Cardinals’ Smirks Smacked Off By Panthers 34-21
The Panthers got their revenge alright. Maybe I can take solace in having a premonition of this terrible result. Naw, never mind its not helping.
The Cardinals came out flat, and their hyped No.1 rush defense was shredded by a Carolina squad that badly needed the ball to bounce their way for once. Kurt Warner had a hand in fulfilling that need by accounting for six turnovers, as Arizona played uninspired and out of sync on both sides of the ball.
Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie followed his superstar showing vs the Giants by falling for a Jake Delhomme pump fake that ended in being badly burnt for a Steve Smith TD. The defense struggled to get pressure on Delhomme, but even then they only had 15 pass attempts in which to do it because the Panthers were running the ball down our throats. Arm tackling, bad angles, and missed assignments are a bad combination.
Offensively the only silver lining is that Beanie Wells and Tim Hightower combined for a 5.4 yards per carry average, which could have really come in handy if the score had not been 28-7 at halftime. Playing from that far behind, there was only one sensible strategy: put the ball in Kurt Warner’s hands, run the no-huddle offense, and try to pick up large gains and points in chunks. Unfortunately, Kurt and the Cardinals’ vaunted high-flying aerial attack could not get it done today.
The fall from grace in the NFL is swift. Last week after beating the Giants in New Jersey, the Cardinals looked primed to develop into one of the teams to beat in the NFC. This week, their old demons came out of the woodwork to cut short any talk of greatness.
While last postseason’s loss to the Cardinals seemed to spark the Panthers’ downward spiral, this game may have the opposite effect. Carolina may be able to use this game as a catalyst in which to build a strong second half of the season surge. By the same token, while the victory in Carolina helped propel Arizona towards the Super Bowl, lets hope this loss does not ignite a decline for the Cardinals.
Chris, can you explain why the heck your team drops games they’re supposed to win all the time?
If I could I would be a rich man! I have no idea, it is utterly amazing how different the same team can look from week to week. poor poor effort and no want to displayed. stinkola.