Cardinals’ epic collapse vs. Titans goes beyond Emari Demercado’s fumble

TEMPE — Emari Demercado’s early celebration and fumble out of the end zone stands out as the biggest reason the Arizona Cardinals came up short against the lowly Tennessee Titans.

Those pointing fingers in that direction have every right to. For a team that has preached “team over you,” Demercado’s actions were the opposite.

Instead of burying the Titans with a long touchdown run in the third quarter, Demercado instead breathed life into a zombified Tennessee squad.

An avalanche ensued, with the Cardinals watching the Titans put up 16 unanswered points from that moment on.

It’s hard not to look at Demercado as the main culprit for Arizona’s Week 5 failures.

But before you send that tweet asking for his release, the running back’s mental lapse wasn’t the only issue in the Cardinals’ third straight loss.

As head coach Jonathan Gannon put it postgame, “it’s never about one play” (even if the optics scream otherwise).

Not putting the ball in the franchise quarterback’s hands late

While there’s another obvious turnover to get to, let’s start with the end-of-game operation by the Cardinals offense and what it didn’t do.

Sputtering its way to the finish line after putting up 21 points with ease in less than two quarters of work, the Cardinals offense recorded five punts and two fumbles from the middle of the second quarter on yet still a chance to put things away.

But when it came to make-or-break time, the Cardinals failed to let Murray win one for the home crowd.

Facing a third-and-8 with 2:14 still on the clock following a pair of runs, offensive coordinator Drew Petzing put the ball in Michael Carter’s hands instead of Murray’s.

Carter did a fine job early on as the Cardinals’ lead back, but when push comes to shove, at least give the franchise signal caller a chance, whether it be on the ground or through the air. That’s why they’re paying him.

“I talked to Drew about it. I think we got to put our guys in a little bit of a better spot there,” Gannon said, adding it was a learning experience for himself. “We were expecting one thing, they didn’t give it to us.”

“I could have used the time out there that’s something I could have done a little bit better because I know he didn’t really love the call, either.”

More offensive slop

The poor end-of-game mechanics weren’t the only offensive issues that plagued the Cardinals through two and a half quarters.

After finding a groove early on in the first 25 minutes of action, rattling off touchdown drives in three out of their first four possessions, the Cardinals ran into a wall of miscommunication and sloppy play.

Murray taking a headshot from a botched snap deep in Tennessee territory stands out as a great example.

The @Titans defense jumps on the lose ball for the takeaway!

TENvsAZ on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXnxV pic.twitter.com/0EVrGnGCBD

— NFL (@NFL) October 5, 2025

Instead of extending their 21-6 lead by a field goal or better, Arizona walked away embarrassed and empty handed.

“We were on the wrong snap count there,” Gannon said.

Three years into the system with loads of continuity — and needing to find some kind of consistency in 2025 — that’s a massive miss.

Penalties continue to be a problem, too, with Arizona’s offense committing four in the third quarter alone (two were declined).

The same goes for not getting Marvin Harrison Jr. consistently involved throughout a full game.

Despite setting a season high in receiving yardage in the first quarter (79), he was targeted just two more times and added just 19 more yards on one catch the rest of the way.

“We got to keep getting the ball to our playmakers. I would say that,” Gannon said.

Rabbit loses his handle

Demercado wasn’t the only Cardinal with a fumble in the wildest of ways on Sunday.

Looking to be the potential knockout punch Demercado appeared to be a quarter prior, Dadrion “Rabbit” Taylor-Demerson made a great play on tipped pass by Cam Ward for a red zone interception with 4:53 left to play.

But just as it looked like the Cardinals were once again in control, the ball squeaked out of Rabbit’s grasp. The scramble ensued, with the Titans somehow ending up with the ball in the end zone.

Absolute CHAOS that ends with the @Titans getting six points pic.twitter.com/uIKz5BvrBW

— NFL (@NFL) October 5, 2025

That 21-12 lead suddenly evaporated to 21-19 in the worst of ways.

“Unlucky bounce, unlucky play for us,” Gannon said. “We had chances to get on it. We got to do a better job getting on it.”

It’s closing time?

Sure, the offense should have put the game away late.

The same goes for the defense, which couldn’t close out a game for a third consecutive week.

After looking like it had a beat on Titans rookie Cam Ward through most of the afternoon, Arizona allowed the signal caller to rip off nearly 200 yards in the fourth quarter alone.

The most important chunk of that came in the final drive to win the game, with Ward accounting for 60 of the final 71 yards in the 11-play possession needed to put Joey Slye in position to walk things off.

“We’ve been in two-minute mechanics as I would call them on defense and haven’t got stops,” Gannon said. “It’s a different point in the game, but we were in two-minute mechanics at the end of the half and forced a turnover on downs on that drive. I know it’s in there and I know we can do it. Do we got to get in some different calls?

“Do we got to look at deploying people a little bit different? Do we got to do some different things? Are the rushers where they need to be? I know we definitely can do it. It’s up to us to do it and close out the game when the defense is on the field. There’ll be urgency to make sure that we’re on point with doing that.”

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