The Arizona Cardinals keep finding the same problem in different forms: they can move the ball, but they cannot finish drives with touchdowns. That pattern showed up again against the Denver Broncos, who walked out with a 30-16 win while the Cardinals kept settling for less.
Arizona had a chance to make things interesting, but the offense spent too much of the afternoon wasting long possessions. The Cardinals reached Denver’s 11, 7 and 23-yard lines without finding the end zone, even on drives that lasted 14 plays and 10 plays. Meanwhile, the Broncos kept cashing in for six points at a time, and that gap turned the game quickly.
The defense had its bright spots, starting with linebacker Jack Gibbens, who was all over the field again. He led the Cardinals with seven tackles and showed up in key moments, including stuffing RB Jonah Colemand in the second quarter for a three-yard gain and getting a hit on RB J.K. Dobbins at the goal line before Dobbins slipped through and scored anyway.
Tight end Trey McBride kept doing what he always does: carrying the passing game. He was the team’s top receiver with 13 targets, 10 catches, 11 yards and a touchdown, and his fourth-quarter hurdle stood out in a game that needed some energy. McBride remains the Cardinals’ most reliable offensive threat by a wide margin.
Kicker Chad Ryland also did his part, drilling field goals from 30, 26 and 41 yards to account for nine points. Once again, he wound up being a major source of the team’s offense.
Still, the issues piled up around that small core of production. Michael Wilson and Kendrick Bourne were both active in the passing game, but the volume and results never matched the talent.
Wilson caught only four passes, while Bourne had six targets and managed three catches for nine yards. Jalen Brooks had just one catch, and the lack of meaningful receiver production stood out.
The run game offered even less. Arizona finished with only 94 rushing yards, and Tyler Allgeier’s offseason arrival didn’t come close to changing the picture. The Cardinals ran eight times for 19 yards, which left the offense one-dimensional and easy to squeeze.
Denver, on the other hand, hit too many big plays. Bo Nix ripped off a 62-yard run in the second quarter, R.J.
Harvey turned a catch into 52 yards early in the third, and Nix found Marvin Mims for 47 yards later in the same period. In the fourth quarter, the Broncos added a 27-yard completion to Jalen Waddle and a 19-yard throw to Courtland Sutton two plays later.
That kind of explosive damage kept Arizona on its heels.
The Cardinals also did themselves no favors with the flags. They were hit with 11 accepted penalties for 114 yards, including three holding calls, a false start, a neutral zone infraction, a rare offensive facemask and a delay of game while sitting on the two-yard line. That’s a brutal way to sabotage your own offense.
Third down was another mess. Arizona went just 3-for-11, which matched the feel of the game: too many stalled drives, not enough clean answers.
On defense, cornerback Kalen King had one of the better outings with six tackles. He helped force a punt on a third-and-five in the second quarter by limiting Waddle to a four-yard gain, then stopped Harvey for a two-yard gain on a third-and-four later in the same period. He also tracked down Mims after the 47-yard completion in the third quarter before leaving injured in the fourth.
The pass rush never really arrived. The Cardinals had one sack all day, along with limited pressure and only one quarterback hit.
Darius Robinson finished with four tackles and the team’s lone sack, while Josh Sweat had two tackles, Roy Lopez had one, and L.J. Collier added one tackle and a batted pass.
Stopping the run was just as shaky. Denver kept finding room, finishing with a 6.1 yards per carry average, and the Cardinals had too many empty spaces when Nix broke free. The Broncos repeatedly got movement up the middle, and Arizona’s pursuit often looked late, if it showed up at all.
In the end, the Cardinals had too many self-inflicted wounds and too little finishing power to threaten Denver. The offense can generate yardage, but until it starts turning those trips into touchdowns, games like this are going to keep ending the same way.
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