Arizona Cardinals vs Philadelphia Eagles: Good, bad, and ugly

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PHILADELPHIA, PA – OCTOBER 08: Head coach Bruce Arians of the Arizona Cardinals looks on in the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on October 8, 2017 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Eagles defeated the Cardinals 34-7. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

The Ugly

Play calling/coaching

You can’t be calling two-yard sideline pass plays on third down when the team is trying to get back into a game down 21-0. You can’t throw short passes on second and 12.

Throwing nine yards on a third and 15 won’t get the job done. Running the Wildcat usually isn’t the answer. It worked the one time they did run it though.

They snapped the ball to Nelson and he got 14-yards. It was the longest run by far for the Cardinals. Why not more of that mixed in? That’s just the offensive calls.

On defense, the alignment on consecutive third and 11’s that allowed the Eagles to get first downs. They got 16 yards on a third and 17.

Simply not being ready

Please don’t make any excuses for the early start. That is such a cop-out excuse. The Cardinals got to Philadelphia on Friday night. They had the opportunity to get the same sleep as the Eagles did.

There is no excuse to come out flat in all aspects. The punt return team gave up bug plays. The defense gave up big plays. The offense was void of trying to make one for the most part.

They were down 21-0 before you could blink an eye. In the NFL, that is almost impossible to come back from.

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