Notes from the Nest: Cardinals vs. Buccaneers

GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Cardinals are back at University of Phoenix Stadium looking to avoid an 0-2 start to their season. Standing in the way between them and victory No. 1 are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who last week knocked off the Atlanta Falcons on the road and come in with an offense that is very capable of piling up points.

Arizona, meanwhile, will look to get off to a fast start offensively after failing to do so last week against New England.

The Cardinals are favored but this should be a good one, so let’s get to it. Tampa Bay won the coin toss and elected to kick.

2:00 left in fourth quarter

Cardinals are running out the string here and it looks like over in Los Angeles, the Rams are going to knock off the Seahawks. Big upset, and the entire NFC West will be 1-1.

2:57 left in fourth quarter

Defense forces a three-and-out, and the punt gives Arizona the ball at its own 16. This game is over, and the clock cannot move fast enough.

Cards starting to empty the bench. Evan Mathis left last series, and now rookie Evan Boehm is in at center.

3:49 left in fourth quarter

Cards get a first down on a pass to Darren Fells and burn a little more clock, but ultimately punt. Bucs take over at their 19.

7:35 left in fourth quarter

Cardinals get pressure on Winston and force a punt, which is fair caught at the Arizona 18.

8:42 left in fourth quarter

Cardinals go three-and-out as Stanton overthrows his tight end on a screen and then misses on a ball down the field. Punt is a decent one, and a penalty on TB pushes the Bucs back even more. They take over at their own 21.

9:42 left in fourth quarter

Cardinals force a punt after some pressure forced an errant Winston throw. Punt rolls into the end zone and the ball will go to the 25. Cardinals take over with Drew Stanton in at QB. Carson Palmer’s day is done, and it’s a well-deserved break from here.

12:11 left in fourth quarter

Cards got even closer and then it was the Chris Johnson show. The RB got a couple of carries and took the second one in from three yards out. His helmet came off and he was flagged for taunting, but the refs deemed that it was knocked off. I disagree, but whatever. Nice run.

The PAT is good and the score is 40-7.

14:09 left in fourth quarter

Palmer hits Fitz for a 13-yard gain. Larry had to dive for that one and while it didn’t look easy, for Fitzgerald it’s almost routine. Cards at the Tampa 22.

End of third quarter

Palmer hits David Johnson down the sideline for a gain of 23 and the quarter ends with the score Arizona 33, Tampa Bay 7. Cardinals are at the Tampa Bay 35.

1:58 left in third quarter

Bucs march down the field and almost come up with a big first down deep in AZ territory, but Vincent Jackson couldn’t hang onto the pass on third down. Robert Aguayo misses a 45-yard field goal attempt, and the Cardinals take over at their 35.

4:45 left in third quarter

Kickoff sails for a touchback. First play is a run that goes for nine, and D.J. Swearinger leaves the field with trainers following the play.

5:03 left in third quarter

Cardinals give up a first down to Shorts and then Winston’s pass is batted up at the line before it falls into the hands of Marcus Cooper, who takes it back 60 yards for a score. It’s Cooper’s second pick of the day, and the Cardinals may have found their new starting CB.

Catanzaro’s PAT is no good this time, but the score is 33-7 Cardinals.

6:06 left in third quarter

Cardinals let the Bucs escape a first-and-long situation with some passes, and after a Sims run went for seven yards after it probably should have gone for two, Calais Campbell is slow to get up. He jogged off the field, though.

Bucs are at their own 47 and driving. Arizona’s defense was good in the first half, but this game is not over and another TD drive here would make things a little interesting.

7:56 left in third quarter

Cardinals get a HUGE chunk of yards when a short pass to David Johnson turns into a 58-yard gain. Chris Johnson goes nowhere on his carry after that, then Palmer is nearly picked when he and David Johnson were clearly not on the same page, and then on third down the QB is sacked when it appeared no one was open down the field.

Catanzaro comes in and drills a 40-yard field goal, and the lead is now 27-7.

10:01 left in third quarter

And the Bucs are on the board! Mike Evans finally gets the better of Patrick Peterson on a 19-yard pass. It was a nice route and throw — didn’t seem like there was much Peterson could do.

That Tampa drive featured some solid offense, with short screens that went for good yardage. Earlier in the drive Peterson had a chance to end things when an overthrown ball went right through his hands.

Anyway, the score is now 24-7 so this one isn’t over yet.

15:00 left in third quarter

Kickoff is a touchback, Bucs start at their own 25.

End of first half

Markus Golden gets a sack, the Bucs take a knee and the score is 24-0 at the half. Safe to say this is more like what people expected from the Cardinals this season.

:27 left in second quarter

Cardinals pick up nine on a pass to Fells, but he cut back inside when he should have run out of bounds and burned a timeout. On next play Palmer steps up in the pocket and fires a perfect pass to Jaron Brown, who had gotten behind the coverage. It’s a 51-yard touchdown, and with the PAT the score is 24-0.

:35 left in second quarter

Deep in their own territory, the Cards have moved near midfield with a nice David Johnson run and a pass to John Brown. It’s first and 10 from the Arizona 40, and with a couple timeouts left they may not be done yet.

1:30 left in second quarter

Fitz was ruled down at the one and after a couple if incomplete passes (why not run?), Palmer finds Floyd in the back of the end zone for a score. Play calling was a bit on the cute side and it almost cost the Cardinals, but I guess all’s well that ends well.

The PAT is good and it is 17-0 home team.

