Rapid reactions: Cardinals left searching for answers after blowout loss to Packers
Oct 13, 2024, 1:45 PM | Updated: 5:04 pm
Sunday was far from pretty for the Cardinals as missed opportunities and miscues marked Arizona’s 34-13 loss to the Packers in Green Bay.
The Cardinals passing game has performed well below expectation, namely the connection between Kyler Murray and Marvin Harrison Jr., who is now dealing with a concussion.
Plus, an undermanned defense became even more so as three starters left the game with injuries.
Here’s what our Arizona Sports hosts and staff thought about the rough loss:
Our reactions to Cardinals’ loss to the Packers in Week 6:
Vince Marotta, co-host of Bickley & Marotta Mornings: Sunday’s 34-13 loss to the Packers was almost a completely lifeless effort by the Cardinals.
There was one brief glimmer of hope, but the Cardinals killed themselves with penalties. After digging a 24-0 hole, Arizona reeled off 10 points before halftime and had the ball to start the second half — and they were moving it. First-and-10 at the Green Bay 25, and Kyler Murray took a delay of game penalty. Inexcusable, especially when the offense was showing signs of life. Two snaps later, right tackle Kelvin Beachum was called for an illegal formation for not being on the line of scrimmage. Was it a ticky-tack call? Absolutely. But when you play offensive line, your first assignment is TO BE ON THE OFFENSIVE LINE! The Cardinals settled for a field goal to cut the lead to 11.
On the first Green Bay drive of the second half, the Packers converted a third down on a Jordan Love scramble and Sean Murphy-Bunting got called for defensive holding that was tacked on to the end of the run. Four plays later, it appeared that the Cards defense got a stop on a third-and-one at their 31, but Murphy-Bunting got called for holding. Again. Three plays later, Love hit Romeo Doubs on a 20-yard touchdown pass. Ball game.
The Cardinals were completely disorganized in all three phases of the game. They committed 13 penalties for 100 yards, just a week after committing one in the win over the 49ers. It was a nightmarish day for the defensive line, the pass rush, the cornerbacks, the wide receivers, the offensive line, the coaching staff — and with the number of injuries that piled up, the training staff too.
We’re six games into the season and we really have zero proof that the much-talked-about Cardinals draft class hasn’t been a total whiff. That might be extreme, but we’ve yet to see Darius Robinson and what we’ve seen from Max Melton and Trey Benson has been underwhelming.
And the consternation about Marvin Harrison Jr. continues. Before he left the game with a concussion, MHJ was targeted twice. The first one, again, was a study in miscommunication between he and Murray. The second one was a throw in traffic. The ball hit him in the facemask and on the way to the ground, Harrison hit his head on the thigh of a Green Bay defender. He didn’t return.
As I said on Twitter, Sunday was an afternoon of yuck from the Arizona Cardinals.
Luke Lapinski, co-host of Wolf & Luke: Ok let’s get this out of the way first: the Cardinals’ schedule has been brutal. That’s just reality. The Bills, Lions, Commanders, 49ers and Packers all look like playoff teams, and the Rams always seem to be in the mix when they’re healthy. So I’m not freaking out about the fact Arizona is 2-4 after that stretch. It’s not ideal, but it’s not ridiculous either.
That said, what are we doing here? There’s no reason for this offense to completely disappear for huge chunks of time, yet that’s exactly what has happened in two of the last three games. Three of the last four if you want to count the matchup with Detroit, but I can write that one off because it was a tight, low-scoring game on both sides and the Lions have a strong defense.
Outside of James Conner though, that side of the ball just hasn’t been very reliable. And Conner wasn’t even able to finish today’s game because he was one of the 374 Cardinals who got banged up and had to exit early. He’s one of the toughest players in football so he might very well be back next week, but who is this group leaning on if he isn’t?
Granted, the defense struggled today too. I get that. But at least they have a signature performance last week to point to. And we all knew the defense would probably face some inconsistencies this season. That side of the ball is still a work in progress and they’ve been decimated by injuries lately. You can’t be giving up 34 points in Lambeau and expecting to win. Or 42 against the Commanders a couple weeks ago. But you also can’t ask your defense to play over 11:00 in the first quarter while the offense keeps going three-and-out.
Injuries have hit the offense pretty hard as well, and that probably at least partially explains why a team that had taken an NFL-low 19 penalties through the first five games suddenly took 13 in Green Bay. But this isn’t a league that feels sorry for you when you lose. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. Teams are going to pile on now if you show weakness.
Starting 2-4 doesn’t mean this season is over by any means. That Cardinals are still only a game out of first place in the NFC West. But they need to start stringing some wins together and the only way to do that is to play to your strengths. The offense was supposed to be this team’s strength.
Kellan Olson, co-host of Arizona Sports at Night: That’s now the two worst games of the Gannon/Ossenfort era in the last three weeks. The Commanders loss was more of a straight-up ass-kicking whereas this was a disasterclass.
A regression to the mean was coming for penalties but the intensity of the uptick can’t help but be attributed to a lack of proper preparation. And it wasn’t just shown through the penalties. The complete lack of execution and organization in every phase of the game was on display costing Arizona in key situations. Two of these losses in such close proximity damages a lot of the good faith built up by the new regime.
The passing game was a mess and remains inexcusably inconsistent. Before Marvin Harrison Jr. exited with a concussion midway through the second quarter, he once again looked out of sync with Kyler Murray and had no receptions on two targets. Thursday will mark three months since training camp began.
Murray entered this game first in quarterback rating on throws made over 2.5 seconds of time and 30th when it is under. The quick progression passing game has been terrible all year and that’s on the wideouts not getting open, the quarterback not finding the right reads and the play-caller for not finding sets that work in these situations. Murray was ninth in this category in 2021, so he has been able to find success with it in the past.
The defense is what it is. If your expectations weren’t located around bottom-five in the NFL with potential to be the worst, you got duped. The lack of talent at pass rusher and cornerback is jaw-dropping for the second straight year.
It’s gut-check time over the next four weeks to see if this team can really improve on a year-to-year basis and compete at the level it should.
Mitch Vareldzis, co-host of Arizona Sports at Night: As I type this reaction, the Cardinals just committed another penalty, which is fitting.
Surmise this game in two words: One I already mentioned which is “penalties,” the other is “injuries.”
The early-game beat down by the Packers was bad enough, but it was compounded by the fact that the Cardinals were unable to get out of their own way, something they have rarely done this season.
So what are we supposed to take away from this game in comparison to say last week? Last week was a great win, but instead of all the great carrying over, all the bad did.
Little involvement of Marvin Harrison Jr (before he eventually left due to a concussion), inability to wrap up ball carriers or get into the backfield and an offense that stalled with ease and felt out of rhythm after it couldn’t establish the run.
Going into the game against San Francisco, GM Monti Ossenfort told Arizona Sports’ Wolf & Luke that the loss to the Commanders in week 4 was the anomaly and not the norm. Well now they have a second anomaly of a game in a three-week span.
Speaking of Ossenfort, Mack Wilson Sr. remains my favorite signing and maybe the most valuable signing of his tenure. But as far as everyone else that got a contract?
Sean Murphy-Bunting, Justin Jones (out for the season), Bilal Nichols, Zaven Collins (got an extension)? Not great so far.
It’s early and things can change, but all four of them are under contract through 2027, and it has been less than inspiring with each passing week.
There’s also an extra $20 million lying around that could have been spent but was not.
This weekend served as a chance for the Cardinals to make the NFC West race interesting. Instead, we’re back to wondering if they can get to a game within .500.