Arizona Cardinals’ mental miscues root of loss to New Orleans Saints
 

How much of a factor was only scoring 7 points?


SARASOTA, Fla. -- It’s impossible to pick only one reason for the Cardinals’ offensive struggles in Sunday’s 31-7 loss to the Saints, so coach Bruce Arians didn’t try on Monday.

The Cardinals (1-2) couldn’t convert often enough on third downs (two of last 11 opportunities). They committed dumb penalties (illegal shift that negated a first down). They didn’t protect the passer well enough. And they had two passes intercepted, both of which came after they had completed passes for first downs.

“Those are the things where your defense just gets worn out, when you start having a four (plays) and out, putting them back on the field too soon,” Arians said. “And then (we) get a good drive going and have an interception.

“When it was a one-score game, offensively we had a chance to do some things and never got it done.”

None of the Cardinals were surprised by what they saw on video Monday morning.

“We’re just going out and putting things on tape that just aren’t us,” guard Daryn Colledge said. “The first drive we showed what kind of offense we can be. Right now, it’s more mental than physical. It’s one guy off on each play. In the NFL, you have a few of those and it can go down real fast, which is what happened (Sunday).”

Defensive lapses

The Cardinals sacked Saints quarterback Drew Brees four times, but they should have had more, Arians said.

“We had guys free that were unblocked and didn’t make a sack,” Arians said. “Drew got away, got the ball out. His 40 yards rushing obviously was huge. It’s hard to come up with blitzes where guys come free, but we had them free about four times in the game and got no sacks.”

Brees gained 21 yards on six carries, including a 7-yard touchdown.

Cornerback Patrick Peterson credited the defensive line for pressuring Brees, and blamed himself and the rest of the secondary for coverage problems.

“I believe we didn’t play as tight as we wanted to,” he said. “That’s why he’s Drew Brees. He can put the ball in tight spots and make the correct throws.”

Okafor moves up

An ankle caused rookie outside linebacker Alex Okafor to miss practice time in training camp. He fell behind and was inactive for the first two games.

Okafor, a fourth-round pick, played his first NFL game last Sunday against the Saints and participated in a few plays after starter Lorenzo Alexander was injured.

“He got in four or five snaps and did fairly well,” Arians said. “They did take a long run around his end where he was misaligned one time. But with a full week’s practice, I think he should be fine.”

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/card...nclick_check=1

Re: Arizona Cardinals’ mental miscues root of loss to New Orleans Saints
 

chalk it up as yet another learning experience supplied by drew and the offense. see ya in the playoffs or better yet see ya next year

Re: Arizona Cardinals’ mental miscues root of loss to New Orleans Saints
 

Guess it had nothing to do with our D forcing 8 straight 3 and outs with 4 sacks and 2 picks added on to that

Re: Arizona Cardinals’ mental miscues root of loss to New Orleans Saints
 

This is just how coaches approach the game. You'll never hear Sean Payton in a press conference say "We just got whooped by a better team." That doesn't send a very good message to your players. Why try and improve if you're just going to lose anyway because the other team is flat-out better than you are?

Re: Arizona Cardinals’ mental miscues root of loss to New Orleans Saints
 

Yep. They didn't lose, they were ass kicked!

Re: Arizona Cardinals’ mental miscues root of loss to New Orleans Saints
 

When Jordan and Gallette are in your QBs face most of the game it will cause INTs, penalties, miscues due to frustration causing the offense not to focus.

Peterson nailed it. Our defense is the root cause for their miscues.

Re: Arizona Cardinals’ mental miscues root of loss to New Orleans Saints
 

Ive seen Sean come out and say "they just played better than we did"... 49ers, Seahawks, ..

Re: Arizona Cardinals’ mental miscues root of loss to New Orleans Saints
 

My thoughts exactly. They marched right down the field on their first drive, the Saints D made adjustments, and they obviously couldn't.
Mental mistakes?

Re: Arizona Cardinals’ mental miscues root of loss to New Orleans Saints
 

The D needs to play strong this week too.

Re: Arizona Cardinals’ mental miscues root of loss to New Orleans Saints
 

We need to see a repeat article like this next week.