Entering Week 9, the Arizona Cardinals found themselves in the top 10 of Touchdown Wire’s power rankings coming off their bye week and a home win over the Seattle Seahawks. However, they lost on Sunday 34-31 to the Miami Dolphins, which caused them to fall a bit in this week’s rankings.
In the latest power rankings from Touchdown Wire’s Mark Schofield, the Cardinals now ranks 14th in the league.
This was a rather odd loss for the Arizona Cardinals.
Arizona had a few chances late to pull out the win, but head coach Kliff Kingsbury seemed to get a bit too conservative on the Cardinals’ final two drives of the game. On the first of those two drives, with the game tied at 31, the Cardinals drove to the Miami 49-yard line after converting a 4th and 1 opportunity with a Kyler Murray run. From there they ran the ball on both first and second down, and then on 3rd and 4 from the Miami 43-yard line (with just under six minutes remaining) Murray scrambled for three, setting up a fourth down.
Chase Edmonds was stopped on an inside run for no gain, and the Dolphins took over on downs. They would kick a field goal on their ensuing possession to take a 34-31 lead.
But the Cardinals had one more chance, and their final drive of the game got off to a perfect start, as Murray hit wide receiver Christian Kirk along the right side of the field for a 35-yard gain. That gave Arizona a 1st and 10 at the Miami 40-yard line with 3:03 left in the game.
They ran the football twice, setting up a 3rd and 1 at the two-minute warning.
Murray’s third down attempt fell incomplete, and the Cardinals were forced to settle for a 49-yard field goal try from Zane Gonzalez, which was no good.
Ballgame.
It was odd to see Arizona be more conservative than you might expect, but that is part of the learning process for a coach and a team that is suddenly a more competitive organization than you were a season ago. But the loss is a chance to learn for the Cardinals. Beyond that, Murray remains a fascinating young talent at the quarterback position. He completed 21 of 26 passes for 283 yards and three touchdown, and led the Cardinals with 106 rushing yards on 11 attempts, and added a TD on the ground. He accounted for over 300 yards and four touchdowns, making him perhaps both RB1 and QB1 on the day:
Kyler Murray: QB1 and RB1
300+ Total Yards
4 Total TDs(via @NFL)pic.twitter.com/kP1wYNBRjx
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 8, 2020
And they lost.
If anything, this was on the defense. The Cardinals did not find a way to rattle Tua Tagovailoa or force a mistake from the rookie quarterback making his second start. That might be the biggest takeaway from this game from Arizona’s perspective.
The Cardinals are actually one spot behind the Dolphins in the rankings, as Miami moved up from No. 15 to No. 13 with the win.
As for the rest of the NFC West, the Seattle Seahawks fell two spots to No. 5 overall, the Los Angeles Rams stayed at No. 11, while the San Francisco 49ers dropped a spot to No. 18.
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