Revenge of the Birds
The Arizona Cardinals took on the high-flying Dallas Cowboys in front of a national audience on Monday Night Football. It is estimated that six million viewers would be watching at home while the stadium was slammed full to the tune of over 100,000 in attendance.
The Cardinals could not afford another loss. Every team in the NFC West Division won this weekend, so Arizona did not want to get further behind.
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There were extra players who made the trip to Arlington, Texas: first-round draft pick DT Walter Nolen and CB Garrett Williams were activated for the big game.
At the final gun, Arizona embarrassed Dallas in their first home loss to the tune of 27-17.
So, who played well for the Cardinals? Who didn’t?
QB Jacoby Brissett – For the third game in a row, Brissett was able to move the ball up and down the field for most of the game. How many third-down throws did he convert in the first half alone? 7-9 in third-down efficiency in the first half. No team does that. Brissett had 10 passing first downs in the first half. Cowboys get a gimme touchdown? No problem for Brissett as he engineered a nifty 11-play drive on 74 yards that pretty ate up the remainder of the second quarter clock. 15-22 for 158 yards in the first half. Sensational game. Finished 21-31 for 261 yards, an 8.4 yards per completion average, two touchdowns, was sacked five times, and had zero interceptions with a 115.1 QB rating.
By the way, the Eagles get plenty of ink regarding their QB sneak, but Brissett is known as the “King of the Sneak.” When he was with the Browns, they brought in Brissett all the time without the “Tush Push” fanfare. One thing about Brissett’s game: he did not panic in the pocket. The game plan seemed to be to attack Dallas’ bad defensive backfield, and Brissett just looked comfortable back in the pocket.
First half WR Marvin Harrison – In the first half, Harrison put on a clinic on how to go up and reach the high point of the throw. With 9:02 left in the first quarter, he converted a third-and-eight into a first down to keep the drive alive that ended in the game’s first points. CB DaRon Bland had no strategy for how to stop Harrison. Before the first quarter was over, Harrison had converted three long third-downs into a new set of downs, including a third-and-14. His touchdown catch, he completely juked out CB Trikweze Bridges for an uncontested score. Caught six balls for 80 yards in the first half, and then was the forgotten man in the final two quarters except for when he stiff-armed Bland in the third quarter for another first down conversion. Finished with 10 targets, 7 receptions for 96 yards, a 13.7 yards per reception average, and a touchdown. Had catches of 18, 15, 20, 7 , 4 for...
