As expected, Cardinals demolish Texans to remain undefeated

Not many felt the Houston Texans had a chance in Week 7 against the Arizona Cardinals and those people were proven to be right on Sunday.

Without a loss in their first six games of the season, Arizona stepping on the field inside State Farm Stadium on Sunday as a 20-point favorite over the 1-5 Houston Texans was hardly a surprise.

Even less surprising was when the Cardinals left the field with a 26-point victory over the Texans on Sunday.

By defeating Houston by a final score of 31-5, Arizona has now won all seven of their matchups this season. The Cardinals are now 7-0 for the first time since 1974.

Arizona Cardinals get job done after slow start vs. Houston Texans

After the first quarter ended on Sunday with Arizona trailing the Texans 2-0, it didn’t seem like the Week 7 contest was going to be much of a blowout.

But then the Cardinals were able to put together a 14-play, 75-yard offensive drive that ended with Kyler Murray connecting with DeAndre Hopkins for a one-yard touchdown, and Arizona never looked back.

Murray went on to throw for 261 yards, two more scores, and one unfortunate interception. Against the team that selected him in the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft, Hopkins finished with seven catches for 53 yards and his one trip to the end zone.

In his first game with the Cardinals since they acquired him in a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles earlier this month, tight end Zach Ertz hauled in three passes for 66 yards and a touchdown. Ertz made some mistakes that can be blamed on him still learning the playbook on Sunday, but these moments didn’t take away from the fact that his debut with Arizona looked impressive.

The Cardinals entered Sunday’s matchup ranked as the fifth-best rushing team in the league and they proved why during their win over Houston. Led by Chase Edmonds and James Conner, Arizona ended the contest with 172 yards on the ground, their second-highest single-game total of the 2021 season.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Cardinals completely shut down the Texans. Houston didn’t find the end zone once on Sunday and they averaged just 3.3 yards per play.

Another win is nice for Arizona, but they won’t have much time to enjoy it as they are taking on the 6-1 Green Bay Packers in a big Week 8 Thursday night matchup.