Rapid Reactions: Cardinals unable to snap losing streak vs. Broncos
Dec 18, 2022, 6:18 PM | Updated: 10:12 pm
The Arizona Cardinals (4-10) extended their season-long losing streak to four games following their 24-15 defeat at the hands of the Denver Broncos (4-10) on Sunday.
While Arizona’s defense had one of its better games of 2022, most notably the team’s pass rush, the same couldn’t be said for an offense scrambling to find consistency.
The run game, which had been a bright spot for the Cardinals in recent weeks, was especially rough for Arizona, mustering just 73 yards on 20 carries.
Arizona Sports’ hosts, editors and reporters react to the Cardinals’ loss in Denver:
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Vince Marotta, co-host of Bickley & Marotta:
Not a whole lot to break down here in the Broncos’ 24-15 win over Arizona.
The Cardinals got horrible quarterback play and couldn’t stop the run. Colt McCoy completed 13 passes for 78 yards — that’s six yards a pop. Denver’s Latavius Murray and Marlon Mack combined for 167 yards on 29 carries — that’s 5.8 yards per attempt.
The Cardinals’ offense was awful on third down and mustered one touchdown drive, and that was punctuated by a curious decision by Kliff Kingsbury to go for two points down nine when an extra point by Matt Prater would have made it a one-possession game. Sure, DeAndre Hopkins was assaulted in the end zone and no flag was thrown, but the decision was strange.
J.J. Watt was great. Budda Baker continues to stand out with his play. Other than that, there’s not much for Cardinals fans to do but root for the calendar and the end of this mess of a season.
John Gambadoro, co-host of Burns & Gambo:
Tough watch, especially after that thrilling World Cup Final between Argentina and France. It certainly looked like everything that has happened to the Cardinals on and off the field finally caught up to them in Denver. The battle of the backups turned into the battle of Denver’s No. 2 vs. Arizona’s No. 3 after Colt McCoy got knocked out of the game on a QB sneak (not sure why they had the backup trying to get a yard on a sneak when James Conner was in the backfield) and replaced by Trace McSorley.
Arizona was just not good.
The first half was a snooze fest with eight punts, three field goals, an interception and a fumble. J.J. Watt had a solid game with his three sacks and some players clearly were playing hard, but I think emotionally, too much has happened to this team and this long season is taking a toll.
Look, this season can’t come to an end soon enough for the Cardinals and their fans. If you are looking for good news, the loss drops them to 4-10 and improved Denver to 4-10. The Cardinals’ chance of having a top-5 pick is looking great right now.
Three more games left in this miserable season and they can’t come soon enough.
Tyler Drake, co-host of Cardinals Corner and ArizonaSports.com editor:
I feel for the defense after this one.
Playing lights out for most of the game behind a monster outing from Watt, the unit still could not make up for all the bad that is currently plaguing this Cardinals offense.
On top of the continued inconsistencies the unit faces on the regular, it was dealt with another tough blow in the form of a concussion to QB Colt McCoy.
Losing McCoy, who is slated as the team’s starter the rest of the season with Kyler Murray sidelined, just adds insult to injury — no pun intended.
Trace McSorley allowed Kliff Kingsbury to open up the playbook a bit more from a creativity standpoint but was clearly lacking in the passing game department. Not the tradeoff you want.
With three games left in a lost season, it’s all about finding something to build off of heading into the offseason.
That something has yet to be discovered — and at this point, I’m not sure it’ll be found.
