Cardinals continue maddening trend of tight losses in OT setback vs. Jaguars

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — The Arizona Cardinals keep finding weird new ways to lose football games as a once-promising season has turned into a rough slog with six games remaining.

The Cardinals (3-8) had a plus-4 turnover differential on Sunday — forcing four of them and losing none — but still fell to the Jacksonville Jaguars 27-24 in overtime for their eighth loss in the past nine games.

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Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray, left, and wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. sit on the bench during the first half of an NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

Arizona Cardinals running back Michael Carter (22) runs the ball against Jacksonville Jaguars safety Antonio Johnson (26) during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end BJ Green II (95) tackles Arizona Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett (7) during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Greg Dortch (4) runs the ball during the second half of an NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride reacts after an NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

It was the team’s sixth loss of the season by four points or less.

“We can compete with the best of them,” quarterback Jacoby Brissett said. “We can play. We’re in these games. Obviously, (there’s) a difference between competing and winning them. That’s the bottom line in this league is winning them. Stay together, fine-tune the details in all three phases of the game and try to find a way to win.”

Third-year coach Jonathan Gannon agreed that the Cardinals should have won with such a big advantage in turnover margin, but negative plays kept them from capitalizing on extra possessions.

“We had a couple times we were in the point zone and we got knocked out of being able to kick a field goal there,” Gannon said. “I think it happened twice. You need those points, so we have to firm up and make sure we’re putting them in the right spots and do a better job to put some points on the board.”

Brissett had another productive game, completing 33 of 49 passes for 317 yards and a touchdown. The veteran backup is averaging a robust 314.5 yards through the air in his six starts since taking over for two-time Pro Bowl selection Kyler Murray, who is out with a foot injury.

But in a common theme, good numbers aren’t leading to good results. The Cardinals are 1-5 in Brissett’s starts.

“At some point, something’s going to go our way, but we have to make it go our way,” Brissett said. “We just have to keep working.”

The Cardinals’ defense had several good moments while forcing four turnovers. Arguably the best: Rookie defensive lineman Walter Nolen III scored his first NFL TD with an acrobatic play in the first quarter, grabbing a loose fumble with one arm while being blocked and running 7 yards to the end zone.

Nolen — the No. 16 overall pick in last spring’s draft — has been an impact player when healthy.

Arizona had just 55 yards rushing Sunday, struggling to gain much of anything on the ground. The position has been hit hard by injuries. The team’s top three options — including James Conner (foot), Trey Benson (knee) and Emari Demercado (ankle) — were all out against the Jaguars. Conner is out for the season, but Benson and Demercado could return soon.

WR Michael Wilson was productive for the second straight week, catching 10 passes for 118 yards against the Jaguars. Wilson has had a eye-opening two weeks as the team’s No. 1 receiver, subbing for Marvin Harrison Jr., who had surgery for an appendectomy.

Even when Harrison returns, the Cardinals need to find a way for Wilson to have a big role in the offense.

“I thought he played his butt off,” Gannon said. “He’s playing well. He’s getting open. He’s catching it. I thought he had a good run after catch, too, (Sunday). He battles man, he battles. And all those guys do, but he has definitely performed at a high level.”

K Chad Ryland. He has been steady all season, but he missed a 33-yard field goal just before halftime that was a big blow in a game decided by three points.

Murray has to miss at least one more game while on injured reserve. … CB Will Johnson (back/hip), LB Baron Browning (concussion), S Dadrion Taylor-Demerson (ankle) were among those on the inactive list against the Jaguars. … Nolen (knee) and OL Will Hernandez (hip) left Sunday’s game with injuries.

13 — Trey McBride has had at least five catches in 13 straight games, which ties Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez for the second-longest such streak for a tight end in NFL history.

The Cardinals travel to face the Buccaneers on Sunday.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon announced Monday it is investigating Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona over possible breaches of military law after the former Navy pilot joined a handful of other lawmakers in a video that called for troops to defy “illegal orders.”

The Pentagon’s statement, posted on social media, cited a federal law that allows retired service members to be recalled to active duty on orders of the defense secretary for possible court martial or other measures.

