How did Blaine Gabbert play against the Houston Texans?

With the Arizona Cardinals struggles the question has become... What is there to be excited about?

When you look at the season, there has not been much as of yet, but Blaine Gabbert offered a glimmer of hope on Sunday against the Houston Texans.

The question has become, was the performance as good as the final numbers?

Gabbert finished 22/34 64.7% for 257 yards and three touchdowns and two interceptions for a 92.4 quarterback rating.

When you dive into the numbers the first thing that jumps out is the completion percentage. Gabbert was highly accurate.

However, upon further review a couple of things came up (Thanks to Pro Football Focus for the numbers and there will be a difference in completions/attempts and yards from the final numbers because of how PFF charts):

1. Gabbert lived in the short area of the field.
2. His completion percentage 10-19 yards down the field was bad.
3. Gabbert did not throw the ball deep a single time. Not once. Not a single attempt 20+ yards down the field

From behind the line of scrimmage to nine yards, Gabbert finished 15/17 for 112 yards and one interception.

Gabbert in the intermediate was much less accurate, finishing 9/18 for 160 yards and three touchdowns and one interception.

Gabbert hit the intermediate throws that he needed too, but was much less accurate and got less help from his wide receivers down the field.

It was a nice game for Gabbert, but Bruce Arians and the staff did a nice job putting Gabbert in position to succeed.

It was a nice first game, it was something to build on...

Of course, that all being said, we are talking about 28 year old quarterback making the 41st start of his career, not a rookie.

We know it will be a different game on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars, let’s see what happens next.