The Arizona Cardinals need to get this ship righted in short order. If that doesn’t happen Bruce Arians’ squad faces the real possibility of sitting at home when the playoffs come calling.
Following a horrendous overall offensive showing in a 6-6 tie against the Seattle Seahawks, it’s readily apparent that some members of the Cardinals are not happy with what they’re seeing from that side of the ball.
Usually reserved when it comes to taking controversial stands, Pro Bowl defensive back Tyrann Mathieu did not hold back on the heels of this most-recent showing.
“It’s a team sport,” Honey Badger said Sunday night, via ESPN. “When the defense is playing well, the offense has to complement us, special teams has to complement everybody, (and) vice versa.”
This most definitely did not happen Sunday night in Arizona. The Cardinals may have put up 443 yards in total offense, but they saw only three drives go for 50-plus yards. In a sign that the offense is really struggling, those three drives went for a combined three points.
In an attempt to point the finger in all directions, Mathieu slighted the performance of his defense as well.
“It’s upsetting,” Mathieu continued. “It’s a team sport. We all got to get held accountable. We got to better on special teams. Offensively, we got to score points and defensively we got to create turnovers.”
That’s likely Mathieu playing it close to the vest here. Arizona’s defense allowed a grand total of 11 first downs and 4.5 yards per play to its heated division rival. That should be good enough to win a football game 99 percent of the time.
Now at 3-3-1 on the season, Arizona finds itself two games behind Seattle in the loss column and on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoff race.
Unless the offense gets out of its own way here shortly, a season that started with Super Bowl aspirations will conclude with Mathieu and Co. sitting on the sofa come January. In this, he has every right to be frustrated.