3 winners and losers from the Arizona Cardinals win over Bengals

Second loser of the Arizona Cardinals: The rushing defense

Sure, the Arizona Cardinals defense sure locked down the Bengals’ rushing attack, but that performance last night would’ve looked a lot worse had the Bengals not had two holding penalties that took huge plays off the board.

The first play for the Bengals saw running back Chris Evans take a handoff to the right side and the Cardinals defense looked like one of those washouts you drive over heading north to Flagstaff. Nobody was there and Evans ran about 60-70 yards before it got called back.

The second flag negated an actual touchdown by Evans, and the game would’ve been completely different had the Bengals not shot themselves in the foot. These penalties killed the Bengals’ momentum, and they didn’t do much past that point except in garbage time.

Where were the linebackers on that first play? Heck, where were they at all last night? A very quiet night didn’t do anything to help the fans who wanted to see an improvement.

It’s time to hit the film and get better for next week.