Arizona Cardinals lead Houston Texans 14-10 at halftime
By Scott Allen
Not much excitement in the first half for the Arizona Cardinals and Houston Texans
The Arizona Cardinals moved the ball a little bit on their first offensive drive, after that the rest of the first quarter was mainly a field position game. After the first quarter the Cardinals and Houston Texans were scoreless.
However towards the end of the first quarter the Texans started to move the ball and were inside the five yard line heading into the second quarter. It lead to a Texans touchdown pass from quarterback Tom Savage to running back Lamar Miller to put them up 7-0.
The Cardinals had their chances to score early on. A sack of Blaine Gabbert stalled that first drive just outside of Phil Dawson field goal range.
The Cardinals appeared to have hit the Texans Bruce Ellington in the end zone for a safety, however it was ruled since the Cardinals Budda Baker touched the ball first, the Texans kept the ball at the one yard line and moved it out to the 11 before they had to punt.
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The running game again has stalled. There isn’t much of a passing game but that is not entirely unexpected.
One of the bigger issues for the Cardinals in the first half was penalties. They amassed five of them. That won’t help if the Cardinals want any second half success.
The Cardinals did get even when safety Budda Baker got a sack, forced fumble and fumble recovery of Savage. Two plays later Gabbert put up a nice pass to Larry Fitzgerald for a 20-yard touchdown.
Fitz had been shown on the sidelines a couple of minutes earlier with his hand being looked at by medical personnel. However he looked just fine on the touchdown reception.
After the touchdown, the Cardinals defense forced a three and out to get the ball back. Unfortunately Gabbert was forced to scramble on third down and their next drive stalled.
The Texans weren’t done turning the ball over though. Savage was intercepted on a tipped pass into the hands of cornerback Patrick Peterson. Two plays later Gabbert threw a touchdown pass to tight end Ricky Seals-Jones.
One final drive wasn’t very well managed by the Texans but it was certainly good enough to get on the board. A field goal with five seconds left in the half left the Texans down 14-10 at halftime.
The Texans won the opening coin toss and deferred, therefore the Cardinals will start on defense in the second half. The defense needs to make an early second half statement and get the offense back on the field quickly.