Underdog Arizona Cardinals show mettle in upset win over Dallas Cowboys

It’s always a fight in the NFL, but the Cardinals were supposed to be the 98-pound weakling on the beach that got sand kicked in his face by the bullying behemoth, the visiting Dallas Cowboys.

Instead, the Cardinals flipped the tables and despite being listed as 13-point underdogs, kept sticking to the Cowboys all afternoon before securing an improbable 28-16 victory at State Farm Stadium.

The Cardinals had lost 14 of their last 15 games at home dating back to 2021.

There were positive signs from the start that it was going to end favorably for the Cardinals, but given how they blew second-half leads in losing their first two games, you weren’t sure it was over for good until linebacker Kyzir White hauled in an interception of a Dak Prescott pass in the end zone with three minutes left to play.

That’s what sealed it, along with a stunning, 69-yard pass completion from Josh Dobbs to rookie Michael Wilson on Arizona’s possession preceding the pick. The three-play, 76-yard drive ended with Dobbs hitting Marquise “Hollywood” Brown in the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown that resulted in the final margin of victory.

“I didn’t realize I was that wide open,” Wilson said, adding of how the catch and run restored momentum in Arizona’s favor. “Yeah, I think anytime you can create an explosive where it completely changes the field, it can really change the outcome of the football game.

“Look at last week when (the Giants’) Jalin Hyatt caught that explosive on the post (play). That completely can flip the momentum and change the outcome of the game and I think we saw that with that big (69-yard) play.”

Maybe the Cardinals would have still won the game without White’s interception. Maybe not. But White was a difference-maker on Sunday with a game-high 14 tackles and the pick. He played like Budda Baker, the Cardinals’ star safety who missed his second straight game on injured reserve.

“Yeah, he’s a captain for a reason," Jonathan Gannon, who earned his first win as an NFL head coach, said. “He wears the green dot, he keeps those guys composed even when it doesn’t look like it’s going good. But what I’m proud of is not just Kyzir, but really all the captains and the entire team, is the fight.

“You’ve got to keep punching. It’s a heavyweight battle and you’ve got to keep fighting. You’re going to take some shots, but you’ve got to give your shots back, too.”

What both Gannon and Dobbs liked the most after White’s interception was how the Cardinals were able to keep moving the ball to kill the clock and finish the game, something they failed to do in their losses to Washington and New York.

“What I really enjoyed was the four-minute offense at the end of the game,” said Dobbs, who was 17 of 21 for 189 yards with one touchdown and no turnovers. “We talked about finish, right? Playing against a really good front, we were able to get some first downs running the ball and finish in victory formation, which is very hard to do in the NFL.”

The Cardinals’ offense accounted for 400 total yards — 222 of it via the rushing game as James Conner ran for 98 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries, Dobbs added 55 yards on six keepers, and receiver Rondale Moore added 54 on three designed runs, including a 45-yard touchdown run on an outside zone call.

“I was hoping he didn’t get caught by the linebacker,” Dobbs said, “because he wouldn’t have lived that one down.”

The 2-1 Cowboys, who looked like the best team in the NFL entering this game, will have to live this loss down just like the sea of silver, blue and white in the crowd that headed to the exits early.

“We had to hear about it all week,” Cardinals left tackle D.J. Humphries said. “Every time you turn the TV on you heard about it, them comparing (the Cowboys) to the ’85 Bears. To be able to go out there and have the opportunity to show what our offense could do was big.

“It’s been a long time since I got a win at State Farm.”

In review:

What went right

The offense scored on each of its first five possessions: The Cardinals got two touchdowns on runs by Conner and Moore and veteran kicker Matt Prater made three field goals. Including a 62-yarder as time expired at the end of the first half. Prater is 73 of 98 in his career on field goal attempts from yards or longer and seven of them are from 59 or longer.

“He’s premier to bang that one through,” Gannon said. “It probably would have been good from 65.”

Prater didn’t think it would be good, judging by how he said it felt coming off his foot. He couldn’t even see it clear the cross bar because the kick was so low.

