Rapid reactions: Cardinals start fast, fall flat in loss to Bills

The Arizona Cardinals’ strong start wasn’t enough in their 34-28 season-opening loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.

After putting up 10 unanswered points and taking a 17-10 advantage into the half, the Cardinals simply couldn’t keep up against a Josh Allen-led Bills squad that responded in the second half with a trio of touchdowns and a game-sealing field goal.

Arizona Sports’ hosts, editors and reporters gave their biggest takeaways from the Cardinals’ season opener:

John Gambadoro, co-host of Burns & Gambo: Lot of the same old, same old. Cardinals played well for a half and had a 17-3 lead but in the end, lost another one score game. Last year they were 2-5 in such games. This year they start out 0-1. The problem with this game was simple — the offense is supposed to carry the team and it stopped doing that after the 17-3 lead. Arizona’s defense allowed Buffalo to score touchdowns at the end of the first half and beginning of the second half to wipe away all the good the team had done in building a two-touchdown lead.

But the inability of Kyler Murray to move the offense is what led to this loss.

In the second half, the Cardinals went three-and-out, turnover on second play, eight plays for a field goal, kick return for a touchdown, three-and-out and turnover on downs after nine plays. The offense accounted for a whopping three points in the second half. An offense that had 190 total yards in the first half finished with 270 for the game. Quick math: They had 80 second-half yards. Murray passed for 131 yards in the first half and he finished with 162 — yup, that is just 31 yards in the second half and all but three of those yards came in the final two minutes on the last possession.

For a quarterback that to me still has a lot to prove, Sunday was not a day he proved anything. He did all the work in the offseason — and we all give him a ton of credit for that — but now the results matter. And Sunday, he failed to get the job done.

Dave Burns, co-host of Burns & Gambo: Last year we would have been fine with this. Losing a close game in an environment like Buffalo to one of the five (two?) best quarterbacks in the NFL would have been cause for encouragement. Those days are long gone. Now, when Jonathan Gannon says things like “Sundays (are) where you get measured,” we take those words and apply them to a different standard.

Despite the stuff to like there was plenty of stuff not to like. Murray’s second half. Some of the play-calling in the second half. A defense that earned the doubt that has been cast on them. It doesn’t mean the good stuff didn’t happen or doesn’t have its place, but leading 17-3 on the road only to lose just doesn’t provide the comfort it might have a year ago.

In some ways, the game was a validation of what many have said about the Cardinals; the offense needs to be elite to make up for a defense that lacks difference makers. Sunday’s game followed that concept to the letter.

The hope is that the defense will improve and not give up six yards per play (that number was hovering around 7.5 for a big chunk of the game). Likely though, this is going to come down to Murray and Marvin Harrison Jr. fast-tracking their chemistry. Our poll question on Friday asked the question who would lead the Cardinals in receptions on Sunday. I didn’t think MHJ would be first in that category, but he should never ever be last.

Tyler Drake, Arizona Sports Cardinals beat writer and Cardinals Corner co-host: Exactly what the Cardinals needed to do right out of the gates, they did. Arizona went right at Buffalo’s new-look defense behind a heavy dose of James Conner and Murray. The result was a 17-3 advantage that included an added boost from a defensive takeaway. For Arizona to have a chance in football games, this is the kind of start that is needed week in and week out.

Arizona, however, did not replicate any of that early success over the remaining quarters.

The Bills clearly made the appropriate halftime adjustments. The Cardinals? Not so much, with Murray struggling to complete a pass behind an offensive line that was getting beat left and right and already down a man in the second half. Not getting Harrison more than three targets is something that cannot happen moving forward, either.

Allen meanwhile took it to Arizona’s defense behind a pair of passing touchdowns and a rushing score in the second half. Even with the added pieces brought in, Arizona’s defensive talent just couldn’t keep up with the handful of Bills playmakers.

If not for DeeJay Dallas making noise with a 96-yard kick return late, this could have looked a whole lot uglier for the Cardinals despite the promising start.

Kevin Zimmerman, ArizonaSports.com lead editor: It might take time to judge whether that was a close call against a playoff team or even a Super Bowl contender, but in the one-game vacuum it is, all signs point to the Cardinals being an average football team. Arizona didn’t win the halftime adjustment game, as Murray’s first half (16-of-19 for 131 passing yards) withered into a 5-of-12, 31-yard second half. And 28 of those yards came in the final desperate drive.

Some of it’s on Murray. But his second half was also a shot of reality about the talent base. Murray was targeting Greg Dortch down the stretch and Harrison only got three targets all game. There were drops by everyone. The Cardinals’ collection of skill players is diverse. But is it exceptional?

Further, the offensive line depth is already a problem. And the defense, while without egregious mistakes, just doesn’t have the talent to compete even against a Bills team that had plenty of questions about its offense heading into the year.

Kellan Olson, Arizona Sports at Night co-host: It’s a strange angle to take when the Cardinals scored 28 points on the road against a contender, but I left this game more concerned about the offense than the defense. We knew the defense was going to suck. It did. But the offense was incredibly reliant on the run game and short throws, which worked beautifully until it didn’t. James Conner only averaged 3.1 yards per carry as the Cardinals oddly spammed outside runs when he clearly wasn’t creating enough room. Murray rarely threw intermediate passes, let alone going further down the field.

We are doing “rapid reactions” here, so I’ll hold off on who deserves blame for Harrison only having 3 targets until the all-22 footage gets looked at, but someone deserves it. Lost in the shuffle of that was Trey McBride being restricted to little stuff over the middle through five catches for 30 yards. This offense either has to gash opponents in the run game or have consistent big-play ability via Harrison and McBride. If they don’t, the Cardinals will lose a whole lot of games and we saw none of that from the offense in Buffalo.

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