Eliminated from playoff race: What we learned from Arizona Cardinals vs Carolina Panthers
CHARLOTTE — The Cardinals created one more opportunity for themselves, if only by sheer force of will. They generated a third-down stop, then drove into field goal range, then watched their midseason signing of a kicker somehow nail a 58-yarder to force overtime.
And yet, the only lasting result of that opportunity was more pain.
Their lone overtime possession featured two plays on which Marvin Harrison Jr. failed to secure contested catches, a fourth-down conversion and, ultimately, a punt. That was all the Carolina Panthers needed to drive down the field and cap the victory with a Chuba Hubbard touchdown run.
Now, the Cardinals are left to wonder what could have been.
They will spend the offseason thinking about the eight losses that led them to this point, but to Sunday’s 36-30 overtime defeat above all others. Had their season ended next week in Los Angeles or even against the 49ers in Week 18, it would have been frustrating. Seeing it end against the Panthers — perhaps the league’s most downtrodden franchise — exponentially amplified the pain.
Here’s what we learned in the loss:
This was an unmitigated disaster
There is no sugarcoating this one. The Cardinals were only five-point favorites, but when your season is on the line against a 3-11 team, it’s a must-win.
The Cardinals could not do it. They wasted their chances early, they wasted their chances late and they wasted their chances in overtime. Chad Ryland’s field goal proved to be the only moment of resilience on a day that could not have gone worse.
The Cardinals can still finish above .500, at 9-8. That might qualify as a successful season as they continue their rebuild. But after a 6-4 start, they will not be going to the playoffs.
In his news conference, Jonathan Gannon repeated his typical talking points, saying that the Cardinals need to be ready to bounce back for practice on Tuesday. His players, though, were more blunt about the ramifications from Sunday’s loss.
“To make it to the playoffs has been our goal since the beginning of the season,” Harrison said. “And obviously we came up short.”
Cardinals did not look ready to play
On the first snap from scrimmage, the Cardinals picked up a first down on a flea flicker to Trey McBride — only for the play to be called back because Harrison lined up offsides.
Harrison said that he checked with the side judge to ensure that he was not offside but the play proved to be emblematic of the first portion of the game. By the midway point of the second quarter, Arizona trailed 20-3. The score was bad enough, but how the Cardinals arrived there might have been worse. In that first quarter and a half, they committed eight penalties for 68 yards.
Some of the calls were questionable. They were whistled for a crucial roughing-the-passer penalty because Xavier Thomas was ruled to have landed on Bryce Young with his full body weight. Later, an offensive drive stalled out on a soft holding foul against center Hjalte Froholdt. But no matter how tight the whistle was, eight penalties in less than a half constitute a self-inflicted wound.
That wasn’t the only area in which the Cardinals beat themselves. They also fumbled on a botched hand-off from Kyler Murray to practice squad running back Michael Carter, setting up a Panthers touchdown. And in overtime, they committed a key delay of game penalty, leading to a punt.
Gannon, though, denied that the Cardinals were not ready to play.
“Yeah,” Gannon said. “I always feel like we're ready to play.”
Defense wasn’t prepared for Bryce Young’s rushing threat
On the Panthers’ first drive, Panthers quarterback Bryce Young escaped for a third-down conversion with his legs. Later in the half, he had 34-yard and 23-yard scrambles, with the latter going for a touchdown.
All three runs were up the middle, as the Cardinals failed to clog the middle of the defensive line. Later, they were able to adjust and force Young to roll out of the pocket — where he is typically less effective — rather than stepping up into the pocket.
“We were playing a lot of man-to-man so he was having a lot of free running lanes because a lot of people's back was to the ball,” linebacker Kyzir White said. “So we just tried to incorporate a little more zone, switch up some looks for him and make it a little more confusing for him.”
But by that point, Young was already on his way to 68 rushing yards, his most since a college game against Utah State in 2022. It was another area in which the Cardinals were not prepared to open the game.
Running game dominated
The Panthers are the worst team in the NFL in the trenches, on both sides of the ball. For the most part, the Cardinals failed to take advantage of that. They did not pressure Young often enough and Kyler Murray did not dominate as a passer against a poor pass rush.
The one exception was in the running game. Against the league’s worst rush defense, James Conner finished with 117 yards on 15 carries before exiting with a knee injury, and the Cardinals tallied 206 total rushing yards.
That rushing attack enabled the Cardinals to get back in the game. On a touchdown drive to finish the first half, they ran six times in seven plays to get down to the goal line (where Murray eventually threw for a touchdown). The one exception: A pass to Conner.
Bryce Young outplayed Kyler Murray
With just over three minutes left in the fourth quarter, Murray rolled right on a third-and-12. Fearing his rushing threat, multiple Panthers defenders stepped toward him, leaving Trey McBride open on a corner route past the line to gain.
But instead of taking that option, Murray tried a heroic play to Michael Wilson — a completion that would have required a nearly 60-yard throw on the run. He left it well short, into the arms of a grateful Panthers defender for the interception.
“Mike would've been a touchdown,” Murray said. “Trey was underneath.”
Young — the much-maligned No. 1 overall pick in 2023 — avoided any mistakes of that caliber. Whereas Murray was 3 for 9 for 6 yards and an interception when pressured, Young was 4 for 8 for 53 yards and two touchdowns.
That might be one small stat, but it’s reflective of a day on which Young looked more experienced and more composed than the player taken No. 1 overall four years before him.