Grades: Cardinals' Fantastic Failures

The Arizona Cardinals truly went above and beyond on Sunday in a heart wrenching 42-14 loss to the Washington Commanders - for all the wrong reasons.

Sep 29, 2024; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels (5) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Generally, these weekly articles grade the performances of the various position groups of the Arizona Cardinals in their most recent game.

However, as anyone who watched the game on Sunday would know, the Cardinals' performance was a failure from top to bottom. The team continues to struggle having both sides of the ball click at the same time.

Beyond the opening drive, the offense stalls too easily and can't sync up with a defense that is tending to start games slow and find a spark when it is too little too late to impact the outcome of the game.

That being said, there were at least two players that deserve special mention who played hard and tough and refused to stop even when it seemed their teammates all around them were surrendering.

James Conner embodies the entire idea of never quitting, from his successful battle against Hodgkin's lymphoma in college to the way he plays on the field. He couldn't get going last week against a stout Detroit defense but bounced back in a big way, barreling through defenders on 18 carries and racking up 104 rushing yards.

The second player of note is a guy who has been the heart and soul of the Cardinals defense for years now, Budda Baker. Similar to Conner, there is no quit in Baker and he could be seen walking up and down the sidelines the entire game trying to spark something in his teammates. At times, it seemed he was the only player on defense truly giving his all on every play as evidence by his stat line of 10 solo tackles and 4 assisted tackles.

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So, what were the biggest failures of Sunday that led to this loss? There are probably too many to give an adequate accounting of them all, but let us focus on the top three.

Ineffective Pass Rush

Cardinals linebacker Dennis Gardeck (45) and Jalen Thompson (34) tackle Commanders wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus (14) during a game at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, on Ariz. Sept 29, 2024. / Patrick Breen/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Ineffective is probably an overly nice way to put what the Cardinals defense put on tape against the Commanders.

Starting with the interior of the defensive line, there was little to no effective pressure from this area. The few times that someone like Roy Lopez did get through the Commanders' offensive line, he was unable to finish and bring down a slippery mobile quarterback like Jayden Daniels.

The same story holds true from the edge group who was equally ineffective at getting to the quarterback.

Daniels danced around sack attempts and played with a calm, cool demeanor the entire afternoon. The inability to put even a modicum of pressure on a rookie quarterback was a big part of the overall defensive failures. The only QB pressure stat recorded was one QB hit from Bilal Nichols.

It was pretty widely accepted that the Cardinals defense was undermanned and would most likely not be world-beaters, but this was one of their worst defensive performances in several years.

Drew Petzing's Play Calling

Sep 10, 2023; Landover, Maryland, USA; Arizona Cardinals offensive coordinator Drew Petzing walks on the sideline before the game against the Washington Commanders at FedExField. Mandatory Credit: Brent Skeen-Imagn Images / Brent Skeen-Imagn Images

Yes, this is the epitome of Monday morning armchair quarterbacking, but there is little doubt that offensive coordinator Drew Petzing called an uninspiring game.

As usual, the scripted opening drive went beautifully and the Cardinals marched down the field and left fans with the feeling that the promised high-powered offense was back after a brief absence last week against the Lions.

With hindsight though, even this opening drive had its problems. Namely, the decision to call an endzone fade to Marvin Harrison, Jr. from the 2-yard line on 4th-and-1. Fans are happy to forgive this decision because it ended up being a Harrison, Jr. touchdown, but that doesn't mean the play call itself isn't suspicious.

It was a theme that continued through the entire afternoon. On short yardage situations Petzing ignored the capabilities of his bruising, 6-foot-1, 233 pound running back or his lightning quick quarterback. Instead, he called a bewildering mix of pass plays on short yardage and runs on long yardage.

Petzing's issues were not a secret in any way. Fans across X (formerly Twitter) were loud in their disappointment with what seemed to be an overly conservative game plan that did not play to the strength of quarterback Kyler Murray.

This play-calling is bewildering by Petzing. I usually love his stuff but some weird calls today.

— Kyle Odegard (@Kyle_Odegard) September 29, 2024

Ron Wolfley on the 98.7 Arizona Sports Broadcast couldn’t have said it any better.

“Petzing is scheming Kyler Murray into these sacks. Wow.”

Drew Petzing is calling a horrible game. #BirdGang

— Mervin (@MervinBustmante) September 29, 2024

Truly, Petzing's play calling decisions deserve an entire full-length essay on the topic.

Kyler Murray Had a Bad Day

Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray (1) throws against the Commanders during a game at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, on Ariz. Sept 29, 2024. / Patrick Breen/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

While social media is full of overreaction to Sunday's loss and many calling to move on from Murray, it is of course silly to lay the blame completely on his shoulders. As already mentioned, many factors played into the beatdown the Cardinals experienced.

However, it would be disingenuous to pretend that Murray was not part of the problem in this game.

It is hard for a quarterback only two weeks removed from a nearly perfect performance to live up to those high expectations week to week, but Murray simply played an uninspired game. The numbers themselves aren't too bad considering he finished with a 72.7% completion rate but that only equated to 142 passing yards and 1 touchdown.

Whether or not it was Murray's decision or Petzing's, not using the legs of a hyper-mobile quarterback borders on malpractice. It is a well-established fact at this point that when Murray runs the Cardinals tend to win and when he is static, only one rush for 3 yards, the Cardinals tend to lose.

That low-energy, low-production performance is particularly surprising considering some of the outside considerations of the game such as going up against your former head coach, Kliff Kingsbury, and spoiling the chance to take advantage of a pass defense that was ranked at the bottom of the NFL coming into Sunday's matchup.