It is extraordinary for the Pentagon, which until President Donald Trump’s second term had usually gone out of its way to act and appear apolitical, to directly threaten a sitting member of Congress with investigation. It comes after Trump ramped up the rhetoric by accusing the lawmakers of sedition “punishable by DEATH” in a social media post days after the video was released last week.

In its statement Monday, the Pentagon suggested that Kelly’s statements in the video interfered with the “loyalty, morale, or good order and discipline of the armed forces” by citing the federal law that prohibits such actions.

“A thorough review of these allegations has been initiated to determine further actions, which may include recall to active duty for court-martial proceedings or administrative measures,” the statement said.

Kelly said he upheld his oath to the Constitution and dismissed the Pentagon investigation as the work of “bullies.”

“If this is meant to intimidate me and other members of Congress from doing our jobs and holding this administration accountable, it won’t work,” Kelly said in a statement.

Kelly was one of six Democratic lawmakers who have served in the military or intelligence community to speak “directly to members of the military.” The other lawmakers are Sen. Elissa Slotkin and Reps. Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan, who are seen as possible future aspirants for higher office and elevated their political profiles with the video’s wide exposure.

Kelly, who was a fighter pilot before becoming an astronaut and then retiring at the rank of captain, told troops that “you can refuse illegal orders,” while other lawmakers in the video said they needed troops to “stand up for our laws … our Constitution.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Kelly was facing investigation because he is the only one of the lawmakers who formally retired from the military and is still under the Pentagon’s jurisdiction.

“Kelly’s conduct brings discredit upon the armed forces and will be addressed appropriately,” Hegseth said on his personal X account. Of the wider group, he added that “their foolish screed sows doubt and confusion — which only puts our warriors in danger.”

Kelly and the other lawmakers didn’t mention specific circumstances in the video, but its release comes as the Trump administration has ordered the military to blow up small boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean accused of ferrying drugs and continues its attempts at deploying National Guard troops into U.S. cities despite some legal setbacks.

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said last week that “our military follows orders, and our civilians give legal orders.”

Other Senate Democrats came to Kelly’s defense, with Democratic leader Chuck Schumer accusing Trump of using the Pentagon “as his personal attack dog” and saying “this is what dictators do.”

His fellow Democratic Arizona senator, Ruben Gallego, said “Mark told the truth — in America, we swear an oath to the Constitution, not wannabe kings.”

In the past decade, there has been “a quiet but significant uptick in courts-martial of retired servicemembers, even for post-retirement offenses,” Stephen Vladeck, a Georgetown University law professor, said in an email. He said there has been debate in the courts about their constitutionality but the practice is currently allowed.

But Kelly’s status as a U.S. senator could complicate the Pentagon’s investigation because the Constitution explicitly shields members of Congress from White House overreach, said Anthony Michael Kreis, a constitutional law professor at Georgia State University.

“Having a United States senator subject to discipline at the behest of the secretary of defense and the president — that violates a core principle of legislative independence,” Kreis said in a phone interview.

Kreis said such protections were a reaction to the British monarchy, which had arbitrarily punished members of Parliament.

”Any way you cut it, the Constitution is fundamentally structurally designed to prevent this kind of abuse from happening,” Kreis said.

Troops, especially uniformed commanders, do have specific obligations to reject orders that are unlawful, if they make that determination.

While commanders have military lawyers on their staffs to consult with in making such a determination, rank-and-file troops who are tasked with carrying out those orders are rarely in a similar position and often have to rely on their superiors.

Broad legal precedence also holds that just following orders — colloquially known as the “Nuremberg defense,” as it was used unsuccessfully by senior Nazi officials to justify their actions under Adolf Hitler — doesn’t absolve troops.

Yet, there has been little reaction online from troops to the lawmakers’ video.

A former service member who helps run an online military forum and spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation said the lawmakers’ message is unlikely even to reach troops because the video was posted only on X and was far too long to be reposted on platforms like TikTok where troops actually consume information.

Associated Press writer Matt Brown contributed to this report.