Blaine Gabbert plays good first half, Arizona Cardinals lose 20-18 to Dallas Cowboys in Hall of Fame Game

The first half allowed the Arizona Cardinals to see not only what they needed, but what they expected out of Blaine Gabbert, but the second half the offense stalled and the Cowboys were able to eek out an 20-18 win.

Gabbert was hitting his back foot and getting rid of the ball, something he has to do in order to be successful.

It made for an efficient and effective offense for the Arizona Cardinals in the first half.

Gabbert got the Arizona Cardinals down into scoring position with some nice throws in the two-minute drill, something that you don’t always get to see in the preseason.

However, he almost gave it all back on one play, as he let his intentions be known early, stared down Krishawn Hogan and Chidobe Awuzie jumped the route and almost had a pick six to end the half.

Gabbert’s final line: 11/14 185 yards
Kerwynn Williams: 5 carries 18 yards 1 touchdown
Andre Ellington: 5 carries 17 yards 1 touchdown
Ifeanyi Momah: 3 catches 48 yards
Brittan Golden: 1 catch 35 yards
Marquis Bundy: 2 catches 34 yards
Troy Niklas: 1 catch 20 yards

Defensively, in the first half, Robert Nkemdiche looked like the best player on the field, he was disruptive against the Cowboys running game. Budda Baker led the team in tackles.

Brandon Williams continues to be up and down with his play, getting beat badly for for a catch and called for a penalty once, but he made a hell of a play on a ball in the endzone for an interception.

To open the third quarter, the Dallas Cowboys drove down the field with relative ease and took the lead 17-15.

However, Budda Baker was easily the highlight of the secondary tonight:

The defense for the Cardinals needs to continue to work on tackling:

Trevor Knight led a nice little drive to get the Cardinals into field goal range.

The highlight of the drive was Chad Williams working over the CB after the catch:

What would have been the highlight was T.J. Logan’s first punt return, that was called back for a block in the back, that had a little something at the end for the punter:

In the fourth quarter, well not much happened for the Arizona Cardinals as Trevor Knight showed why we have heard absolutely nothing about him during training camp. He missed a number of throws, took off from pockets that he didn’t need to.

We did get another great highlight from T.J. Logan:

Also, it looked like Jarell Carter was the best cornerback in the game for the Arizona Cardinals tonight after just a couple of practices.

The Cardinals fell to the Cowboys 20-18, but there were some good things that happened.

What did you take from the game?