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Arizona Cardinals Studs and Duds From Week 11

Who performed and who didn't in Arizona's hard-fought loss to Houston?

Alex D'Agostino

Arizona Cardinals Studs and Duds From Week 11
Arizona Cardinals Studs and Duds From Week 11 /
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The Arizona Cardinals fell just shy of a comeback bid in Houston. 

Here is a breakdown of the best and worst the birds had to offer this week:

Stud: WR Greg Dortch

The speedy slot receiver has been a fan favorite for a while now, but has seen limited snaps offensively--serving as Arizona's primary return specialist.

Standout rookie receiver Michael Wilson suffered a setback to his shoulder injury in this week's practice, and there was a question as to who would fill his shoes. 

Dortch stepped up in a big way, despite not having the size that Wilson brings to the table. The undrafted man out of Wake Forest brought in 6 receptions for 76 yards, including a huge 31-yard gain as the Cardinals attempted a game-winning drive. He led Arizona in both receptions and yards.

Dortch was excellent on special teams as well. Although only taking one return opportunity, he ran the Houston punt back for 23 yards. 

His one mistake came on a 4th-and-3 play, where he came back to the ball and caught it short of the line to gain. The play, however, had plenty of external questions surrounding it.

Stud: S Jalen Thompson

The Cardinals defense--especially the secondary--had been picked on all game. Jalen Thompson was a bright spot on defensive coordinator Nick Rallis' unit. 

Thompson led the defense in tackles with eight. All eight were solo tackles, including a sack of Houston QB C.J. Stroud.

Late in the first half, Arizona trailed 14-10. With Houston receiving the second half kick, they were in desperate need of a stop.

The Texans had little trouble moving the ball in the first half. After the Texans picked off an under-thrown deep shot from QB Kyler Murray, they drove 63 yards on 11 plays. Threatening in the red zone, Stroud took a shot to the end zone.

Thompson was there.

The young safety made the play the Cards needed, picking off Stroud in the back of the end zone and turning the Texans away empty. 

There were plenty of holes in the defense today, but Jalen Thompson was not one of them. The young stud continues to be a great piece next to Budda Baker in the Arizona secondary.

Stud: Defensive Coordinator Nick Rallis

This one might come off as a bit of a surprise, given the overall box score, but the first-year defensive coordinator showed that he was able to make halftime adjustments and rewrite the story of Arizona's defense.

A unit that has struggled in the second half all season, Arizona's defense gave up just 86 total yards in the second half of today's game. They allowed zero points after halftime, forcing a missed field goal, a punt, and two turnovers.

After being absolutely gashed in the run game early, allowing nearly 100 yards to Devin Singletary in the first half alone, the Cardinals were able to shut down the run in the second half and put pressure on Stroud to throw the ball.

After passing for 259 yards in the first half, Stroud ended his day with 336, significantly lower than was expected given how well he had picked apart Arizona's secondary early. 

Rallis also brought pressure, sacking Stroud twice in the second half.

It might seem strange to praise Rallis after allowing such a monstrous first half, but the truth is, the Cardinals ultimately only allowed 21 points, and the defense was able to step up big in the second half and give the offense more than enough opportunities to take control of the game. 

Rallis made the changes he needed to. It worked.

Dud: CB Marco Wilson

The Cardinals' secondary has been a struggling unit all season. With little depth, and plenty of young players, it's irresponsible to place blame on one player.

That being said, Marco Wilson had yet another dismal performance in today's game. Per the broadcast, Wilson has been allowing 10.5 yards per target in 2023. Wilson was burnt badly all game, giving up crucial third down conversions on multiple occasions, including a 3rd-and-17 completion to rookie standout Tank Dell.

Dell terrorized Wilson all game. The rookie WR went for an incredible 149 yards on eight completions.

His - arguably - worst mistake came with 34 seconds left in the first half. Houston sat at the Arizona 40. Stroud, with plenty of time to throw, heaved a deep ball to Dell in the end zone. Dell caught the pass over a falling Wilson, who he had beaten badly on the initial jump as well. Arizona went into halftime down by 11, rather than four. 

Wilson has struggled all season. Up until today's game, he had allowed a 75.0 completion percentage when targeted, and a 130.4 passer rating by opposing QBs.

Wilson is not the only culprit of Arizona's defensive struggles, but he is certainly a large one, and that was strongly the case today.

Dud: Offensive Coordinator Drew Petzing

Petzing has had his moments, both hot and cold this season. Today's game was cold. 

After calling a beautiful first drive, ending with Rondale Moore getting a vertical opportunity for a TD, the first-year OC seemed to fall back into an offense that looked reminiscent of Kliff Kingsbury.

With mostly shotgun looks, Petzing's game looked inefficient in the second half, as RB James Conner sputtered for 62 yards on only 14 carries. Outside of Greg Dortch, no receiver eclipsed the 50 yard mark, and his play-calling in short yardage situations left a great deal to be desired.

Most notably, Arizona went for it on fourth down deep in Houston territory. Down 21-16, a field goal would have put them in position to take the lead with another field goal. Instead, they lined up in shotgun, and Dortch ran a route short of the sticks, ending in a turnover on downs. 

Whether the decision to go for it came from Petzing or Gannon, the play was not well designed. With Conner averaging over four yards per carry, letting him take off from behind Murray and bowl his way forward looked to be the right call there.

The Cardinals offense continued to struggle throughout the second half. While the Texans played a tight game defensively, and Murray was not without some mistakes, opportunities were there for the Cards to take control of the game.

Petzing needs to keep it simpler. If the play breaks down, he has a QB that can make something out of nothing.

Dud: WR Marquise Brown

It's puzzling that one of Murray's favorite targets in the past has been such a non-factor in the two weeks the QB has been back. Granted, the speedy receiver seems to consistently beat receivers, but rarely has a ball thrown perfectly to him.

Brown was only targeted five times, but hauled in only two receptions for 18 yards. 

He was the victim of an under-thrown pass, resulting in an interception, but Brown has failed to become the reliable weapon that he was expected to be when Kyler Murray returned. 

He has just three receptions for 56 yards since Murray made his debut. I don't doubt that he'll be able to get back in sync with his QB, but his performance has been sub-par in recent weeks.

Honorable Mention Dud: Officiating 

The referees were not the sole reason Arizona failed to capitalize offensively, or that they allowed 300 yards of offense in the first half.

However, the officiating of this contest was objectively poor. A punt that clearly hit a Houston gunner in the back was called a turnover--not Arizona's ball--even after an extremely lengthy review.

To cap the game off, on 3rd-and-8 with the game on the line, Houston lined up clearly offsides. It was not called, and Arizona turned the ball over on downs two plays later.

But ultimately, these calls (or no-calls) weren't the deciding factors of a game where there was plenty of struggle to go around for the Cardinals. As Head Coach Jonathan Gannon said postgame regarding the officiating, "they call what they call."

Arizona benefitted from some excellent performances by their young players and coaches, and certainly fought hard to the end of this close contest, but some of the mistakes made by players and coaches alike are what sunk them. 

The birds fought hard, and played competitively, but there is plenty of room for improvement still.

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Alex D'Agostino
ALEX D'AGOSTINO

Born and raised in the desert, Alex is a lifelong follower of Arizona sports. Alex also writes for Sports Illustrated/FanNation's Inside the Diamondbacks, and previously covered the Cardinals and Diamondbacks for FanSided. Follow Alex on Twitter @AlexDagAZ.

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