Sports360AZ
To a man, each and every Cardinals defensive player knows they played poorly against the 49ers on Monday Night Football, as San Francisco dominated Arizona 24-3 to drop them to 4-4 with their fourth straight loss.
Quarterback Alex Smith had a near perfect performance, going 18-of-19 for 232 yards, three touchdowns and a passer rating of 157.1.
Despite what Smith and the 49ers offense were able to do to them on Monday night, it was the mistakes the defense made that allowed Smith and his offense to have a big night.
“We had a lot of missed tackles,” head coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “We had opportunities to get them off the field and we didn’t do that.”
“We didn’t tackle very well, and everybody has to be held accountable for those things.”
Whisenhunt said it wasn’t for a lack of effort on the part of the defense. He said it was the 49ers night to shine, not theirs.
“Give them credit, they’re a good football team,” Whisenhunt said. “They made plays and we didn’t get it done.”
Disappointment, Whisenhunt said, was the number one feeling he had after the game.
“On that kind of stage [Monday Night Football], you want to play better, you want to represent yourself for your fans better.”
Defensive end Calais Campbell had six tackles and a sack on Monday night.
Campbell is quick to admit that the team didn’t play their best football against San Francisco.
“I don’t think we played a good game today at all as a team, offense, defense, special teams, we got beat in every aspect of the game and that’s not good enough,” Campbell said.
Campbell said each and every player needs to take stock in themselves and come together to fix what’s broken.
Linebacker Daryl Washington says it’s not time to push the panic button just yet. He says there’s still a long road to be traveled this season.
“I really don’t think there’s any concern,” Washington said. “What we do is not try to think about the losses. We stay positive and just think about working hard and getting ready to play the next game.”
“Even though we left some plays out there on the field, offense, defense, special teams, we’re still a team and we can get back in this thing and turn things around.”
