Bright Spots in Arizona Cardinals' Loss vs Ravens
Despite Joshua Dobbs returning to his less-than-competitive form and tossing two very costly interceptions, the Arizona Cardinals' effort as a whole looked a little bit different than we're used to seeing in recent weeks.
Here are the bright spots of another disheartening loss:
The Run Game
The Arizona Cardinals found success on the ground against the Baltimore Ravens.
Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
The Cardinals are no strangers to a strong rushing attack, but that's been a different story with star RB James Conner on IR. With a backfield made up of Emari Demercado, Keaontay Ingram and Damien Williams, one might expect a committee back system plagued with inefficiencies.
That was not the case today.
Ingram took the majority of the carries in Week 6 against the Rams, but Demercado began to emerge as an interim RB1 candidate against Seattle, going 58 yards on only 13 carries.
This week, Demercado solidified that he has the patience, vision and agility to take on a larger workhorse role, and should be the favorite for the RB2 job once Conner returns.
Demercado rushed for 78 yards on 20 carries, accentuated with multiple chunk plays and key first downs. Turning a loss into a 13-yard gain showed that Demercado is not only maturing, but can be a significant part of the cornerstone of this team.
Head coach Jonathan Gannon praised Demercado's outing postgame. “He’s playing really good ball right now," said Gannon, "stepped in, his carries have been going up, he had some production in there. He’s playing well.”
The team as a whole ran the ball extremely well, going for a combined 129 yards and a score on 32 carries. Three different players (Demercado, Ingram and Dobbs) recorded a run of 10 or more yards.
Drew Petzing's offense needs the run game working to be successful, as is evident by Dobbs' lackluster numbers.
Although it hasn't turned into wins, the run game today, driven by Demercado but executed well on all fronts, is an encouraging sign of an adult offense.
Trey McBride's Breakout
Trey McBride has cemented himself as the team's TE1 thus far.
I wrote about this just last week, after he showed some explosiveness against the Seahawks, but TE Trey McBride is showing some serious development, and deserved a shot to be TE1, especially with Zach Ertz's recent decline.
Unfortunately, this comes on the heels of an injury. Ertz suffered a quad strain last week, and was placed on the IR. But with the loss of one of the league's historically great tight ends comes an opportunity for the former second-round pick to get that TE1 nod.
After hauling in only 15 passes in the first seven weeks of 2023, McBride was targeted an astonishing 14 times, catching 10 of them for a career high 95 yards. Not only was this McBride's best day as a pro, it was the best receiving stat line for any Cardinals pass catcher in week eight.
Despite one costly drop, McBride was sure-handed, found holes in the defense and even made strong, contested plays.
McBride's highlight of the day came deep in the fourth quarter, when on third and very long, Joshua Dobbs hit him with a pass over the middle. McBride caught it short of the first, but thanks to an unbelievable second effort--and a brigade of teammates behind him--bulldozed his way into the end zone for an 18-yard score.
With today's 95-yard day, the young TE ties his season total from 2022. He currently boasts over 10 yards per reception, and consistently picks up yards after the catch with his 6-foot-4, 246-pound frame.
When asked by a reporter if he expected this type of production from McBride, Gannon had little to say on the matter. "Yeah, I did," Gannon said.
Clearly, there is a strong predisposed belief in the organization that McBride can, and will play well when needed. With Ertz out a few more weeks, and a growing confidence from both the coaching staff and his QBs, the Cardinals could very well have their TE of the future.
Late Offensive Surge
The Cardinals have been, to put it nicely, atrocious offensively in the second half of games, especially in the fourth quarter. Although consistently looking strong in the first half of matchups this season, they had scored zero fourth quarter points in all but one of their contests--their lone victory against Dallas.
This was not the case today. The issue arose from the fact that they could only muster seven points in the first half, and a dismal interception from Dobbs set up a 14-7 halftime deficit. This was only the fourth time, despite a 1-7 record, that Arizona had trailed at the break.
The dormant offense came alive in the fourth quarter, however. Although being down 24-7 late in the game, they rallied to score a shocking 17 points in the final seven minutes of the contest. The offense engineered back-to-back 75-yard drives, in just over four minutes total.
Dobbs had thrown for under 60 yards for the first three quarters, and then proceeded to throw nearly triple that number on the final two drives, finishing with 208. On the first touchdown drive since the first quarter, Dobbs hit Michael Wilson deep for a 29-yard chunk, leading to McBride's 17-yard rumble for 6. Dobbs easily ran in the two-pointer, and it was a 24-15 game.
Arizona's defense unfortunately allowed the game to be put mostly out of reach, helped along by two questionable penalties, but on the next drive Dobbs led yet another quick, yet methodical drive, hitting McBride and Wilson for chunk plays again before hitting Marquise Brown in the back of the end zone for a one-yard score.
If not for a Paris Johnson Jr. holding penalty, the deficit would have been simply eight. Unfortunately, with a 10-point deficit, they would be forced to attempt multiple onside kicks.
Miraculously, Matt Prater, helped along by rookie Owen Pappoe, was able to nail the first one, and the Cardinals were able to get into scoring position again. This time Prater hit a 47-yard field goal on his second attempt, and the gap was down to one touchdown.
A failed second onside attempt would be the end of the line for Arizona, but the toughness and fight in the offense in a quarter where they had been all but shut out the entire season was a very encouraging look.
"The fight of this team is unwavering," said Gannon postgame, "these guys fight, they keep a good attitude, they stay connected, and that's what you’re looking for out of your ball club."
Gannon took responsibility for the loss, and noted that he felt "a little pissed off, because I haven’t done enough on my end to get the wins going."
Gannon said it's up to the coaches to put the team in better positions to win going forward.
Some might disregard it in the name of "garbage time," but anyone who has watched this team in 2023 knows that garbage time has had a double meaning. There hadn't been a contest in which the offense had even looked mildly competent, let alone fearsome in the fourth quarter.
To disregard a three-score surge would be extremely dismissive of the effort, especially considering that it was nearly enough to be a legitimate fourth-quarter comeback attempt against a team that destroyed the NFC-contending Lions 38-6 last week.
The hits keep coming, but the Cardinals do keep fighting. Even with another notch in the loss column, there are still things to get excited about, especially with a Kyler Murray return looming not too far on the horizon.
