Cardinals' win against Patriots wasn't always pretty, but maybe it's the spark they needed

Did you come to State Farm Stadium on Sunday looking for solace in another playoff-less season? Were you hoping the Cardinals would redeem themselves after three straight weeks of disappointment against playoff caliber opponents?

It took a while for you to get your reward  — unless your idea of redemption was watching Chad Ryland connect on all three field goals attempts against his old team — but the Cardinals beat the New England Patriots, 30-17, to at least reassure an edgy fan base that they are not on the precipice of another total December collapse.

Look, everybody beats the Patriots. New England is 3-11 and Arizona has feasted on lesser opponents, getting six of its seven wins against teams not currently in playoff spots. 

New England is abjectly bad, one of the few NFL teams about which you can say that. But the Patriots hung in the game most of the afternoon because the Cardinals couldn’t finish drives to finish off a team that was a fourth-and-1 conversion at the Arizona 4-yard line late in the third quarter away from making this game very interesting.

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Thankfully for the offense, the defense responded. Darius Robinson got his first career sack. Baron Browning got his first sack as a Cardinal (punctuated by a unique dance). Sean Murphy-Bunting got his second interception of the season. Kyzir White and Krys Barnes combined to tackle running back Rhamondre Stevenson short of the sticks on the aforementioned fourth-and-1, and Arizona held New England to a pair of cosmetic fourth-quarter touchdowns to even its record at 7-7.

“The quarterback had a lot to do with how we played today,” coach Jonathan Gannon said of his defense and Patriots quarterback Drake Maye. “I thought, for the most part, [they] did a pretty good job of not letting him beat us with [play] extension. I thought we were in his face a little bit. We’ll look at the tape, but I thought they played well enough to win. It was a good job by the defense.”

That was the easier part against the league’s second lowest scoring team. But the offense still has a ways to go. Some of its best plays in the first half came via New England penalties or a Greg Dortch fumble that right tackle Jonah Williams recovered in the end zone for his first touchdown since sixth grade (more on that coming in the PHNX Cardinals Monday Morning QB).

The offense moved the ball at times, but it didn’t finish drives like good offenses do against bad teams. James Conner’s two, fourth-quarter, 1-yard TD runs iced the game, but we haven’t seen the MVP caliber Kyler Murray we saw through the season’s first half. We haven’t seen Marvin Harrison Jr. bust out in almost two months. We have not seen the offense that went into the bye week on a run of nine touchdowns in three games.

“I didn’t think it was unbelievable, but I thought it was efficient,” Murray said. “I think the defense did a great job today; really had our backs.”

If the Cardinals are to take another step, they’ll need the offense to return the favor more consistently.

Through 14 games, we haven’t seen the Cardinals suggest that they are anything more than their .500 record and 0-6 record against playoffs teams suggests: a middle-of-the-pack team that is still at that frustrating stage of its development where you don’t know if better days are ahead, or if the process is going to start all over again in a couple years.

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But maybe Sunday’s game was a step in that direction. Conner was back to his usual self with the two TDs and 16 carries for 110 yards that put him within 27 yards of his second straight 1,000-yard rushing season. Tight end Trey McBride bounced back from a frustrating first half to somehow lead the team in receptions and receiving yards again. The offense converted 10 of 15 third downs. And safety Budda Baker had another 10 tackles — an occurrence that has become so commonplace that he barely notices any more.

“Ten?” he said with surprise. “I thought I had like six.”

Maybe this game was just what the Cardinals needed to feel good about themselves again. Maybe those two fourth-quarter TDs will be the spark this team needs, just like a late scoring drive against the LA Chargers sparked a four-game winning heading into the bye.

Maybe this win is something to build upon as the Cardinals head to Charlotte for another game against one the league’s dregs, the 3-11 Carolina Panthers. Maybe Arizona can rekindle that flame that seemed all but extinguished after a second loss in three weeks to the Seahawks.

“We’re playing meaningful football in December right now,” Gannon said. “They know the challenge ahead of them and they’re ready for it.”

Top photo via Getty Images

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