3 huge missed opportunities for Cardinals vs Saints
By Scott Allen
The Arizona Cardinals were overmatched on the stat sheet Sunday but had chances to make things go their way on Sunday in loss to New Orleans Saints
If you didn’t watch the game you might think this was total domination from start to finish. That wasn’t the case for the Arizona Cardinals.
They had struggles on both sides of the ball, sure. However given the unbalanced state sheet, the Cardinals had their chances to stay in the game and not only stay with the New Orleans Saints but beat them.
However with a young coach, and young team, there were missed opportunities on Sunday. There were three of them in particular that stand out.
These missed opportunities will be what we will remember most. A 17-9 game going to the fourth quarter ended 31-9.
4th down and 1
It was the right decision to go for it on 4th and 1 when they were on their own 30-yardline. It was the 3rd quarter and it felt the Saints offense was becoming unstoppable.
When the Cardinals went for it on 4th and 1, there was never any feeling from here like “what are they thinking?”. It was more of a feeling of “well, it had better be the right call”.
Unfortunately it wasn’t the right call. Up to this point the Cardinals were 5 for 5 on 4th down conversions on the season. Every call prior was the right one.
On Sunday coach Kliff Kingsbury could not get out of his own way at times. The aggressiveness is good to see and quite honestly they had not much going.
But when you’ve been held to less than 20-yards rushing for the day and it wasn’t for the lack of trying, then another call needs to be made there. It’s another chance to grow and learn from the mistake call.