1:51 left in second quarter

Palmer finds Fitz for a nice ball on a post. Fitzgerald reached for the end zone and was ruled to have scored, though replay seems to show that he was down shy of the goal line. In fact, his knee was at the 2.5 or so and the ball at the two. Looks like the Cardinals will have first and goal from there.

2:00 left in second quarter

David Johnson takes a short pass and goes for 16, including a “get off me” shove to a defender. Cardinals are at the Tampa 25 and in good shape at the moment.

2:42 left in second quarter

Cardinals were in trouble after a couple of incomplete passes, but Palmer found a wide open Jaron Brown in the middle of the field for a gain of 27. Cards at the Tampa 41.

3:06 left in second quarter

Winston dropped back to pass and pumped the ball before somehow losing it. Was he bumped by Sims? Maybe, but either way the ball squirted away and was jumped on by Tony Jefferson. Cardinals take over at their own 32 and that is their third turnover of the game.

3:43 left in second quarter

Refs somehow don’t overturn the call, instead letting it stand. Cards force a third down but give up a pass play, and the drive continues. Currently it’s 2nd and 9 at the Arizona 29.

5:23 left in second quarter

A couple of Chris Johnson runs were followed by a short pass to Darren Fells, who was unable to fall forward on the tackle to pick up the first. Butler came in and blasted another punt, this one angled toward the sideline, but it was returned to the Tampa 49. It looks like Humphries, the returner, stepped out out bounds before then, however, and the challenge flag is out.

7:32 left in second quarter

Cardinals almost get off the field with a nice stop but Marcus Cooper is flagged for pass interference on third down. It was a close call but probably the right one. The Bucs get nothing else from there, though, and are forced to punt. It bounces inside the Arizona five but goes back to the nine, which is where the offense will take over.

Cardinals still not getting much pressure on Winston, though the second-year QB has not been particularly accurate.

11:44 left in second quarter

Kickoff goes for a touchback and Tama Bay starts at its own 25. Bad news for them, though, as it was announced running back Doug Martin has a hamstring injury and is doubtful to return. Charles Sims is a capable backup, but he’s not Martin.

11:45 left in second quarter

We got to see Chris Johnson on the ensuing drive, as he had a nine-yard run and then another short carry. Cardinals picked up a first down but stalled at the Tampa Bay 5. Chandler Catanzaro came in and knocked in a 22-yard field goal, and while a touchdown is obviously preferable, points are points.

The Cardinals are now up 10-0.

14:05 left in second quarter

Cardinals put CB Marcus Cooper in the game in place of Brandon Williams, and on second down he picks off Winston on a ball that he didn’t grab so much as it just found him. At any rate, the return was to the Tampa 19 and the Cardinals are in business.

14:54 left in second quarter

Second quarter begins with the Bucs being flagged for encroachment, which gave the Cardinals a first down at the TB 4. First play from there Palmer found Fitzgerald in the back of the end zone for a touchdown, and with the PAT, the Cardinals are now up 7-0.

The way Palmer and Fitzgerald are in sync is truly something special.

End of first quarter

The quarter ends with Palmer throwing a TE screen to Darren Fells, who looks like he may have taken a wrong cut inside but still got seven yards. When play resumes the Cardinals will face a 3rd and three from the Tampa Bay 8.

Score is 0-0, by the way.

:32 left in first quarter

Palmer finds Fitz again on third down to pick up the first, then David Johnson is stopped for no gain on first down. So, Cards have 2nd down at the TB 15.

1:22 left in first quarter

Cardinals moving the ball some with a mixture of David Johnson runs and timely Carson Palmer passes, the biggest of which was a 25-yard dime to Larry Fitzgerald in Tampa Bay territory. A short run followed by an incomplete pass makes it 3rd and 9 from the Tampa Bay 26.

5:06 left in first quarter

Cardinals force a punt and get off the field after Winston throws incomplete to Vincent Jackson. The throw was off and for what it’s worth, it looked like Brandon Williams had good coverage on the play.

John Brown came in to return the punt, and he brought the short kick back to the Arizona 33.

6:21 left in first quarter

Cardinals give up a first down on a pass to Mike Evans and then force the Bucs into a third-and-long, where Winston finds Humphries with a nice pass. The Cards tried to bring pressure but didn’t get near the QB, which allowed for the completion. Bucs up at their own 38.

8:49 left in first quarter

Cardinals pick up a first down on a good David Johnson run but drive stalls after Darren Fells has a nice pass knocked out of his hands. It came on 3rd and 2 and I don’t know, this looks like a game that David Johnson should get a healthy dose of touches in. More of him would be a good idea, in my opinion.

Butler comes on to punt and gets off a beauty, as returner Adam Humphries is drilled by Justin Bethel at the Tampa Bay seven as soon as he caught the ball. Welcome to the season, JB>

10:28 left in first quarter

Bucs were moving the ball fairly easily, finding some holes and moving the ball to midfield. However, Jameis Winston decided to try to find Mike Evans on a deep post, but Patrick Peterson was with him the entire way and picked off the slightly overthrown ball. Peterson did a great job of tracking the ball, and then returned it from the end zone to the Arizona 25.

Cardinals get the big turnover, let’s see if the offense can take advantage.

13:10 left in first quarter

Cardinals picked up a first down on a nice catch by Michael Floyd, but a short David Johnson run was followed by a pair of incomplete passes and they were forced to punt. On third down, it appeared Floyd did not come back to the ball and thus allowed the defender to make a play.

Butler’s punt went 48 yards with minimal return, and the Bucs take over at their 17.