Republic’s Theo Mackie, Greg Moore discuss Cardinals’ win over Saints
The Arizona Cardinals got their season underway with a road win over the New Orleans Saints. Here are key takeaways from an encouraging afternoon.
NEW ORLEANS — The Arizona Cardinals entered the Superdome knowing the task in front of them.
The NFL schedule had gifted them an opening matchup on Sunday, Sept. 7, against one of the league’s worst teams. This was a chance to start their season on the right foot. This was a chance they had to take.
Job done. Behind two touchdown passes from Kyler Murray, the Cardinals defeated the New Orleans Saints, 20-13. It wasn’t always pretty, as the Saints nearly pulled off a miracle comeback late in the fourth quarter. But most importantly, it was a win — the first time the Cardinals have opened their season that way since 2021, when they started 7-0.
Here are some key takeaways from the Cardinals’ opening-week win:
Cardinals showed encouraging signs in passing game
The directive this week from the Cardinals’ coaching staff was clear: Arizona needs to find more explosive passing plays than it did a year ago.
Fast-forward to the second quarter and that was on full display. Facing a second-and-4 from his own 41, Murray dropped back and unleashed a perfect deep ball, over the shoulder of Marvin Harrison Jr. and directly into his outstretched hands.
The ball traveled 51.4 yards in the air, per Next Gen Stats. Murray’s longest completion last season traveled 44.8 yards in the air.
“I think that maybe last year we don’t connect on that,” Murray said. “But I’m just glad we did. He played his ass off today. I could feel the confidence. I could feel the progression in his mindset, his game.”
It wasn’t just that play that should be encouraging to the Cardinals. They also used Murray’s legs more than they did a year ago — both as a runner and rolling him out in the passing game. He finished with four scrambles for 31 yards, per Pro Football Focus, marks that he only hit in five games last year.
On one touchdown, Murray rolled right, as if he was going to hit Trey McBride in the flat, only to shovel an underhanded pass to James Conner. On another key play, he stepped up in the pocket to evade pressure, then hit McBride off schedule as a pair of linebackers started to defend against the rushing threat.
“DCs hate playing a mobile guy, dual-threat guy that can make those type of plays happen,” Murray said. “So when they’re there, I gotta make those plays.”
It wasn’t all perfect — he missed Harrison wide open on what could have been a 97-yard touchdown — but there were signs that the Cardinals might do a better job of maximizing Murray’s skill set.
Safeties saved the game
The game was right there, in the balance. Facing third-and-10 from the Cardinals’ 18-yard line with nine seconds left, Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler floated a ball into the end zone toward tight end Juwan Johnson, who had lined up in the slot against safety Jalen Thompson in man coverage.
For a moment, Johnson looked to have secured an acrobatic touchdown catch, one that would have drawn the Saints within an extra point of tying the game.
Then, the Cardinals’ safeties combined to save the game. Thompson got a hand in to rip the ball out from behind while Budda Baker came down over the top to deliver a crunching hit. The ball popped out, instantly turning 70,000 screams into a collective sigh.
“It was one of those situations where the quarterback threw it and our job was to try to dislodge it,” Baker said. “That was what happened.”
Will Johnson impressed in debut
Will Johnson, the Cardinals’ second-round pick, nearly had a dream start to his NFL debut. Thirteen minutes into the game, he tracked a deep ball from Rattler like a centerfielder, making an impressive over-the-shoulder grab for an interception — only to see it negated by an illegal contact penalty against Max Melton.
Still, it was an impressive debut from Johnson. His best work came on an end zone fade to Rashid Shaheed, when he stuck his left hand in Shaheed’s face at the last second to force an incompletion.
That was far from his only strong moment. In the fourth quarter, he landed a booming hit on Chris Olave behind the line of scrimmage, forcing an incompletion that helped lead to a punt. In total, he allowed just three catches for 26 yards on six targets, per PFF.
“I thought he held his own,” head coach Jonathan Gannon said. “That was one of the keys to victory, no balls over our head. And I thought we did that today.”
Mixed bag from revamped pass rush
On the first third down that the Cardinals defense faced, Josh Sweat came off the right edge to land a hand on Rattler. As Rattler stepped up in the pocket to evade Sweat, Baron Browning was waiting with a delayed pressure. The combination of those two edge rushers forced Rattler to throw the ball away, giving possession back to Arizona.
It was just one play but it was a window into what the Cardinals defense could look like this season. With so much investment into their pass rush, they hope to be able to affect opposing quarterbacks more often than last season, when they ranked 27th in pressure rate.
The season opener was a mixed bag on that front. The Cardinals did pressure Rattler on 28% of his dropbacks, per PFF, a considerable improvement from their 19.2% pressure rate last season.
Most of that, though, came from Sweat and Browning. They combined for nine pressures and one sack while the rest of the pass rush struggled to make an impact. The Cardinals did not have a single pressure from their interior defensive linemen. They also struggled to impact Rattler down the stretch, as the Saints built their comeback attempt.
That was partly, though, because the Saints helped out their offensive line with extra numbers in pass protection.
“Kellen and their staff did a really good job of not letting us rush,” Gannon said. “And that’s real in a game. But when they do that, you can’t give up explosives and you should keep the score down. And that’s what we did.”
Trey Benson’s role is real
The Cardinals’ longest play of the game was not Murray’s 45-yard completion to Harrison. It was not one of Trey McBride’s six receptions, or one of James Conner’s 12 carries.
It was, instead, a 52-yard run down the right sideline from Trey Benson, their 2024 third-round pick who was seldom used as a rookie. During training camp, the Cardinals hinted at a more even backfield share, but did not detail exactly what that would look like.
In Week 1, they showed it in action. Conner still led the backfield with his 12 attempts, but Benson followed close behind with eight of his own, finishing with 69 rushing yards. Neither running back was able to find consistent room to work, but with his one explosive carry, Benson showed the benefits of a more diverse backfield. The run helped set up a field goal that proved crucial in the win.
“Typically when you have some explosives,” Gannon said, “you have a chance to score points.”
On Sunday, the Cardinals scored just enough.