The Arizona Cardinals fell to 2-4 on the season with a 19-9 loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 6. They played well defensively, made a play on special teams and were awful on offense.
They are now in last place in the division and 0-2 in division play.
They are down, they have injured players and a quick turnaround as they play on Thursday night.
What can we take away from the loss?
Our takeaways and observations are below.
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They scored points in the first quarter!
The Arizona Cardinals entered the game not having scored any points in the first quarter. That ended with their very first drive.
Although it wasn’t a touchdown, they did get a 23-yard field goal to open the game.
That was it for the offense
The offense did not score again the rest of the game. Twice they went for it on fourth down rather than kicking a field goal and did not convert.
They went 4-for-16 on third down and only 1-for-5 on fourth down.
They turned the ball over twice.
Kyler Murray missed throws
Murray has made a name for himself in being a very accurate passer, even down the field.
This season, he has missed several throws and that was the case again on Sunday.
He threw behind a couple of receivers. A fourth-down throw to Rondale Moore was short. He missed deep to Zach Ertz by a little bit.
If he connects on a couple of these throws, the outcome might be different, but it isn’t happening yet.
Pass protection was poor
Murray rushed for a season-high 100 yards but the offensive line did not help him.
He was sacked six times by the Seahawks and didn’t even have a chance on a couple of the plays.
More injuries
The Cardinals were already playing without center Rodney Hudson. Justin Pugh exited the game with a knee injury. Pairing Sean Harlow with Max Garcia did not go well.
Hollywood Brown injured his foot.
Dennis Gardeck left the game with an injury as well.
With only four days until their next game, this is concerning.
The defense was very good
The Seahawks entered the week in the top 10 in yards and points.
The defense held the Seahawks to only 296 total yards and 4-of-14 on third down.
They limited DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett to a combined four catches for 51 yards.
It was the third time they held an opponent to 20 or fewer points.
Pass rush heating up
The Cardinals had not been getting opposing quarterbacks. They had only six sacks in their first five games, although they had two each in Weeks 4 and 5.
They exploded for five sacks against the Seahawks. All five came on third downs. Zaven Collins had two sacks, the first two of his career, rookies Myjai Sanders and Cameron Thomas each had their first career sacks and Markus Golden had his first sack of this season.
No confidence in the kicking
The Cardinals decided to stick with Matt Ammendola for the second week in a row after missing a 43-yard field goal that would have sent their Week 5 game against the Eagles into overtime.
He made a 23-yard kick to start things off but head coach Kliff Kingsbury clearly did not have confidence in him for longer kicks.
Rather than kicking a field goal from 40-something yards twice, they went for it on fourth down. Ammendola missed an extra point.
