Cardinals offense sputters after opening drive touchdown in loss to Ravens

The Arizona Cardinals marched down the field on a 12-play opening drive for 75 yards to score a touchdown against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday at State Farm Stadium.

Quarterback Joshua Dobbs was 3-for-3 passing with 24 yards and a rushing touchdown. He found three different receivers, the rushing attack was working — life was good.

The bad news: They wouldn’t score again until the 6:32 mark of the fourth quarter.

They would end with a wild flurry, scoring 17 fourth-quarter points, but the comeback would ultimately fall short.

The Cardinals would go on to lose to Baltimore 31-24.

Dobbs would proceed to throw for 208 yards on 25-for-37, including two touchdowns and two interceptions, one of which was thrown into double-coverage inside Arizona’s own 25-yard line.

The running game, while consistent, couldn’t bail out the passing attack.

Emari Demercado, who was the primary back on Sunday, took 20 carries for 78 yards. He failed to find any splash plays, as his longest run was 13 yards and he averaged 3.9 per carry.

The defense

The Ravens took the ball down the field on their opening drive, immediately answering the Cardinals opening score, to the tune of 10 plays for 75 yards.

Outside of that sustained drive, the Cardinals defense forced Baltimore’s Jordan Stout to punt five times and held this generation’s best field goal kicker, Justin Tucker, to 1-for-2 on field goal opportunities.

Lamar Jackson primarily attacked through the air, which, as one of the most prolific running quarterbacks in the league. He was 18-for-27 for 157 yards and a touchdown. On the ground, he had five carries for 17 yards.

Big plays were limited, which is another positive. Rashod Bateman had a 29-yard reception and Justice Hill had a 24-yard catch, but neither went for scores.

Sacks were in good supply, with Dante Stills (1.5), BJ Ojulari (one), Ben Stille (one) and Victor Dimukeje (0.5) getting to Jackson.

The big takeaway from all of the stats, or lack-thereof, is the zero in the takeaways column for the Cardinals.