The Arizona Cardinals came back from 20 points down Sunday afternoon to defeat the Las Vegas Raiders 29-23. The Cardinals move to 1-1 whereas the Raiders fall to 0-2. Let’s take a deeper dive into this matchup and what it may mean for both of these teams in the future.
What This Means For The Cardinals
The Cardinals got dominated by Kansas City in week one. This game looked to be trending the same way in week two. The Raiders held a 20-0 lead at halftime and Arizona looked lifeless. However in the second half and more specifically the fourth quarter the Cardinals turned on a switch. Quarterback Kyler Murray started playing lights out and leading the offense to multiple scoring drives including 16 points in the fourth quarter. The Arizona defense played a great second half as well only allowing 3 points as well as the game winning scoop and score touchdown in overtime. This win was massive for Arizona. If Arizona had fallen to 0-2 there would have been massive questions specifically surrounding Kyler Murray and head coach Kliff Kingsbury. This comeback win silences those questions. For now.
What This Means For The Raiders
This was an extremely bad loss for the Raiders. They now fall to 0-2 and have many tough remaining games such as two with the Chiefs, one with the Chargers, one with the Rams, and one with the 49ers. It is very hard to envision Las Vegas making the playoffs after this loss. The offense failed to get anything going in the second half and the defense just let Kyler Murray dominate. The Raiders had promising expectations coming into this season but after this loss it looks extremely unlikely that those expectations get met.
What Lies Ahead
As mentioned above the Raiders have a tough schedule the rest of the season and will have to defeat some very good teams to be a playoff team. Next week Las Vegas goes on the road to play Tennessee in a must win game. As for Arizona their schedule is also very difficult which is why this win was so important. Next week Arizona will play a tough Rams team at home.
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2 Comments
Great article and insight!
Great article Jack!