The Arizona Cardinals completed a thorough beatdown of the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, defeating them 47-7 at University of Phoenix Stadium. Obviously, it was a good game. If you try to think of the good and the bad, you are going to have to really think to get to the bad.
In today's "the good and the bad," we still manage to find some bad.
Here we go:
The good:
The offense
Goodness. The offense put up another four touchdowns. They got more than 300 passing yards from Carson Palmer. Chris Johnson ran for 110. Larry Fitzgerald had 134 receiving yards. They scored every time they got in the red zone, although they were held once to a field goal. The offense is just so good right now.
Getting Michael Floyd involved
In last week's Revenge of the Birds Radio "All Cardinals" show, Seth Cox pointed out how Michael Floyd was visibly frustrated and had pretty bad body language. While on Sunday Floyd only had one catch according to the stats, he was more involved. He had a 40-plus yard catch negated in the first quarter. He was targeted a couple of times in the end zone. He did get flagged for offensive pass interference, but even that was a positive. It kept the defender from picking off the pass.
Kevin Minter continues strong play
Minter has managed to make the Sean Weatherspoon signing look useless. He rarely comes off the field. He makes the defensive calls. He was seen making rookie Rodney Gunter make an adjustment on a third down and short. Gunter ended up with great penetration and the defense forced the fourth down. Minter himself had eight tackles, two for losses. One of those was a safety.
Pick party and a goose egg
Patrick Peterson called it a "frenzy." Four interceptions of Colin Kaepernick were fun to watch. It was almost comical. Too bad Peterson didn't get one. Of course, Peterson had his own good game. He mostly guarded the speedy Torrey Smith. Smith was targeted twice, but did not have a single catch. "That's a pretty good day at work," as Peterson said in the locker room when he heard the number.
The bad:
Jared Veldheer's penalties
In just over one quarter, Veldheer was flagged once for holding and twice for a false start. Bruce Arians explained the false start penalties were the result of crowd noise -- he noted the opposing fans. Personally, it was probably just how fired up the home crowd was. They had to go with a silent count for the snap. Even still, it wasn't good.
Drew Butler not on point with punting
He didn't have to do it much, but he only averaged about 36 yards a kick. One was a terrible 24-yard punt that allowed Jarryd Hayne to return a long way, leading to the Niners' only score of the day. He did have two downed inside the 20 and a third that could have been, but a 21.8-yard net average isn't what you want.
Hits on Palmer, sack streak over
The Cardinals allowed one sack of Carson Palmer. He also got hit a couple of other times as well. It is unavoidable at times, but they don't want to have it happen much, especially with the Rams coming to town.
Palmer interception a terrible throw
It is nitpicking, but the interception Carson Palmer threw was a bad throw. He had pressure in his face and he just threw it up for grabs. It was the type of throw people say he has done his whole career.