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In what looked like a potential blowout win, the Cardiac Cards showed up and gave everyone a brief heartrate workout. Lead by All-World (in the big beard category) Ryan Fitzpatrick, the Bucs came surging back in the 2nd half as the defense just started imploding after an injury to Patrick Peterson put Mike Evans into a matchup he could actually win.
Thankful for the win, but it wasn’t pretty and doesn’t leave me feeling as confident as I as at the end of the second quarter. With a game in London on the horizon, I’m worried about facing off against Goff and a talented defense.
The Good
The return of Boone and Humphries gave the Cardinals a huge infusion and helped actual All-World player Adrian Peterson to his biggest game in years.
The Old-Timers, Larry Fitzgerald, Carson Palmer (besides one bad throw) and Adrian Peterson dominated. The offense combined for over 400 and two guys “past their primes” accounted for almost ⅔ of the offense.
Chandler Jones continues to build on a fantastic start to the season.
Two interceptions, Antoine Bethea gets his second in as many games and Travon Williams came off the bench for his. Williams INT setup the game winning score (which is scary if you think about it).
The Bad
Penalties in the 4th. They were easy calls by the refs and Jermaine Gresham singly handedly put them out of FG range and helped the Bucs continue their momentum.
Injuries to defensive lineman. The guys upfront looked gassed at the end of the game without someone to help spell them reps. The pressure on Fitzpatrick dropped and he started making big plays. They need to get healthy here.
The Ugly
The pass defense got shredded in the second half by… Ryan Fitzpatrick. You can accept Jameis Winston doing this to your secondary, but Fitzpatrick? Come on…
Fumbles by The Old-Timers. Fitzgerald, Palmer and Peterson all coughed up the ball. Only one really hurt, though.
27 points in the 4th quarter. That was horrific to watch. Two games back-to-back that the Cardinals secondary has been exposed, and is a general trend now with only six games played in the season. Bettcher needs to make some changes, or figure out how to adjust better in the second half.