The Arizona Cardinals started fast on defense but ultimately failed to pull out the victory against the Detroit Lions in week one.
The start of the 2017 season started much like the 2016 season: ugly. In 60 minutes of football, the Arizona Cardinals didn’t do much of anything to put to rest any thoughts of another lackluster season.
Carson Palmer and the Cardinals offense started it off with an abysmal interception. The defense bailed them out, however, a few plays later. Really the defense bailed out Bruce Arians’ offense all day up until the fourth quarter.
That’s without saying that the Cardinals defense didn’t help the cause. Matthew Stafford and rookie wide receiver Kenny Golladay had his way with the defense especially in the final 15 minutes as the two connected on 10 and 45 yard touchdowns. The Detroit Lions capped off their 35-23 victory on a Palmer pick-six late in the quarter.
The early East Coast woes continue for Arizona. Dating back to 2015 they’re now 1-6. Next week, however, they’ll get another shot as they travel to take on a bad Indianapolis Colts team.
Let’s look at three takeaways for the Red Birds in this loss.
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3. Lack of pass rush
One phase of the game that Arizona should be elite at is rushing the passer. Against the Lions they did little to rattle Stafford coming away with just one sack early on in the game.
Chandler Jones was the recipient of Arizona’s lone sack. The man on the other side of the defense, Markus Golden, was a complete non factor all day. If you take a look at the box score it shows he had just one tackle and that tells the story. Non factor.
While the Cardinals boast a great secondary they’re going to need a pass rush to be successful this season. Jones and Golden combined for 23.5 sacks last season but are off to a slow start thus far.