the Cards’ subpar special-teams performance.

Indeed, two of the game’s most important plays came on special teams. Chandler Catanzaro, who converted his first 17 field-goal attempts of the season to tie a rookie record, missed a 49-yard try in the first quarter — his second consecutive miss — that would have tied the game at 3-3.

In the third quarter, Seattle blocked an Arizona punt that set up a field goal. How did the Seahawks get to the ball? The Cardinals took the field one man short.

“Everything in today’s game was self-inflicted. We had 10 men on a punt and the punt gets blocked,” Arians said. “We don’t tackle. We don’t block. It’s a very simple game.

“Our kicker’s got to kick better, our guys have got to tackle better and we’ve got to block better.”