Cardinals embarrassed and outplayed by Texans in 40-20 loss

First half turns ugly quick:

Houston didn’t take long to put its stamp on Sunday’s game. On the second offensive play of the game, QB C.J. Stroud found wide receiver Nico Collins on a slant route and turns on the burners for a 57-yard touchdown. CB Garrett Williams and no one else in the secondary could catch the Pro Bowler for the opening score.

In a morbid series of effect, on the kickoff afterwards, returner Jalen Brooks had the ball popped out high in the air by Jamal Brooks and into the hands of Texans running back Dare Ogunbowale. Despite only settling for a field goal, Houston found itself up 10-0 in only three in-game minutes. And it wouldn’t get any better.

Arizona was able to finally run an offensive play and immediately ran the ball for a loss of two yards. The Cardinals finished the drive with -7 yards of offense and a terrible punt put the Texans at midfield. Thanks to a 24-yard defensive pass inference penalty by Williams, Houston didn’t have to do much to punch in its second touchdown via direct snap to Woody Marks for the 7-yard score.

Quite similar to last week, head coach Jonathan Gannon found his squad down by three scores quickly. The offense needed to find something that worked, and the answer was obviously Trey McBride. Jacoby Brissett targeted the Pro Bowler five times and connected five times for 47 receiving yards, including a two-yard touchdown, cutting the deficit 17-7.

The Cardinals defense began to settle after a disastrous 1st quarter, falling back on its mantra of “bend, don’t break.” In the Texans two offensive drive in the second quarter, they found themselves on the opposite side of the field. However, the offense was only able to escape with two field goals, even with one drive inside Arizona’s own five-yard line.

Regardless of the defense gaining momentum, Brissett and the offense couldn’t capitalize, only recording 30 yards following the McBride touchdown. Gannon tried to create some momentum by going for it on 4th down at the end of the half, but failed, gifting the ball back to Houston. Stroud put his team in position to add some points late with a field goal, but Calais Campbell stormed through the line to block the attempt. The blocked field goal was the only drive out of six with the Texans didn’t score.

Offense can’t muster enough:

On the Cardinals first touchdown drive, they fed their best offensive weapon, and to open the second half, they did the same with wide receiver Michael Wilson. After a one-catch half, Brissett found Wilson on three straight pass attempts for 37 yards and had the offense rolling. However, a holding penalty backed the team up in a 2nd-and-20, forcing the 32-year-old QB to try and make a play downfield, which ended horribly.

Brissett was looking for Wilson, but threw it out of the reach for him and perfectly to Texans CB Kamari Lassiter for the interception in the endzone. Gannon has preached about it all year, the offense thrives and makes the plays to get downfield, until a mistake stalls them out or turns the ball over, both happened.

The turnover restored the game back into Houston’s control, as Jawhar Jordan blasted out in the backfield for a 50-yard run to completely flip the field. Arizona’s defense tried to remain unbreakable by not allowing a touchdown after a big play by Jordan. That dream soon died on a 3rd and goal, as Stroud escaped the pocket to find tight end Dalton Schultz alone in the back of the endzone for the score, 30-7.

The disparity on the scoreboard, had Houston’s defense playing conservative to not allow an explosive plays. The Cardinals responded by running the ball into an empty box for some nice chunk plays. The sequence of run plays forced the Texans to play up, allowing Brissett to go back to his favorite target.

Twice following back-to-back run plays, Brissett would find McBride for a 20-yard gain, finishing with a touchdown grab off a slant and run in. The score marked the 26-year-old’s second career 2-touchdown game and his 10th touchdown of the season, the most by a tight end in franchise history. McBride surpassed Jackie Smith, who set the record in 1967.

One might believe the record-setting score would give the team some momentum, but it wasn’t even close. The following kickoff saw Jaylin Noel run it back for a 69-yard return and deep into Arizona territory. Houston only left with a field goal, but the return essentially killed any hope of a comeback.

The offense was able to muster an impressive eight-play, 73-yard drive, that survived a fourth-and-five via penalty, for a touchdown. Eerily similar to last week’s final Cardinals touchdown, Brissett found Wilson in a left side endzone fade that he was able to come down with for the touchdown. A failed two-point attempt brought the score to two possessions, 33-20, with nine minutes remaining.

The defense responded by generating one of the few stops in the game, but Brissett and his unit couldn’t put together any cohesion. Houston would get the ball back and put the nail in the coffin with four-yard touchdown pass to Collins making it 40-20 and six straight losses for Arizona.