Cardinals beat Falcons, but there's not a lot to celebrate

Brian in Mesa

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Cardinals beat Falcons, but there's not a lot to celebrate

https://www.azcentral.com/story/spo...r-falcons-comes-bitter-aftertaste/3971688002/


...It’s the first time the Cardinals have won consecutive games since the end of the 2017 season.

Kudos to the Cardinals for that. Beating the Bengals and Falcons, who are 1-11 combined, is nothing to brag about, although it beats the alternative.

Celebrations resulting from Sunday’s victory should be muted. The Cardinals choked away a 17-point lead in the second half to one of the other worst teams in the league, the Falcons. And they only secured the victory when Falcons kicker Matt Bryant missed an extra point with 1:53 remaining.

The week before, the Bengals came back from 14 points down to tie. Both games came down to a final kick, a field goal against the Bengals that gave the Cardinals a win, and a missed extra point by the Falcons that would have tied the game.

After each game, the Cardinals mused that owner Bill Bidwill, who died four days before the Cincinnati game, was not only watching his team, but also pushing footballs around on the missed kicks.

If Bidwill had that kind of control, then he must have kept the outcome of both games in jeopardy for his own amusement.

Afterward, the Cardinals insisted they would enjoy this victory and not return it due to defects.

That’s understandable, especially since it’s hard to win in the NFL, especially for a team like the Cardinals (2-3-1).

But it’s impossible to ignore the myriad issues the Cardinals have to address, like a new-found penchant for relinquishing leads.

To say the Cardinals blew the lead on Sunday is not correct.

What happened is they had a 17-point lead taken from them by an opponent who suddenly, inexplicably, began to play better in every phase. The same thing happened last week in Cincinnati.

Yes, the Falcons’ defense is terrible, but the Cardinals did take advantage. Offensively, the Cardinals improvement this season is obvious. Murray changes games, and Kingsbury is figuring out how to incorporate weapons such as running backs David Johnson and Chase Edmonds.

It helps, too, that four of the five starters on the offensive line have played every game.

The problem Sunday is that when the offense went into a lull in the third quarter, the defense went into the tank.

Ryan passed for 112 of his 356 yards in the quarter, and another 71 in an 83-yard touchdown drive that tied the score with 10:50 left.

It’s a recurring theme that the Cardinals had better change if they are going to beat anyone but the dregs of the league.

 

Solar7

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Good post BIM. It's nice to celebrate a win, but important for us to accept it for what it is, which is just barely squeaking it out against a bad team (at least by record and maybe coaching).

Anything less than a dominant win against the Giants this week has to come with the same "yeah, but..."

At the end of the day, the Cardinals winning 3-4 games this season against bottom feeder teams, giving Keim another year, is a pretty uncomfortable scenario.
 

Cardsfaninlouky

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A win is a win. Yeah the D sucks but we get PP back and hopefully find a few players this year. Hard to believe we can be .500 this week! GBR!
I agree. Our defense has problems for sure but what defense would be good missing both starting CB's? Having PP21 back will shut down one side of the field at least through the air. I'll take the win no matter how & against who, let's go beat the Giants in New Jersey & get to .500
 

BW52

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Good post BIM. It's nice to celebrate a win, but important for us to accept it for what it is, which is just barely squeaking it out against a bad team (at least by record and maybe coaching).

Anything less than a dominant win against the Giants this week has to come with the same "yeah, but..."

At the end of the day, the Cardinals winning 3-4 games this season against bottom feeder teams, giving Keim another year, is a pretty uncomfortable scenario.

And a big thank you to Matt Bryant
A win is a win but beating the teams worse than you is expected so when Cards beat some teams better then it will be time to think things could be looking up..
 

mjb21aztd

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Agree def areas cards need to improve and get help in next yr draft lbers oline maybe a wr if fitz retires

But great to see Murray play well that play where he escaped the blitz and completed to fitz looked a lot like Russell Wilson:)

If cards fix lbers with Peterson and alford returns soon future is bright in the red sea!
 

