Arizona Cardinals handle Tampa Bay Bucs 40-7
By Scott Allen
The Arizona Cardinals created four turnovers en route to victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday
Before the game today, I posted five predictions for the game today. More came true than not as the Arizona Cardinals defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 40-7.
The Cardinals needed to do better on third down conversions on defense on Sunday. Last week they allowed the New England Patriots to go 10-16. On Sunday, they allowed the Bucs to go 5-13. Improvement.
The Cardinals were going to pick off Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston twice. Well, they got him four times, twice by cornerback Marcus Cooper. Cooper ran one of them back for a touchdown in the third quarter. Overall the Bucs turned the ball over five times.
The Cardinals were going to get receiver Larry Fitzgerald his 101st touchdown. Check. They tried real hard to get him number 102 after he fell a yard short. He had numbers 99 and 100 last week against the Patriots.
The Bucs were going to score first. Nope. Missed that one. The Cardinals jumped out 24-0 at halftime. It easily could have been 28-0.
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David Johnson was going to be a beast today. Well, he wasn’t dominating but he carried 12 times for 45 yards on the ground. He caught three passes for 98 yards. The Cardinals didn’t need him to be a beast with a lot of help from his teammates.
His backup Chris Johnson actually saw much more action than in week one and carried more than David Johnson on Sunday. CJ had 16 carries and scored his first touchdown of the season.
Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer had a nice day. He went 18-31 for 308 yards and three touchdowns. He exited the game in the fourth quarter with the game in hand. Backup Drew Stanton took over at that point.
The Cardinals defense still had difficulty creating a pass rush but again they were still able to force Winston into mistakes. Linebacker Chandler Jones had a sack late in the game.
They also didn’t have to deal with top Bucs running back Doug Martin for much of the game as he left with an injured hamstring in the first half. Winston was forced to throw the ball for much of the second half.
One area the Cardinals are going to need to work on is the kicking game. Kicker Chandler Catanzaro missed an extra point. That one was all on him but rookie long snapper Kameron Canaday struggled again with low snaps.
For now, the Cardinals are 1-1 with a road trip to face the Buffalo Bills next Sunday in Buffalo. Their next home game will take place in two weeks on October 2nd against the Los Angeles Rams.