Arizona Cardinals blow huge opportunity against Dolphins

The Arizona Cardinals had a day of missed opportunities in loss to the Miami Dolphins

Not much to say other than a wasted afternoon at State Farm Stadium for the Arizona Cardinals.  The blew an opportunity to go into first place with a 34-31 loss to the Miami Dolphins.

The Cardinals defense and lack of aggressiveness both did them in late.  However the tone was set early on by the fumble by Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray.

The fumble return by the Dolphins put them up 7-0 early.  The Cardinals eventually would take a 31-24 lead but the defense, or lack thereof, was the story of the day.

Outside of the fumble Murray had a decent day.  He threw for 3 touchdowns and ran for another.  He threw for 283-yards on the afternoon.

The issue was the Cardinals defense.  They allowed Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to go 20-28 for 248-yards and 2 touchdowns.  He did not turn the ball over.

The Cardinals defense had little answer for the Dolphins receivers.  They only rushed for 91-yards but that mattered little.  The Cardinals couldn’t come up with the stops they needed to on a day that saw the Seattle Seahawks lose to the Buffalo Bills as well.

Murray ran for 106-yards and he escaped trouble a number of times.  Cardinals running back Chase Edmonds ran for 70-yards but that was on a whopping 25-carries.  A 2.8 average will not get the job done against any team in this league.

Cardinals receiver DeAndre Hopkins was largely ignored.  He only had 3 receptions for 30-yards. They did get receiver Larry Fitzgerald the ball 4 times for 54-yards.  Still it was not nearly enough.

The Cardinals were2-3 on fourth down on Sunday.  However the one time they needed to go for it, they opted for the field goal opportunity.  That failed miserably with Zane Gonzalez missing from 49-yards late in the game.

Now the Cardinals need to prepare for those same Bills that defeated the Seahawks on Sunday.  Get ready for more disappointment next week.