Recap – Arizona Cardinals at Washington Commanders

Washington Wins Home Opener!

September 10, 2023

By Noonefromtampa

First Quarter

The Arizona Cardinals won the coin toss and deferred to the second half, so the Commanders opened on offense. Offense coordinator Eric Bieniemy started with a run inside to Brian Robinson. The offense mixed a combination of runs and passes to pick up a couple of first downs before the drive stalled at midfield. Logan Thomas had 2 drops in this series, while Jahan Dotson had a nice catch for a first down. Tress Way’s punt was downed inside the ten yard line, but a block in the back penalty moved the ball out to the Arizona 17 yard line.

Arizona was able to pick up one first down on a Zach Ertz catch but the Cardinals had two plays for negative yardage. The Commanders defense looked good on the first series, moving quickly to ball. After Nolan Cooney punt, Jartavius Martin was called for an illegal block above the waist which moved the ball back to the Washington 18 yard line after Jameson Crowder returned the punt out to the 29 yard line.

The Cardinals defense then decided to play without thinking about the rules. Sam Howell got hit with a helmet-leading tackle out-of-bounds. Howell was checked for a concussion and one of the officials needed medical attention. Dotson also got hit with a helmet and Terry McLaurin picked up a defensive pass interference call for 37 yards. The result was 67 free yards for Washington’s offense. Curtis Samuel picked up six yards on an inside run and then Howell, under pressure, rolled out hit Robinson for an 8 yard touchdown pass.

The Cardinals returned to offense with several misdirection plays. Marquise Brown picked up 29 yards on an end around and Rondale Moore picked up 31 yards on a wheel route. The ball was at the Washington 12-yard line, but the Commanders defense held, only allowing one yard gained and broke up two passes. The Cardinals Matt Prater converted a short field goal.

John Bates got called for a nitpicky offensive pass interference call right before the end of the quarter.

Washington 7 Arizona 3

Second Quarter

Arizona was called for roughing the passer on second and 21, which gave Washington an automatic first down. Unfortunately, on the next play a tipped Howell pass led to an interception by Zaven Collins. The defense held and the Cardinals settled for a 54 yard field goal.

Washington started the next drive with 19 yards on the ground. Howell then hit McLaurin for a 19 yard completion and two plays later hit Cole Turner for 17 yards. However, Antonio Gibson fumbled on the next play though, which thwarted a red zone drive.

On the next series, the Commanders defense allow only four yards, aided by an illegal downfield pass penalty and a sack by Montez Sweat. The resulting punt went out-of-bounds after only 34 yards, which gave Washington the ball back at midfield. Washington was only able to pick up 4 yards themselves and had to punt the ball back.

The Cardinals started the next series at their own 12 yard line. Joshua Dobbs hit Trey McBride for passes of 10 yards and 13 yards. The drive stalled at the point with a 10 yard holding penalty. Moore picked up only 9 yards afterwards. After the punt, Howell hit Dotson for 14 yards but Howell was strip-sacked on the subsequent third down play, and Dennis Gardeck and Cameron Thomas returned the ball for a touchdown.

Howell was able to shake off the bad play on his part and led the team in a 69 yard, 8-play drive in 55 seconds for a Joey Slye 30-yard field goal.

Arizona 13, Washington 10

Third Quarter

Arizona started the second half very energized by their first half performance. Dobbs hit passes of 11 yards to Brown, 15 yards to Michael Wilson, 5 yards to Ertz, 9 yards to Brown, and 11 yards to James Connor. The Washington defense tightened up at that point to hold the Cardinals to -1 yards on three plays. Prater then hit a 37 yard field goal to give the Cardinals a 16-10 lead.

Washington’s first series on offense in the second half started with a 6 ard pass from Howell to Thomas. Then the rain, which came down before the game, started up again. The offense picked up a couple of first downs with short passes and good runs by Robinson. At that point, the wheels came off, with Howell taking two sacks and a holding penalty, which ended up leading to another Way punt.

The Cardinals then pick up 12 yards on a Conner run but did little after that, with a false start and incompletion on third down. After a punt and short Crowder return, Washington started the next series on their own 25. A holding call put Washington into a deep hole from which they never recovered. Two incompletions and 12 yard pass to Thomas led to another Way punt.

Washington’s defense played inspired ball on the next drive. Daron Payne tackled Keaontay Ingram for a loss and then sacked Dobbs. Sweat strip-sacked Dobbs and Payne recovered the fumble on the Cardinals 29 yard line.

Arizona 16, Washington 10

Fourth Quarter

To start the fourth quarter, Robinson carried the ball four straight times picking up 21 yards to give Washington a first and goal. Chris Rodriguez picked up 2 yards after an incompletion on a rollout. Howell then ran it in from 6 yards out on a third down scramble to tie the game. Slye converted the extra point to give Washington the lead.

The Commanders held the Cardinals to a three and out on the next series, only allowing negative two yards on three plays. Washington got the ball at their own 24 yard line. On third down, Washington ran a screen play for Gibson that looked to pick up the first down but was ruled short.  The call was upheld after a Ron Rivera challenge.

After a booming Way 59 yard punt, Arizona was able to pick up 21 yards before Dobbs fumbled the snap, which Washington recovered. On the following drive, Washington ran Robinson three straight times and settled for a 33 yard Slye field goal, relying on Washington’s defense to win the game.

Between sacks and penalties, the Cardinals picked up 8 yards on 8 plays before Emmanuel Forbes Jr broke up a fourth down pass to force a turnover on down.

Washington’s offense was then able to eat up most of the clock and was fortunate that a holding penalty benefited them because Robinson then picked up the first down. That took another 8 seconds off the clock and repeated third down. Before Arizona fielded the punt, Washington took the clock down to 7 seconds.  The Cardinals then lost 5 yards on the return and all the time on the clock.

Washington 20, Arizona 16

Thoughts

The offense did not look as smooth as the preseason. The play calling was disjointed at times and occasionally inspired. Sam Howell, being a rookie, has his ups and downs. He did not let negative plays deter him; instead, he came right back and challenged the opposing defense. The defense woke up after the first drive of the second half and remembered what team they were playing. This defense has a chance to be special this year – don’t let anyone know, but they didn’t really need Chase Young on the field.