Progress is easy to sell as cardinals move into first place

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — As Arizona Cardinals players hurried out of the locker room and the equipment staff rushed to pack for the long flight home, Kelvin Beachum remained in his stall.

Shirtless and covered with nothing but a towel, the offensive tackle known as Grandpa pored over the stat sheet with raised eyebrows, looking all the world like a wisened Bodhisattva.

“You play this game long enough, you realize a win is a win,” Beachum said. “Sometimes they’re beautiful. Sometimes they’re blowouts. Sometimes you play extremely well.

“Sometimes you play like trash. Today we played like trash but we found a way to win.”

There were certainly things that coach Jonathan Gannon would say the Cardinals will need to “clean up” in practice this week, but Beachum’s critique was probably a little too harsh. There were plenty of gems within the trash bin of Arizona’s 28-27 win against the Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday.

Let’s start with this: The Cardinals (4-4) are in first place in the NFC West. That statement seemed so improbable after a blowout loss in Green Bay two weeks ago that the mere suggestion would have elicited laughter.

That’s the NFL in a nutshell, though. Perceptions can change dramatically from week to week, and that’s what the Cardinals have done by virtue of wins over the LA Chargers and the Dolphins — their first back-to-back wins since the 2021 season.

“That’s progress,” Beachum said. “I think this is one of those wins that talks to the fact that even when we’re not playing our best ball we can still find a way to win. In the past, those are games that we would have lost. Today was really telling that this team has found a way to come together.”

While the offensive line couldn’t get a ground game going (82 yards on 26 carries), and while it didn’t protect Kyler Murray particularly well, Murray was able to scramble out of harm’s way on multiple occasions and avoid any sacks for a third straight week.

In truth, Murray was masterful in Miami. He completed 26 of 36 attempts for 307 yards and two TDS, earning a 116.3 QB rating. He only managed 19 rushing yards, but he had a pair of critical runs, he bought time with his mobility and he threw a gorgeous 22-yard touchdown pass to Marvin Harrison Jr. that will go down as one of the best plays of the season.

“Today was one of our better days; probably the best day we’ve had since the Rams game [in Week 2],” Murray said. “But it’s about being consistent and I think that’s where we can take strides. If we can continue to do this and play the way we played today — it wasn’t perfect — but if we continue to grow on this then we can be up there with anybody.”

Relegated to two catches in the first half, Harrison — you remember him? — produced four second-half catches including the aforementioned touchdown and an equally huge grab on third down in the fourth quarter — a catch that was initially called incomplete.

“In big situations, big moments, I try to be someone that we can count on to make plays,” said Harrison (six catches, 111 yards). “It feels great. It’s hard to get wins in this league. It’s hard to be successful in this league, period. We gotta keep going, keep building and never get complacent.”

As long as we’re passing out flowers, it would be a gross injustice to overlook the game and the season that tight end Trey McBride is crafting. In seven of the Cardinals’ eight games this season, McBride has hauled in at least five catches, but on Sunday — on national tight ends day, no less — McBride caught a season-high nine passes for a season-high 124 yards.

Even the injury-plagued, talent deficient Cardinals defense had its moments. The unit couldn’t get off the field on third down, allowing Miami to convert 11 of 15 third downs. The Dolphins also ran for 150 yards and QB Tua Tagovailoa enjoyed a pleasant afternoon in the pocket.

But the defense got a critical stop at the Arizona 47-yard line after the Cardinals pulled within 27-25 on James Conner’s 2-yard TD run with 8:47 to play. That stop set up the Cardinals’ game-winning field-goal drive — a drive that in turn has Cardinals fans begging GM Monti Ossenfort to be active at the trade deadline to shore up his defense’s deficiencies and reward the men still standing for an all-out effort that has this team at .500 after a murderous stretch of games against potential playoff teams.

“Resiliency, belief, made plays to win a game,” Gannon said. “That’s what this crew is doing right now.

“These guys don’t doubt themselves. They come out and they display winning behavior on a day-to-day basis.”

Top photo via Getty Images: Blake Gillikin, Chad Ryland and the Cardinals celebrate Ryland’s game-winning field goal on Sunday.

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