Cards_Campos

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timeout. we tied Detroit. and lost to Baltimore by 6 ehich if we played that game yesterday probably win because we have imoroved our offense. Patrick P will make a huge difference
 

SoonerLou

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timeout. we tied Detroit. and lost to Baltimore by 6 ehich if we played that game yesterday probably win because we have imoroved our offense. Patrick P will make a huge difference
Yea going glass half full...

Almost beat Detroit (dropped INT)
Were a drive away from Balt in Balt
Panthers and Seahawks look like the 2 best teams in the NFC right now outside of the 49ers(so no shame in those losses)
Had two touchdown leads on Falcons and Bengals (not like it was a toss up all game)

We're a dropped INT from being 3-3 and did that without our best player in Peterson.

The Seahawks beat the Bengals by 1, Steelers by (Big Ben was hurt) 2.

It happens.
 
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Russ Smith

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I thought we were a lock top 5 pick this year, we may not pick in the top 10. I think that's reason for celebrating we're better than most of us expected we would be.
 

Dr. Jones

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@Brian in Mesa

Just curious. Where are you on K1, K2, and the direction of the franchise? Keim notwithstanding, I'm not totally sure I have seen you voice an opinion in either direction.

What I do see are a lot of posts (not this one particularly but it could be added to the pile) that IMO could be interpreted as passive aggressive regarding Rosen (not looking to drag you into that debate) K1 & K2. Both here and on social media.

Just thought I would ask.
 

Cheesebeef

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Good post BIM. It's nice to celebrate a win, but important for us to accept it for what it is, which is just barely squeaking it out against a bad team (at least by record and maybe coaching).

Anything less than a dominant win against the Giants this week has to come with the same "yeah, but..."

At the end of the day, the Cardinals winning 3-4 games this season against bottom feeder teams, giving Keim another year, is a pretty uncomfortable scenario.

what? we just BARELY beat two of the worst teams in the league, we're going on the road, to the East Coast, against a team coming off a bye, who's basically got the same record as us... and you thing unless they dominate, there's a yeah, but?

your expectations are schizo for this team... first it was we're going to be the worst team in the league... then last week you didn't see more than one win the rest of the season and now, we should quibble if we win an east coast road game and don't dominate? You're seemingly setting them up to be in a no-win situation AGAIN, just like you did last week. If they can go out on the road, win a east coast early game against a mediocre team, that's progress no matter how you slice it. does it mean that it makes them a playoff contender? hell no... but no one in their right mind thinks they are.

and yes, giving Keim another year is an uncomfortable scenario, but at this point, he rides or dies with KK. Murray has shown he's got all the potential in the world and probably does win 5 or 6 games this season pretty much carrying the team on it's back, which means KK/Keim will get one more year to make them a playoff team. I don't love that idea, but with Kyler starting to play ball, it's just a reality we're probably gonna have to live with.
 

cardpa

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Luck was with us in this game. Bryant to that point had only missed 7 XPs in his 19 year career. The team also had three close calls go their way which helped a lot in winning this game. Even the players thought the play with Byrd was a fumble only to get the call our way. I am glad for the win however both wins were against teams that are fumbling and bumbling their way through the season. The Giant defense is pretty solid and will get pressure on Murray. The big question is will Barkley be back for this game.
 

SoCal Cardfan

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We all had our fun with Kyler's lack of height...But the kid can ball, and seems to be getting smarter every week.

But I have to get in one last jab... Hearing KM being described as a Pocket QB... I immediately have this come to mind :p

You must be registered for see images attach
 

outcent13

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I can't remember a single point in the 2018 season where I felt optimistic. If your expectations were playoffs this year I would be able to understand the negativity but I was looking for competitive games and improvement. The Cardinals have provided that so I will continue to be optimistic in regards to the future of this team. We all know they need to get better in all phases but if they continue to be competitive, well that is all I am hoping for this season.
 

