👋 GOOD MORNING – We’re back after a bit of a break. I hope everyone had an excellent holiday weekend.
I can’t say the same for the Cardinals, but if you’re a fan of the Arizona Wildcats, you might be living with the way things turned out just fine.
We’ll break down a season-ending Cardinals loss, another fun Territorial Cup matchup and more.
Let’s go!
— Alex D’Agostino, PHNX Sports Daily Editor
Cardinals Playoff Hopes Officially Die
Oh boy.
Well, perhaps it’s best to get it out of the way now. The Arizona Cardinals, after losing a sluggish offensive game 20-17 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road, have fallen to a dismal 3-9 and are officially eliminated from the playoffs.
Even given how shaky things have looked all year, it feels like a huge missed opportunity to have the season end with five whole weeks left to play.
It’s not as if there was a chance to turn it around, anyway. The NFC West is a gauntlet. If there’s any positive to this, perhaps it will encourage the Cardinals to play loose for the final few contests as we begin to prepare for another draft season instead of the postseason.
It’s almost as if yesterday’s actual performance hardly mattered. Arizona ran for five yards per carry, Jacoby Brissett threw for 300 yards and two touchdowns, but multiple wasted drives ended in zero points, and the Cardinals never felt like they had a chance to come back.
Once again, it felt as if the Bucs’ defensive coaching staff had a leg up on Drew Petzing and the Cardinals’ offense. Arizona appeared outsmarted, out-schemed, and out-executed, for the ninth time this season.
And for as good as Arizona’s defense was (holding Tampa Bay to 297 yards on 57 plays), it felt as if the Cardinals were simply never in the contest, despite the relatively close score throughout.
A promising offensive drive in the first half ended in an interception. Another such campaign ended in a missed field goal. Arizona turned it over on downs twice in the fourth quarter, including going four-and-out on their final desperation drive.
It’s unfortunate how often that’s been the case this season — looking like the Cards’ opponents had a handle on the game for all four quarters.
This year has gone anything but according to plan, and it’s been brutal to watch. But there were still some performances to take solace in, despite an ugly 3-9 record and yet another disappointing Sunday afternoon.
Top Performers from Cardinals’ Loss to Bucs
QB Jacoby Brissett – 301 yards and two scores, including an impressive scramble drill laser to Bam Knight to give the offense some life.
TE Trey McBride – eight receptions, 86 yards and a touchdown. With his fifth catch of the game, McBride made NFL history, passing Tony Gonzalez for the most receptions by a TE in his first four seasons (302). For as bad as everything seems to be, McBride remains a massive bright spot in this dark season.
OLB Josh Sweat – Tied a career-high in sacks (11) with two in this game, including a strip sack of Mayfield. Sweat will have five more games to make it a career-best season after signing a four-year, $76 million free agent contract. At least we know that was a good signing.
RB Bam Knight – Only 11 carries, but 62 yards added up to 5.6 yards per carry. He also caught three passes for 36 yards and a touchdown to make up for a costly fumble.
Quick Hits
Reclaiming the Cup: In case you weren’t aware, the Territorial Cup was this weekend, and the Arizona Wildcats reclaimed the trophy by a score of 23-7 in Tempe. Arizona’s ball-hawking defense picked off ASU QB Jeff Sims three times and recovered a fumble on the way to a dominant win. The cup will return to Tucson, and the Wildcats move to 9-3, and No. 22 in the AP Poll.
The home team has not won the TC since 2022.
In terms of basketball, both Cats teams kept rolling. The men’s team took down Norfolk State 98-61 in a Saturday afternoon matchup at McKale Center to stay undefeated, while the women’s squad improved to 6-0 with a 78-63 win over CSU Bakersfield a few hours later.
Across football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball, the Wildcats went a combined 18-0 in the month of November. Wow.
Heartbreak Valley: Well, the obvious has already been stated. Kenny Dillingham’s team falls to 8-4 with postseason hopes diminished, surrendering the cup to Tucson. It feels as if the state of this program is still bright, but that loss will sting for a year.
On the men’s basketball front, ASU came up just short in the Maui Invitational finals. After taking down Texas and Washington State, they fell 88-75 to the USC Trojans. Bobby Hurley’s team is now 6-2 on the season, but has shown some promise.
Sun Devil women’s hoops stayed undefeated with an 85-56 win over Southeast Missouri State. Molly Miller’s club is 8-0 and rolling.
Suns-Down: The Suns dropped both of their brutal back-to-back games this weekend, though they did put up quite the fight against the reigning champion Thunder. Phoenix took OKC down to the wire, but fell 123-119 for their first NBA Cup loss on Friday.
They then lost to the still-potent Denver Nuggets 130-112 as Denver poured it on in the second half.
The Suns are still 12-9, but the hot streak had to end sometime. They’re still fighting and showing positive signs, but a back-to-back against two recent NBA champion squads was a tough ask for Jordan Ott and co.
The Suns will take on the Lakers tonight at 8:00 p.m. on the road.
Tip of the Hat by Branded Bills
Is this not an insane interception by Treydan Stukes? (And shot by our own Shane Dieffenbach).
