Brad Cesmat
“Enough of the zone-read Mike McCoy!!”. That was my thought as the Cardinals offense was sputtering along in the third quarter during Sunday’s 27-17 loss at Minnesota. The curious play calling by the offensive coordinator continued for another week. Trailing 27-10 I felt like we were watching page 1 and 2 of the playbook for the third consecutive game. My frustration(and I am sure many of yours too) was this was another winnable game, but the offense failed to put up much throughout most of the afternoon. This was a game in which the Cardinals failed to score on the 1 yard line of the Vikings in the second quarter. A game that the offense was once again not out on the field enough, running just 55 plays compared to 70 for the Vikings. The Cardinals were a stunning 0-10 on third down conversions on Sunday. Over the last four games the Cardinals are 5-42 when it comes to converting on 3rd down. They opposition has run 293 plays in the last four games, while the Cardinals have run 208.
I thought Josh Rosen played another solid game, even though the offensive line lost two starters, Rosen would finish 21-31-240 and an interception. Those numbers may not seem like much, but he did the best he could with what plays he was given to work with. David Johnson carried the ball 18 times and scored once. Had he been able to push it in from the Vikings goal-line stand in the second quarter, the game could’ve gone much differently because the defense played pretty well. Budda Baker went into the end zone on a scoop and score in second quarter that gave the team life despite the anemic showing by the offense.
You have to wonder just how much gas will be left in the Cardinals defense for this Thursday nights home game against the Denver Broncos? It will be the third game in eleven days for the 1-5 team. The win/loss record says one thing, but I am seeing some progress in certain spots out of this young team.
