Misery Business

The Cardinals are playing a dangerous game, but they are the only ones to blame for their misfortune. They are not eliminated from playoff contention quite yet, but it’s damn close. The Niners losing last night really helped them, as now have a leg up on San Francisco. But let’s not go celebrating yet, they are still two games behind the Rams and would need to win out, plus have a whole bunch of other stuff happen, (we’re not going to go there quite yet.) Like a lot of teams in the league, essentially, this game is win or go home for the Cardinals. Luckily, they face a weaker Patriots team this week at home which is good because the Cardinals are better at home. And let me tell you, they are going to need every advantage they can get, as thing have not been clicking at all for Arizona. They are below .500, and while they are a top half offensive team, they are bottom half defensively. Kyler Murray has been disappointing; him and Marvin Harrison Jr. have not been the connection people were expecting. Trey McBride, their receiving leader, has out-gained Harrison by almost 200 yards and almost doubles his receptions. (And he has 0 TDs!!) Who cares. Win this game with your offensive talent against New England’s weaker defense and take care of business.

It’s been tough sledding in New England, as the Patriots don’t have a whole lot going for them this year. They are second to last in the league in total offense, but to be fair, they do have a rookie in Drake Maye starting behind a pretty bad offensive line, with not a lot of weapons lead by a rookie head coach in Jerod Mayo. Let’s just say this isn’t too far off from where people thoughts the Patriots would be at the start of the season. They head to Arizona, who is 21st in the league in total defense, but against this offense, I don’t know how much they get going. It’s unfortunate as well, because usually, the Patriots have a good defense not matter the offense, but this year it just hasn’t been that. I do think Arizona takes the win this week, but not due to a lack of trying from New England. Best of luck to them this week, (and probably the next.)

POSTGAME:

As expected, the Cardinals beat the Patriots. There wasn’t a whole lot to this game, Arizona controlled for most of the game and kept New England out of arm’s reach. I was a little disappointed with Kyler Murray, as he has no TDs and only 11 yards rushing, but he was 23/30 for 224 yards. So, it was an efficient day for him and helped facilitate the ball out to his guys which set up two James Conner TDs. Great day from Conner, who had 110 rushing yards on 16 carries. But again, no real connection with Marvin Harrison Jr., who had 2 catches for 32 yards on 6 targets. Trey McBride had the lion’s share of the receiving load, totaling for 87 yards on 9 catches, which is fine, I’d just like to see more Harrison. I’m not being picky, I don’t hate Trey McBride, it’s just I want to see their first-round pick and generational wide receiver talent be more of the favorite target. Nevertheless, the Cardinals dealt with a Patriots team who didn’t score a TD until their second to last drive, and notched another win in a stretch where they must win every game.