5 Observations from the Arizona Cardinals Week 3 Match-up against the Dallas Cowboys

1 - It’s Not Palmer

We can safely say that Carson Palmer was not the problem Monday night. He completed just above 60% of his passes for 325 yards, despite being decked numerous times. He was playing pretty well, especially compared to the Carson Palmer we’ve seen the last two games.

He was able to dance around in the pocket well despite the offensive line completely failing him, something that we don’t normally see from Palmer. He even got a few passes off after avoiding pressure!

None of this excuses the fact that he was sacked six times that game, but he still played very well given the circumstances.

So, what happened? If the quarterback is successful, then whole team is successful, why did the Cardinals fail?

Well...

2 - It’s the Line

The offensive line has shown time and time again that they are unable to protect Carson Palmer, and it happened at its worst on Monday.

Look, I don’t want to put all the blame on one person/group for a problem. The line was missing D.J. Humphries and Mike Iupati, which definitely contributed to their struggles. That being said, the offensive line made some bad mistakes, coupled with poor execution and they can’t keep this up any longer.

The Cardinals are lucky to have Carson Palmer.

He’s a smart quarterback who can make really good plays in the right circumstances. The line was not allowing those circumstances to occur, even remotely. And that is a slippery slope towards failure.

3- Fitzgerald’s Back

Doesn’t it feel refreshing?

Larry Fitzgerald is showing this season that he is still in his prime, and he’s not going to slow down. He had just under 150 yards receiving on Sunday, and caught a touchdown. And let’s not forget that catch...

Yeah.

Larry is doing really well this season, and I think that he’s going to continue to show he’s one of our best going forward. Let’s just hope that Palmer and the line will be able to make that happen.

4 - The Cardinals need to tighten up in the second half

The Cardinals have been outscored in both the first and second half, but they have only given up 26 points in the first half to 20 points scored...

Where they have given up an absurd 60 points in the second half, to 33 points scored.

There is no way the Cardinals are winning games if they are giving up, on average 20 points a game... IN THE SECOND HALF!!!

5 - Find a run game, somewhere, somehow

The offensive line is really bad, we have covered that, but the Cardinals have averaged 3.3 yards per carry and 2.3 yards per carry since David Johnson’s injury. No team will respect their running game with the way they are... Well not running the ball.