Solar7

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what? we just BARELY beat two of the worst teams in the league, we're going on the road, to the East Coast, against a team coming off a bye, who's basically got the same record as us... and you thing unless they dominate, there's a yeah, but?

your expectations are schizo for this team... first it was we're going to be the worst team in the league... then last week you didn't see more than one win the rest of the season and now, we should quibble if we win an east coast road game and don't dominate? You're seemingly setting them up to be in a no-win situation AGAIN, just like you did last week. If they can go out on the road, win a east coast early game against a mediocre team, that's progress no matter how you slice it. does it mean that it makes them a playoff contender? hell no... but no one in their right mind thinks they are.

and yes, giving Keim another year is an uncomfortable scenario, but at this point, he rides or dies with KK. Murray has shown he's got all the potential in the world and probably does win 5 or 6 games this season pretty much carrying the team on it's back, which means KK/Keim will get one more year to make them a playoff team. I don't love that idea, but with Kyler starting to play ball, it's just a reality we're probably gonna have to live with.

Maybe I should have clarified. For me to think this team is wildly different than "bad" and start developing optimism like some that the future is in good hands, I personally would need to see a dominant performance before I think we can really compete and begin to sip the kool-aid.

Sneaking out with these wins against bad teams isn't enough to spark my optimism that we're on the right track.

I think we can win though.
 

Krangodnzr

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Maybe I should have clarified. For me to think this team is wildly different than "bad" and start developing optimism like some that the future is in good hands, I personally would need to see a dominant performance before I think we can really compete and begin to sip the kool-aid.

Sneaking out with these wins against bad teams isn't enough to spark my optimism that we're on the right track.

I think we can win though.

The future is in good Hands with K1 as the starter.
 
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Brian in Mesa

Brian in Mesa

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@Brian in Mesa

Just curious. Where are you on K1, K2, and the direction of the franchise? Keim notwithstanding, I'm not totally sure I have seen you voice an opinion in either direction.

What I do see are a lot of posts (not this one particularly but it could be added to the pile) that IMO could be interpreted as passive aggressive regarding Rosen (not looking to drag you into that debate) K1 & K2. Both here and on social media.

Just thought I would ask.

Kyler's not the QB I wanted for our team, but I'm a fan so I've got to be all in on him and hope he proves me wrong. We go to all of the home games and obviously don't want to go and see us lose. Rosen wasn't my pick either but I had hoped we'd draft Q Williams and build a team around Rosen (he had so few weapons and poor coaching during his rookie year). I do feel bad for the way he was treated on his way out here and wish him well. I believe people can want both to be successful and there's no need to bash Josh while praising Kyler. Meanwhile, my choice for QB (Lamar Jackson) is continuing to look great at this level and he was setting a league record on Sunday as well.

Not really sold on Kliff at this level from the start (average college record, etc) but the one thing I really like is his youth. I did not want another older coach or a retread. Give a new young guy a shot and maybe we can build something and have a solid coach for many years.

Not sold on Vance Joseph at all. Hope he can prove me wrong.

I want Keim gone, but that shouldn't surprise anyone. It's clear we are grooming Adrian Wilson for a bigger role in the franchise. I'd be all for axing Keim and promoting ADub. I don't think we'd miss a beat and I'd feel even better about the direction of the franchise.
 

RugbyMuffin

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Sigh.....

Ok. We won because of a missed field goal......yet we tied because of a dropped INT in week 1.

So it all works out.

Surprised at some of the older fans. Am I the only one that remembers the many times this organization lost games in ridiculous ways?

Bad teams find ways to lose games, and good teams find ways to win them.

Honestly? Winning on a missed extra point is one of the more promising things I have seen this year.

Let other teams eat those "stupid ways to lose" games. We have filled our quota, probably 10 times over as well.

Sent from my mystical communication warp drive device thingy
 
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