The Arizona Cardinals played a game that felt quite repetitive of past weeks, losing 40-20 on the road to the Houston Texans. It was the fourth time in the past six games Arizona’s defense has surrendered 40-plus points. Arizona falls to a dismal 3-11.
The Texans are a quality football team that has been hot of late, while the Cardinals have put up nearly identical results week after week, but the overall performance of Jonathan Gannon’s team was once again difficult to witness.
It was yet another contest that felt over from the early minutes of the first quarter, and while Arizona did manage to move the football (and, perhaps surprisingly, reach the end zone) there was hardly any positive action when it truly mattered on either side of the ball.
Cardinals Crushed by Texans
The Cardinals surrendered a touchdown on the Texans’ second offensive play of the day — a 57-yard score from C.J. Stroud to Nico Collins. Arizona immediately fumbled the ensuing kickoff, setting the tone for another brutal Sunday afternoon.
It was simply another poor day for the Cardinals’ defense, which gave up nearly 400 yards — 11 yards per play. They could not get pressure of any sort on C.J. Stroud, who completed 22 of his 29 passes for 260 yards and three scores. Meanwhile, the Texans ran for a collective 143 yards on 33 carries — 4.3 yards per attempt.
This outcome, while not shocking in terms of overall result, further proves how disappointing the Cardinals’ defense has been this season. A unit that was expected to surge atop the NFL has consistently underperformed. This game was expected to be of the low-scoring variety, with Arizona perhaps failing to reach the end zone. While Jacoby Brissett and the offense was able to score, the defense was overblown by what was not considered an elite Texans offense.
In terms of production, the offense was solely on the back of TE Trey McBride, who served as the lone bright spot in an otherwise rhythmically dark contest. Arizona’s superstar hauled in 12 passes for 134 yards and two touchdowns. He now owns the longest active streak of five-plus receptions in a game (16) by a tight end in NFL history, and surpassed both 100 receptions and 1,000 yards on the season with his elite performance.
A year that has brought little excitement to loyal fans continues to deliver punch after punch. While it did not feel as if the Cardinals had completely given up, it’s difficult to shake the idea that Arizona would have little to no chance against even some of the weaker teams in the league.
This game may not engineer changes to the Cardinals’ coaching staff or roster immediately, but time is beginning to tick. While Gannon and co. have felt safe in terms of job security, Arizona appears to be on pace to finish the year on a 1-14 slide. Those difficult conversations may be forced if there isn’t some amount of life shown in the coming weeks — but it feels as if any semblance of a turnaround needed to begin long, long ago to inspire any confidence in the Valley faithful.
This team is a tough watch in all facets — a reality that should not be occurring in year three of a lengthy rebuild. There have been injuries, heaps of bad luck and plenty of uncontrollable adversity, but it feels as if Arizona is simply not capable of controlling anything, regardless of what lies ahead.
