Offense
-Thought the make shift OL played generally well. Edoka appeared to struggle the most, especially in the 1st half.
-Gannon comes from the Fangio coaching tree, he was daring the Cowboys to beat them underneath or run the football against light boxes. Cowboys had success taking what was given throughout the game. Did hit a couple of big plays.
-Cardinals had great success defending us in the red zone, this has been a problem this entire season, where this team was #1 last year. Thought both fade routes were penalties, but you cannot rely on the refs to bail you out. Why was the Cowboys running the football so much late? They were given that up and playing extra men in coverage. Playcalling was bad, so was the execution. Coaches need to figure out this fast or they will struggle to beat any team.
-Nice to see Gallup having a strong game. He was the offensive star of the day and looked like his pre-injury self.
-I believe Pollard had his 1st 100 rushing yard game, Dowdle continues to impress. Wonder why we didn’t see much of Duece or Turpin, both could of been weapons down in the red zone due to their quickness.
-Penalties are drive killers, especially in the red zone. They get a mulligan this week, due to the make shift line, but it is something to watch.
Defense
-Their run defense reared it’s ugly head from prior seasons. Arizona was running directly at Parsons with great success. Thought the entire safety group had an awful day: Wilson over aggressiveness caused the long QB run, Kearse takes a bad angle that led to the long WR run for TD. Bell seemed to get caught up in the trash. Lve has issues with misdirection. Players weren’t flying to the football at all. After saying all this, it was corrected in the 2nd half. Run defense is all about being disipline and playing with effort, neither was there in the 1st half.
-Really struggles getting off the field on third downs, the Cardinals scored on every single drive in the first half, that will get you beat by any team in this league. So many penalties extended drives, pass rush was non-existent against an average line, defensive turnovers never happened.
-Thought Bland played ok, outside of the PI early on. Gilmore had his struggles against speed on the outside.
-Lack of communication was a big issue throughout the day. Cannot give up so many chunk plays due to blown assignments.
Special Teams
-Didn’t see where the offsides occurred on the FG attempt, but it extended a drive.
-Huge penalty on Turpin’s punt return
