Cardinals Stock Report: Who's Up, Down After Week 6

The Arizona Cardinals didn't see much good in their loss to the Green Bay Packers.

Oct 13, 2024; Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA; Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride (85) rushes with the football as Green Bay Packers safety Xavier McKinney (29) defends during the third quarter at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images / Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

The Arizona Cardinals were handedly crushed by the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field - it was a bad loss all around and there weren’t many positives to take away from the beatdown.

The Cardinals were beat in every phase of the game, and it certainly didn’t help that the referees weren’t shy about throwing 13 penalty flags on Arizona resulting in 100 yards… calling this a forgettable game would be a dramatic understatement.

As per usual, we look at players/units/coaches/etc. who improved or hurt their stock following this game. Fair warning, this is not going to be a fun read.

Stock up

Trey McBride

McBride had the best game of the season, hauling in all eight of his targets and turning it into 96 yards and a season-best 12.0 yards per reception. It was what the offense needed, as next to nothing else went right in the loss.

There were some high expectations coming into the season for McBride and in the five games he’s played, it appears that he’s living up to them. Kyler Murray has shown some trust in the third-year tight end to be a safety blanket and that’s precisely what McBride has given them.

The Packers' defense did a good job suffocating the Cardinals’ offense, but they had no answers for McBride.

Chad Ryland

In his second game replacing Matt Prater due to injury, Ryland knocked through both of his field goal tries of 38 and 40 yards. He also got his lone PAT try for a seven-point performance. That’s a good day when you consider he made the most of each of his opportunities.

While we wait to see what Prater’s availability will look like moving forward, the Cardinals must be pleased with the way Ryland is kicking. Who knows, maybe Ryland is the future considering Prater is almost ready to join the AARP.

Stock down

Marvin Harrison Jr

I’ll make this one short and sweet, because it’s not Harrison’s fault he sustained a concussion in this game. It is frustrating that he’s had consecutive bad weeks and of the six games he’s played he’s either been unstoppable or forgettable.

There shouldn’t be a timetable for MHJ to return, as all concussions are unique, but he certainly must become a more consistent weapon for this offense than what he has been.

The run game

The strength of the Cardinals’ offense has been running the ball this season, so why did they get away from that? Part of it could be because the game script was quickly tossed after trailing 24-0 in the second quarter, but that shouldn’t have completely forced the Cards to abandon their strength.

The offense totted the ball 23 times for just 89 yards and no scores. 23 isn't necessarily a bad number, but seven came from Murray. Additionally, James Conner only carried the ball seven times, and it doesn’t sound like he was seriously injured but rather was phased out because of the blow out.

The Cardinals’ offense isn’t one of the 10 best units in football, but it’s drastically worse when they don’t run the ball. But like we said, this could also likely be attributed to a poor defensive effort.

Speaking of which…

The defense

This was a miserable performance all the way around. There’s no sugarcoating it.

Sure, Sean Murphy-Bunting pulled in an interception, but he was roasted and toasted on seemingly every other coverage snap. The secondary was toasted for 258 yards and four touchdowns. Jordan Love connected with nine different receivers.

The Cardinals also got bullied in the trenches, surrendering 179 yards on 38 carries. Seven different players recorded at least one carry and almost all of them found success. It was a brutal day for the run defense.

The performance was so bad that it threw off everything else in the game for the Cardinals. This might’ve been their worst effort of the season.