Takeaways from the Saints vs Cardinals Game

Will this loss to the Saints set fire to the Cardinals?

There were a ton of takeaways from the Saints vs Cardinals Game…no really. The ball was taken away from the Cardinals twice via interception!

After a phenomenal first drive, the same old issues seem to have plagued the Cardinals yet again as the Red Sea made its way into the big easy. Carson couldn’t connect with the receivers, couldn’t be kept upright, and the defense left their tackling manual at home. I hate to keep writing about the same issues from week to week but they are getting harder and harder to ignore.

To make matters worse Todd Bowles should have caught on to the fact that there is no way that ANYONE on the Cards roster could have defended Jimmy Graham one on one. That’s right, not even Patrick Peterson. Graham is to big of a body to just give him single coverage the entire game. Not changing that scheme midway through the game is what really turned the tides. The Cardinals defense just does not have the size in the secondary to make those moves.

Our running game look great in the first half and greatly helped to balance the offense pound for pound. Once the second half started, the running game was abandoned completely in order to try and quickly catch up, which obviously didn’t happen.

My last negative observation is the injuries that were had. The defense loses Lorenzo Alexander and Sam Acho for the year while Rashad Johnson loses half of his finger on a kickoff return. I knew going into this game there were going to be injuries due to the physical nature of the Saints defense, but this is hard to watch.

Ok, now for the positives. Darnell Dockett found that fire that he needed and looks to be back to his old QB sacking ways. This will go far for the defense if they can limit the amount of comfort the opposing quarterback will have. Tyrann Mathieu shows that his defensive instincts are no fluke, and Andre Ellington still seems to be a very viable option as the receiving running back for the Cardinals. The injuries are going to be tough to overcome but I do have a proposal. SIGN KERRY RHODES! He had a huge year for the Cardinals last year and has proved that he can make a big play in the middle.

Either way, the best news that Cardinals fans want to hear is that they hold the same record as two other teams in their division: The Rams and The 49ers. This is the NFL were literally ANYTHING can happen, so buck up Cardinals and win these next two!