In a big Week One matchup, the Arizona Cardinals didn’t show up
In their last game before the start of the 2022 season, the Arizona Cardinals fell to the Los Angeles Rams in the Wild Card round, 34-11. The Rams would go on to win Super Bowl LVI and the memories of that loss would haunt Cardinals fans for months.
The NFL did not do the team many favors by scheduling the Kansas City Chiefs for a Week 1 game in Glendale. This actually presented a great opportunity for the Cardinals to take on a quality opponent early in the year and see how they can hang with the big boys. In the last four years, the Chiefs have gone to the AFC Championship game every single year, have won it twice, and cemented Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid into football history with a win in Super Bowl LIV.
Even without a big piece of their former success, Tyreek Hill, on the field, the Chiefs still look like the same team that has run the AFC for years. They started hot and never stopped, finishing the game with a massive 44-21 victory over a team still struggling to prove they belong in the upper tiers of the NFL.
If defense wins championships, the Cardinals are in trouble
Through Week 1 the AZ Cardinals defense is:
30th in points allowed
30th in negative point differential (-23)
30th in passing yards allowed
29th in yards allowed (488)
29th in yards gained differential (-206)*two teams have not played yet, or else these would be 32nd and 31st
— Kyler Burd (@AZCard_BurdsEye) September 12, 2022
Just take a look at the tweet above. The Cardinals put forth the single worst defensive performance in Week 1 of the 2022 season. Yes, it was against a good team that is well-coached and quarterbacked by a generational talent, but it still can’t be described as anything other than discouraging.
Particularly when many of the problems that plagued the team the last time they were on the field, bad defensive line and secondary play, still seem to be an issue. The front office had an entire offseason to make substantial changes to these position groups and neglected to do so.
The Chiefs took advantage of a weak defensive line on the very first drive of the game with four back-to-back plays that netted them 35 rushing yards. A miniature punch in the mouth continued throughout the game. To their credit, the defensive line eventually stiffened and the Chiefs reverted to their daunting passing attack but still, 128 rushing yards is not a fabulous stat.
The linebacker and cornerback groups did not play well. Mahomes was allowed to throw for 360 yards and 5 touchdowns. Not every quarterback in the league would be able to replicate his numbers, but in order to win a championship, a team has to be able to compete with the best of the best.
An understaffed offense couldn’t keep up
With the suboptimal performances going on in the defense, all of the pressure to compete fell on the shoulders of Kyler Murray and an offense that was missing two of its key pieces in DeAndre Hopkins and Rondale Moore.
To his credit, Murray did what he could with what he had. He finished the afternoon with 193 yards and 2 touchdowns with a 64.7% completion and a respectable 99.3 passer rating.
It was the inability of the running game to establish some sort of rhythm that allowed the Chiefs to focus on clamping receivers, which they did rather well. Greg Dortch finished as the team’s leading receiver with 63 yards on 7 receptions.
Bafflingly, no tight end was even targeted until the third quarter of the game and Zach Ertz finished with just 14 yards and a garbage time touchdown. In just one of the many odd personnel decisions leading up to the game, rookie Trey McBride was a healthy scratch on game day. A perplexing move when already down two pass catchers.
Unfortunately, the Arizona Cardinals failed a Super Bowl test
While the current hype has the Buffalo Bills representing the AFC in this season’s championship game, no one can ever truly count out the Chiefs. They have the coach and the quarterback that can take them to a Super Bowl in any given year.
The Arizona Cardinals had a great opportunity to redeem themselves and wash out the nasty taste left over from the Wildcard loss and prove themselves against a perennial contender. They failed.
The Cardinals are probably still a good team, but they have a much longer path now to prove they belong in the top tier of the NFL.
