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It was the offensive start we had hoped for, it was the defensive effort we had feared as the Arizona Cardinals fall to 0-2-1 on the season after an embarrassing defensive performance in a 38-20 loss to the Carolina Panthers.
Behind Kyle Allen, the Panthers outgained the Arizona Cardinals 414-248.
It didn’t start all bad for the Arizona Cardinals. They forced a strip sack after the Carolina Panthers marched down the field with relative ease, as Chandler Jones had his second sack and forced fumble and recovery of the season.
It turned into a clinic of Arizona Cardinals offense, as we saw what we had hoped and expected from Kliff Kingsbury and Kyler Murray.
Then the Panthers were able to answer immediately, as the Cardinals could not stop the Panthers offense behind backup Kyle Allen.
It was the Panthers passing game that gave the Arizona Cardinals fits, and what made the Cardinals fall behind at the half to a Panthers team that the Cardinals came in favored to beat.
A 14-10 half time lead was not insurmountable though.
That’s the offense these days for the Arizona Cardinals, which is a nice change for the team.
Kyler and the Cardinals marched 75 yards down the field for an opening drive touchdown to start the half and we saw Murray unleash the legs today.
Yet, the defense continued to struggle as Allen and the Panthers answered right back, going 77 yards for a touchdown to reclaim the lead in the third quarter at 20-17.
The Cardinals today found another weakness.
We saw a number of drops that hurt the Cardinals chances to add on to their point total.
From there, it was a show of how bad the Cardinals defense is.
Christian McCaffrey had a 76-yard touchdown run.
That was followed up by a bad decision from Kyler Murray, leading an interception and a short field for the Panthers and easy points. Although, all the points were easy today for the Panthers.
That’s the difference in this game, the Panthers made stops, the Cardinals couldn’t stop a soul.
We’re on to the Seattle Seahawks and now looking to see when the Cardinals can win their first game.