“I didn’t realize it was good until I saw the refs put their hands up,” he said.

The defense did its job in the red zone during the second half: The Cowboys had to settle for two short fields goals from Brandon Aubrey, they turned the ball over on downs, and then Prescott was intercepted by White. It was four impactful defensive stops all the way around for the Cardinals after failing to finish strong the first two weeks.

“We didn’t beat ourselves and we made the plays that we needed to make,” Gannon said.

The play calling was creative: Offensive coordinator Drew Petzing did a nice job opening things up for Dobbs and the running game by using a lot of misdirection plays and getting the football away from the Cowboys’ top playmakers on defense. The explosive plays were the most noticeable and there were at least six that went for 20 yards or longer, but it was an overall sense of execution that got it done against a superior opponent.

What went wrong

Penalties were a problem: Arizona was flagged eight times for 69 yards, including two callas against Humphries and pass interference penalties against Jalen Thompson and rookie Kei’Trel Clark, who was forced to play a lot of man-on-man coverage because of the schemes laid out by coordinator Nick Rallis. The Cowboys got the worst of it with the flags, getting hit 13 times for 107 yards.

Tackling was an issue in spots: There were times where Cardinals’ defenders got their hands on a ball carrier but couldn’t wrap him up and bring him down. That led to a handful of plays Dallas turned into extra yards and that helped move the chains. Other than that, there wasn’t much else to complain about in this game.

What to watch this week

When outside linebacker Zaven Collins left the game in the third quarter with an eye injury, the Cardinals relied on a rotation of Victor Dimukeje and rookie BJ Ojulari to replace him.

Later, Arizona also lost insider linebacker Krys Barnes to a hand injury. Gannon didn’t indicate that either injury seemed to be serious.

The grades

Offense (A+): The Cardinals scored on six of their nine possessions overall and ran the clock out to end the game on their last drive, which was empowering. Dobbs continues to make strides despite being throw into the starting job with just six practices with the team heading into Week 1. Suns was his first NFL win as a starting QB. The running game was outstanding and there was several splash plays overall.

Defense (A-): After outscoring their first two opponents 70-10, the Cowboys were held to just one touchdown and three field goals. Yes, Dallas outgained Arizona in total yards, 416-400, and Tony Pollard ran 23 times for 122 yards, but that was a wash and didn’t tell the story of the game. The Cardinals made plays when they had to and they came up with the stops in the second half that won them the game. White was amazing and Clark, the rookie, held his own with 10 tackles and two pass breakups.

Special teams (A): Kicker Matt Prater made all three of his field goals, connecting from 39, 43 and 62 yards. He now has made 14 field goals from 50 yards for the Cardinals in just 33 games with Arizona. Neil Rackers has the most 50-plus field goals (16 in 100 games). The Cowboys had no return yards whatsoever, but a 51-yard punt return by KaVontae Turpin was called back because of a holding penalty.

Personnel notes

Conner’s first-quarter touchdown run was his 24^th as a member for the Cardinals and moved him into 10^th place on the franchise all-time lost for career rushing TDs. It was his 28^th touchdown overall for Arizona, the second-most of any player in his first 31 games with the team. David Johnson had 33 touchdowns in his first 31 games.

Collins and Dimukeje each had a sack, giving the Cardinals 11 overall in their first three games.

The Cardinals had nine pass breakups on Sunday, including two by Clark, two by Barnes and two by Marco Wilson.

Brown finished with a team-leading five receptions for 61 yards, including his touchdown grab.

Up next

The Cardinals hit the road to play the NFC West rival San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara, Calif next Sunday. Kickoff is 1:25 p.m. at Levi’s Stadium. The 49ers improved to 3-0 with a 30-12 victory over the Giants on Thursday night.

The Cardinals are 29-34-0 all-time against the 49ers. San Francisco has won the past two meetings, but Arizona won the previous two matchups before that.

Reach McManaman at bob.mcmanaman@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @azbobbymac and listen to him live every Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. with Roc and Manuch on Fox Sports 910-AM.