It was a tale of two halves for the Arizona Cardinals defense in Saturday’s 21-13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, while never forgetting that it was a game of mostly deep backups for both teams.
The Cardinals were without 10 likely starters and another two that will play a lot when the regular season begins:
Defensive linemen Bilal Nichols, Justin Jones, Roy Lopez and Darius Robinson; linebackers Kyzir White, Mack Wilson Sr., Zaven Collins and Dennis Gardeck; cornerbacks Sean Murphy-Bunting and Garrett Williams; and safeties Budda Baker and Jalen Thompson.
The only potential starters that played were cornerbacks Starling Thomas V and Max Melton, who returned this week from an injury that kept him on the sideline for the game against the Saints.
No doubting Thomases
Rookie edge Xavier Thomas had a sack for the second consecutive game, while adding two tackles (one solo, which was for a loss), along with two quarterback hits.
Edge Cameron Thomas, who was a healthy scratch for the final two games of the 2023 season, played a lot and had two sacks and two quarterback hits, plus four tackles (three solo) and a tackle for loss.
Edge Victor Dimukeje also played a lot of snaps, so it’s possible he and Cameron Thomas are battling for roster spots. Dimukeje had one solo tackle and whiffed on two potential sacks, one of which he inexplicably jumped slightly.
Xavier Thomas surely has a bright future, but those calling for him to start need to tap the breaks on that premature evaluation considering he has yet to play against any NFL starters. The Colts’ offensive line was, left to right, Blake Freeland, Josh Sills, Tanor Bortolini, Dalton Tucker and Matt Goncalves and not starters Bernhard Raimann, Quinton Nelson, Ryan Kelly, Will Fries and Braden Smith.
Taking it away
The Cardinals had no turnovers and two takeaways, one a marvelous interception by safety Dadrion (Rabbit) Taylor-Demerson and the other a forced fumble by cornerback Kei’Trel Clark that was recovered by Dante Stills with one second remaining in the first quarter.
On the fumble, the Cardinals gained possession at the Colts 45-yard line. They reached the 12, but three consecutive holding penalties on rookie tackle Christian Jones resulted in first-and-33. However, they got back into field-goal range and Matt Prater connected from 40 yards out.h
Later in the second quarter, with the Colts facing their own second-and-31 from their own 9-yard line with 1:51 remaining in the half after a sack and holding penalty, Taylor-Demerson bolted in front of wide receiver D.J. Montgomery on a pass from Jacob Bean and barely got his second foot in bounds.
Five plays after taking over at the Indianapolis 41-yard line, quarterback Clayton Tune scored from 12 yards and the Prater extra point gave the Cardinals a 10-7 lead with 16 seconds on the clock.
Head coach Jonathan Gannon said, “I told them, the takeaways were good and that’s the reason we stayed in the game. Without those takeaways I think we get the brakes beat off of us, truthfully. The interception was a phenomenal play.”
Second-half blues
In the first half, the Cardinals had 142 yards to 119 for the Colts and controlled the ball for 18:02 to 11:58 for Indianapolis.
The final two quarters were a different story. The Cardinals totaled 90 yards, while the Colts had 237 with 22:02 time of possession to Arizona’s 7:58.
Indianapolis finished with 68 offensive plays while the Cardinals had only 49.
Colts running back Zavier Scott rushed 11 times for 55 yards and scored on a 6-yard run in the second half. Quarterbacks Kedon Slovis (8-for-11 for 79 yards) and Bean (5-for-6 for 81), combined to be 13-for-17 for 160 yards in the second half. Slovis attend Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale.
Special teams a mixed bag
Punter Blake Gillikin had two punts of 62 and 64 yards and averaged 51.7 on six punts. His net was 44.8 and four were inside the 20.
Xavier Weaver had a 37-yard kickoff return and DeeJay Dallas would have had one for 38, but Dimukeje was penalized for holding and instead of starting the possession at the 44-yard line, it was at the 25.
Dallas had punt returns for 17 and 16 yards, however, the second one was negated when Bobby Price illegally blocked a Colts player out of bounds. Dallas returned the ball to the 32-yard line, but after the penalty, the possession began at the 8.
Three Colts kickoff returns went to the 24-, 25- and 34-yard line. Not bad. But one low kick by Prater failed to reach the landing zone and by rule the ball was placed at the 40. Not good.
The Cardinals were penalized four times on special teams for 23 yards, but no yardage was credited for Prater’s short kick and the Price penalty was eight yards for half the distance instead of 15.
Incumbent long snapper Aaron Brewer handled all the placekicks while rookie free agent Joe Shimko snapped on the six punts.
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