Cardinals Annihilated in Atanta
By Scott Allen
Where do I start? How about from the beginning? Yeah, that’s sounds good. From the opening kickoff everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the Arizona Cardinals as they get drubbed 41-7 by the Atlanta Falcons.
The Cardinals defense was non-existent. They couldn’t stop the running game, even with Michael Turner and Jarious Norwood out of the game. Turner did end up with 9 carries for 75 yards before he left the game.
The penalties, they happened early and often. Too many of the self-destructing kind. Illegal formations, twice. Personal fouls, twice. Pass Interference, holding. You name it, it took place. The penalties are going to have to be reduced or these Cardinals won’t beat the Pop Warner teams.
It got so bad, the Cards brought Max Hall in to finish the game. At least found Steve Breaston on his first pass. The second pass, however, was intercepted and almost returned for a touchdown. It was that kind of day. Kudos to the Falcons for taking a knee after that and not punching another one in.
It was the kind of day not entirely unexpected. I did expect there to be better discipline, especially from a Ken Whisenhunt coached team. After Atlanta scored on their first drive of the game though, clearly the Cardinals played like they felt out of it already. There was a glimmer of hope early in the second when Tim Hightower scurried down the field for an 80-yard touchdown run. The euphoria was short lived though. It was 24-7 at halftime and the rest they say, was history.
So what next? You watch film of this game and move on to prepare for the Oakland Raiders. That’s all you can do. I would never come out and guarantee a win over anyone in this league, especially with this Arizona Cardinals team. However I can guarantee this kind of performance is unacceptable to Ken Whisenhunt. Expect a much better performance next week.
By the way, who in the heck is Jason Snelling? The Falcons backup running back made the Cardinals look just silly against the run. Glad we won’t have to see him again this season. Let’s just move on and forget this one. That’s all you can do. Cards need to have a short memory.