Arizona Cardinals Week 5 Studs and Duds
The Arizona Cardinals lost a sloppy contest to the Cincinnati Bengals 34-20. They had multiple opportunities to take control of the game, but were stymied by repeated mistakes on both sides of the ball.
Here are some of the top performers of the game, along with some who fell short of a solid outing.
Stud: WR Marquise Brown
Marquise "Hollywood" Brown had another strong showing. Despite catching only 4 passes, he averaged 15.3 yards per reception, and was targeted 10 times, only one incompletion due to a drop.
Hollywood came up big in clutch moments again, accounting for two first downs, and beating Bengals CB Jalen Davis deep in one-on-one coverage for a beautiful 25-yard TD.
Brown collected his fourth straight game with 50+ receiving yards and his third touchdown of the season, a week after hauling in 7 balls for 96 yards.
He's averaged well over 10 yards per reception for three straight games, and is on pace to just eclipse a 1000-yard season. When Kyler Murray returns to action, we could see some huge production from the speedy target.
Stud: RB Emari Demercado
The Cardinals' rushing attack looked dead in the water when star RB James Conner exited with a knee injury after just six carries early in the second quarter. Conner had just ripped off a 35-yard rumble before heading to the locker room with a trainer.
Although Demercado hasn't been a huge part of the Cardinals' game plan, and his stats were less than stunning, his small amount of action showed flashes of potential.
In Arizona's preseason opener, Demercado muscled his way in for a second-effort 2-point conversion to beat Denver at home. Since then, he had seen very infrequent action, stuck decidedly behind James Conner and Keaontay Ingram.
With Conner down, Demercado was given the nod against the Bengals. Early in the third quarter, Demercado ripped off three powerful runs in a row, going for 8, 9 and 11 yards consecutively. His final carry ended with his first career NFL touchdown, and gave the Cardinals life, closing the deficit to just 4 points.
Stud: Dante Stills
Arizona's defense had a difficult time pressuring Bengals QB Joe Burrow, frequently giving him time to find huge holes in the defense. However, with Arizona's defensive front riddled with injuries, rookie defensive tackle Dante Stills made his presence known.
Stills, a 6th-round draft pick from West Virginia, had only appeared in two games prior to this one, collecting just 4 total tackles in his limited playing time. Against the Bengals, Stills showed up, with six total tackles, including two tackles-for-losses.
Stills also picked up his first career sack, a critical third down takedown of Burrow to stop Cincinnati in their own territory and force a punt.
With other Cardinals pass rushers held at bay by the Bengals offensive line, it was great to see the rookie shining in his first major action.
Dud: QB Joshua Dobbs
For the most part, Joshua Dobbs has been everything you could want in a backup quarterback. Dobbs had been efficient and protective of the football, and was yet to throw an interception through nearly 4 and a half games in 2023.
While Dobbs had occasional misses in prior weeks, the majority of his play had been accurate and impressive, giving the Cardinals chances to win games.
That was not the case today. Dobbs was a disappointing 15 for 32, averaging only 5.2 yards per attempt. Although dropping a perfect 25-yard score to Hollywood Brown and a tight window TD to Zach Ertz, Dobbs missed wide open receivers multiple times throughout the game and was responsible for three total turnovers.
The most crucial mistake from Dobbs came after a brilliant goal line stand. From his own 1-yard line, Dobbs threw a high ball that went through the hands of Zach Pascal and was both intercepted and returned for six. A 14-10 game and a turnover on downs by the Bengals was erased for a 17-14 deficit in an instant.
Dobbs said after the game that the pass was intended for Hollywood Brown, not Zach Pascal, but didn't make excuses for why the ball was picked off. "Probably a tight window, obviously, so I can't make that decision with the ball," Dobbs said.
Things never improved for the journeyman QB. Down 11 with 7:48 to go, Dobbs needed to engineer a scoring drive, but was strip sacked on the first play, giving the ball right back to Cincinnati.
Although the Cardinals held the Bengal to a field goal, Dobbs effectively ended the game on the next possession, throwing another high pass into traffic, resulting in his second interception and third total turnover.
"Turnovers are tough, we take pride in taking care of the football. Both of those [interceptions] are on me,” Dobbs said, "when we take care of the football we give ourselves a chance, so thats going to be a big point of emphasis going forward.”
Dud: CB Marco Wilson
To be honest, this dud award could go to a good portion of the secondary, but Marco Wilson had the unfortunate duty of accounting for Bengals star WR Ja'Marr Chase.
Although racking up 11 total tackles, Wilson looked lost for most of the afternoon, frequently allowing gaps in coverage. Joe Burrow picked on Marco often as the QB helped himself along to a 317-yard, 3-score game through the air.
Chase decimated Wilson, racking up an incredible 152 yards and three TDs. Chase set the Bengals franchise record for receptions with 15. Although Marco might not have been the only one struggling in the secondary, he certainly fell victim to one of the game's great QB/WR connections in a rough manner.
It's not the first week Wilson has struggled either. He has repeatedly struggled to bring down players in the open field, and prior to this game QBs had been completing 76% of their passes at him, with a 130.8 passer rating.
Dud: DJ Humphries
Humphries had a difficult time keeping the Bengals pass rush back. Once again, the entire unit struggled to protect Dobbs. However, Humphries was lined up against Cincinnati DE Trey Hendrickson--a tall order, for sure, and looked as if he was being pushed around for the majority of the game.
Hendrickson was able to pick up 2.5 sacks, including the critical strip sack on Joshua Dobbs and set the Bengals up in a prime spot to all but ice the game. As is the case with Marco Wilson, this is not to single out Humphries for a collectively rough performance from the offensive line--who allowed 8 total QB hits--but rather an unfortunate side effect of being seemingly overmatched up against Hendrickson, as he was involved in all three of the Bengals' sacks.
Another rough day for the Cardinals on both sides of the ball. Although they continued to look resilient, the mistakes were too much to overcome. Costly turnovers and consistently getting beaten over the middle leave little to no room to be competitive, and while it wasn't the worst loss this unit has suffered, there is plenty to be improved upon.
