3 major duds in Arizona Cardinals Week 5 loss to Cincinnati Bengals
By Sion Fawkes
The Cincinnati Bengals got the best of the Arizona Cardinals in Week 5, and it came in part because of a few duds on the Redbirds part.
It’s tempting to place Arizona Cardinals quarterback Joshua Dobbs into the duds category for the week, as he threw for just 166 yards, two touchdowns, two picks, and averaged 5.2 yards per pass. Dobbs also garnered just a 57.6 quarterback rating, and he looked every bit like the journeyman backup we thought he was when general manager Monti Ossenfort traded for him.
But to be frank, it’s tough to blame Dobbs for the atrocity that was in yesterday’s loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Sure, he put up terrible numbers, but the offensive line was so bad in pass protection, they as a unit collectively struggled. So let’s dive deeper into how badly the line played in this one.
3 major duds in Arizona Cardinals loss to Bengals
1 - Offensive line
Overall, Joshua Dobbs was sacked just three times for 14 yards, but the line also let the Bengals get to him eight times. And it’s one major reason why I listed pass protection as one of three major improvements the Arizona Cardinals need to make starting this week.
D.J. Humphries in particular had a bad afternoon, as it seemed like defensive end Trey Hendrickson was in the backfield on every other play. Regardless, Joshua Dobbs played well enough this season for me to warrant that if the line held up better, the seventh-year signal-caller would have enjoyed at least another solid performance.
Dobbs isn’t the kind of quarterback capable of lifting a team and placing it onto his shoulders, something he’s proved several times throughout his career. However, he’s also given the Arizona Cardinals fans something to cheer about even if the line does a halfway decent job.
Therefore, this one is not on Dobbs, even if many in the NFL universe believe otherwise if they look at statistics alone. But Dobbs already threw a pair of touchdown passes before the line started to really break down, so go figure.