What Went Right/Wrong in Arizona Cardinals Big TNF Win vs New Orleans Saints

It was mostly smiles on Thursday night for the Arizona Cardinals vs. the New Orleans Saints. Here's what went right and wrong during the win.

Author:
Richie Bradshaw
Publish date:
Oct 21, 2022 12:44 AM EDT

In this story:

Arizona Cardinals

New Orleans Saints

Man, what a win that was for the home team! It has been nearly a calendar year since the last time the Arizona Cardinals won a game at home (October 24, 2021, vs Houston), but they took down the New Orleans Saints at State Farm Arena to the tune of a 42-34 explosion.

While the offense was certainly throwing up points, the defense contributed two touchdowns via interception to add to the Cardinals' total on the evening, so make sure you give the big boys on the other side of the ball some love for this win, too.

All in all, this was a win to be proud of for multiple reasons if you're an Arizona Cardinals fan. Let's take a look at everything that went right and everything that went wrong for the team during its third win of the 2022 season and its first home win of the year, as well.

What went right:

Reunited and it feels so good

Welcome back, DeAndre Hopkins!

The five-time Pro Bowl wide receiver spent the first six weeks of the 2022 season suspended for PEDs and we all had a feeling that he was waiting impatiently to get back onto the football field and ball. He did just that.

The man better known as Nuk caught 10 of his 14 targets and turned them into 103-yards on the ground. While he didn't find his way into the end zone in his debut for the 2022 season, he certainly reestablished his connection with Kyler Murray.

On the topic of the offense...

Light 'em up, boys!

The Arizona Cardinals' highest scoring output of the season prior to Thursday night was 26 against the lowly Carolina Panthers. They also didn't pull away in that game until the fourth quarter. But on Thursday Night Football, the Cardinals took the lead before halftime and never looked back.

Arizona had slugged its way to a 14-14 ball game thanks to two field goals from Rodrigo Blankenship, another sight worthy of notation, and a Keontay Ingram touchdown run and Zach Ertz two-point conversion. Then came back-to-back pick-sixes from Marco Wilson and Isaiah Simmons with the former being a play you'll likely see for a long, long time.

The second half saw Arizona's offense start sluggishly, but they'd wind up scoring two more times via Greg Dortch and Eno Benjamin before the end of the game. It was easily the best that the offense has looked this year and it came on a perfect occasion.

The defense wasn't caught napping

As great as the offense was tonight, they needed everything the defense gave them to pull off this victory. As mentioned, both Wilson and Simmons recorded pick-sixes tonight to give the Cardinals its first and final lead of the evening plus some cushion. Antonio Hamilton also recorded his first career interception that would jumpstart all the momentum the defense would eventually garner.

The defense failed to record a sack, but they held the Saints to just 17 points until the fourth quarter when the game was firmly in hand for the Cardinals. The defense truly put up a great performance that hopefully will get more respect than what the 34 points allowed on the box score will represent.

What went wrong:

The secondary is still a speed bump

The one thing that we've seen the 2022 Arizona Cardinals continually struggle with has been against the pass and that was no different Thursday night. Veteran quarterback Andy Dalton threw 361-yards and four touchdowns in a losing effort. The Saints also had several huge plays through the air including Rashid Shaheed's 53-yard touchdown and Kevin White's 64-yard catch-and-run. It was something we've grown very accustomed to seeing at this point.

The three interceptions off Dalton saved the night because Dalton was otherwise having his way with this defense. Five players had at least 50 receiving yards and rookie Chris Olave eclipsed the century mark.

While we are definitely used to this kind of performance from the secondary by this point in the year, it nonetheless doesn't get any easier to see week after week.

Nitpicking...

There really wasn't too much to be disappointed about from this Cardinal victory against the Saints if I'm being honest.

While New Orleans did double its point total from 17 to 34 in the fourth quarter for a late push, the game felt pretty much over by that point anyways. Kyler Murray wasn't perfect by any means, but he still played one of his finer games of the 2022 season. The offensive line still needs improving, especially from the interior as Billy Price is one of the biggest liabilities that the offensive line has right now.

Other than that though, this was a fairly clean game for the Cardinals.

The Arizona Cardinals are now 3-4 on the year with an upcoming road matchup against the Minnesota Vikings inbound. But a Thursday Night Football win will let the Cards rest up a bit and enjoy this win... and some Call of Duty Double-XP, of course.

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