Arizona Cardinals

Arizona Cardinals can't overcome mistakes in Miami

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

share

facebookxredditlink

foxsports

The Arizona Cardinals lose a costly game in Miami that kills their playoff hopes

In the pouring rain, the Cardinals needed to win. They needed to come into Miami and take a game away to keep their playoff hopes alive. The Cardinals, now 5-7-1, are seemingly out of wildcard contention. Against the Dolphins on a rainy afternoon, Arizona made too many mistakes. They had 4 turnovers and Carson Palmer had a frustrating first half in which he passed for under 50 yards and had 2 interceptions. It didn’t help that Chandler Catanzaro missed 2 field goals and had one blocked that was returned for 2 points, and even David Johnson fumbled. The only positive play out of the first half was a 56 yard rush touchdown by J.J Nelson.

During the second half, the Cardinals were starting to make a comeback. Dolphins Quarterback Ryan Tannehill left the game and was replaced by back-up Matt Moore after a hit from Calais Campbell. After that, the Cardinals defense and offense thrived. Carson Palmer found Receiver Brittan Golden for a 9 yard touchdown with 7 minutes left in the 4th quarter, but Catanzaro’s extra point was blocked and returned for 2 points that put the Dolphins up 8 instead of 6. The Cardinals bounced back, and Palmer led a drive that ended with a nice catch in traffic by J.J Nelson. The 2 point conversion was successful to David Johnson. to tie the game.

With 3 minutes remaining the Arizona Cardinals had a chance to win

The hard pill to swallow in this game is definitely the missed opportunities. With 3 minutes left in the game after the J.J Nelson touchdown, Arizona’s defense made a stop and the Cardinals got the ball back. While the Cardinals had a chance to win the game, they gained no yards and gave the ball back to the Dolphins with 1:30 remaining. Then came Kenny Stills. His first catch was a nice chunk for 12 yards that put the Dolphins in field goal range, and his second was a 29 yard catch on cornerback Justin Bethel that got to the Cardinals 1 yard line.

With 37 seconds left the Cardinals made a nice tackle for a loss that killed the clock to 10 seconds left. The Dolphins ran the ball again, and barely got a timeout off with 1 second remaining. This allowed Dolphins kicker Andrew Franks to attempt a chip shot 21 yard field goal which was good as time expired.

Dec 11, 2016; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Miami Dolphins kicker Andrew Franks (3) celebrates with teammates after kicking the game winning field goal to defeat the Arizona Cardinals 26-23 at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Three games are remaining on the Cardinals schedule after today’s loss to the Dolphins. Arizona has taken themselves out of the playoff race. The Cardinals had chances, and they probably shouldn’t have even been this close in the game anyway. That makes it even more painful that they didn’t take advantage of their chances. With games against the Saints, Seahawks and Rams remaining. The Cardinals are really going to have to figure themselves out. While the season comes to an end, Steve Kiem and company are really going to have to think about what changes are going to have to be made.

More from Raising Zona

This article originally appeared on

share

Get more from Arizona Cardinals Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

in this topic

Arizona Cardinals

National Football League