Arizona Cardinals: Not many positives in loss

The Arizona Cardinals drop to 0-3 in the preseason with loss to the Houston Texans

The Arizona Cardinals starting offense did produce one touchdown drive on Sunday.  After that, not much to be positive about in their third preseason loss, 34-24 to the Houston Texans.

The offense struggled a good part of the day again, both from starters and backups.  Starting quarterback Carson Palmer threw for 64 yards, going 5-9 with two interceptions and no touchdowns.

Palmer had one good drive, aided by the rushing of back David Johnson carrying the ball six times for 28 yards including a touchdown.  Johnson had a 16-yard run and a 40-yard pass from Palmer to tight end Darren Fells helped aid in the scoring drive.

The backups didn’t blow us away once again either.  Drew Stanton went 7-15 for 70 yards.  He didn’t throw any interceptions but he sure came close a couple of times.  Matt Barkley did enough though to keep himself in the conversation to make the roster as the third quarterback despite two interceptions.

His second interception wasn’t really his fault.  It was a catchable pass that couldn’t be hauled down. He threw two touchdowns as well.  One was to Jaxon Shipley and another to Chris Hubert.

The Cardinals defense wasn’t much better on Sunday though.  They lost cornerback Mike Jenkins in the first quarter to a possible serious injury.  He was carted off.  Cornerback Justin Bethel, playing in his first preseason game, also was burned a few times.

The Cardinals were able to create a pass rush a couple of times.  Linebackers Kevin Minter and Chandler Jones had sacks.  There was little pressure the rest of the day though from the defense.

The defense did stiffen up in the second half.  They even got an interception of Texans quarterback Brandon Weeden.  Despite that though, the Cardinals still lost the turnover battle 5-1.

There is concern but again the reminder that this is just the preseason.  Everything is different in two weeks against the New England Patriots.  Now some tough decisions to be made as cut-time approaches.