Opening drive
The Cardinals defense bent but didn’t break on the games opening drive as the Saints got the opening kickoff. Then they were held to a field goal attempt by Wil Lutz. He missed wide left.
That left the Cardinals offense to take advantage. They had a terrific call on the second play of the drive.
Murray got the ball out Christian Kirk who threw it back to Murray. Murray then found wide open tight end Charles Clay for 47-yards. It was a beautiful call that promised more to follow shortly.
Except nothing good followed that call. It was run left end with Edmonds out of bounds for no gain on first down. It was Edmonds again on second down for 3 yards to the left. Then on third down it was a pass for a loss of 2 yards to Edmonds.
They went to the Edmonds well one too many times with no imaginative play calling. They settled for a field goal on a day they settled for 3 of them and no touchdowns. The Saints are a team that needs to be taken advantage of early at home or it doesn’t happen, period.