The Arizona Cardinals performed a Houdini act Sunday when they escaped Sin City with a 29-23 overtime win over the Las Vegas Raiders. It was an extremely thrilling win for the Cardinals, but it also had plenty of flaws on the part of Arizona, which was why it found itself trailing by 20 points at the half. Nevertheless, Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury would take a win any way he can.
“The numbers might not be great,” Kliff Kingsbury said about the win over the Raiders via Darren Urban, “but we don't care about numbers.”
The Cardinals, especially in the first half of the Raiders game, were a complete mess. They couldn't get anything on offense and barely made any effective plays to slow down Derek Carr and company. It was a totally different story in the second half, though, with the Cardinals and the Raiders seemingly switching places. Kyler Murray and the Cardinals scored three touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters while limiting Las Vegas to only one TD. The Cards also needed to convert a pair of two-point conversion tries to force overtime, including one that nearly covered the entire length of the field.
“We started playing a lot better. That's what changed,” commented J.J. Watt after the game. “A game like this tells you a lot about yourself. It tells you a lot about the guys in the room.”
Arizona will have plenty of cleaning up to do, though, heading into Week 3. For one, the Cardinals had 12 penalties that went for 120 yards in the Raiders game. Murray, for all his magic, went just 31 of 49 for 277 passing yards and a touchdown with an interception.
So far this season, Arizona already has an ugly loss and an ugly win, as the team also got crushed in Week 1 at home by the Kansas City Chiefs. If the Cardinals are going to be a serious Super Bowl contender, they will have to start looking like it sooner than later.
The Cardinals will look to score another huge win this coming weekend against the Los Angeles Rams at home.
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