The Arizona Cardinals found themselves in an early hole once again on Sunday. The San Francisco 49ers jumped out to a 13-0 lead, and the Cardinals never led in their 41-22 loss.
Arizona responded in the first quarter with a touchdown to cut the deficit to six points, but that’s as close as it ever got. The Cardinals moved the ball offensively all game long, even to the point that quarterback Jacoby Brissett made history. But it was to no avail.
How Did Jacoby Brissett React To Making NFL History?
With the Cardinals trailing all game, Brissett was in drop-back mode a lot. The Cardinals quarterback had 57 pass attempts in the game.
However, he completed an NFL record 47 of those attempts. Brissett was the first quarterback in NFL history to complete at least 47 passes in a regular-season game.
The Cardinals quarterback finished with 47 completions for 452 yards and two touchdowns. But he also threw two interceptions, more than he had all season long.
Despite Brissett’s NFL record and the Cardinals’ 488 yards of total offense, they put up just 22 points in the 19-point loss on Sunday.
After the game, Brissett had a blunt response to the NFL history he made.
“I promise you, I couldn’t care less about that,” Brissett said.
You could feel the Cardinals’ quarterback’s obvious frustration after such a devastating loss. It’s now back-to-back blowout losses to divisional opponents for Arizona.
“I hope somebody breaks it tomorrow. I just want to win,” Brissett said. “Whatever the case we got to do, whatever I got to do. I’d throw for three yards and we win, you know?”
The Cardinals found offensive success all day long, especially through the air. The Arizona offensive line hasn’t been good, so the Cardinals utilized the short-pass game and thrived.
However, the turnovers killed the Red Birds. When you drive consistently down the field, and you’re not getting big chunk plays, you can’t turn the ball over, and that’s exactly what Arizona did.
The Cardinals had three turnovers and a franchise-record 17 penalties for 130 yards. Between the two, the Cardinals could never capitalize on their offensive momentum.
Brissett ranked No. 30 in the NFL in completion percentage, according to PFSN’s QB Impact, coming into Sunday’s game.
The Cardinals quarterback completed over 82% of his passes on Sunday, but it didn’t end in a win.
The 49ers were the first team Brissett started to press against. One of the best qualities he’s displayed in his starts this season is his composure and taking what the defense gives him.
However, there were plenty of times he did that on Sunday, hence the 47 completions; but there were also times when he pressed, resulting in his two interceptions.
But you can’t blame him for pressing a little when the team falls into such a large hole for a second consecutive game. The veteran quarterback was just trying to create a spark and make a play for his team.
The Cardinals will head back to the drawing board and get up from the mat, as coach Jonathan Gannon said, this week as they prepare for the Jacksonville Jaguars.