No preamble today. Let's just get this over with: If you're an Arizona Cardinals fan, Sunday's game in Philadelphia was an ugly, ugly sight no matter how you slice it.
Here are three big takeaways from the Cards' 34-7 loss to the Eagles, dropping Arizona to 2-3 on the season.
1. Secondary picked apart
The Cardinals didn't do a terrible job of getting pressure on Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz on Sunday, but it didn't matter. Wentz was elusive enough to escape pressure on a number of plays, and he made Arizona's secondary look -- well, not very good.
For the game, Wentz threw four touchdowns, including a pair of deep bombs. Eagles receiver Torrey Smith beat Cards cornerback Justin Bethel for a 59-yard TD in the first quarter, and Nelson Agholor torched rookie safety Budda Baker on a 72-yard score in the third. Outside of a spectacular interception by safety Antoine Bethea, it was not a pretty sight in the Cardinals' secondary Sunday.
2. No ground game to speak of
Cardinals QB Carson Palmer didn't have an awful game by any means (27 of 43, 263 yards one touchdown and no interceptions), but he once again had to carry the entire offense on his back thanks to another unimpressive performance from Arizona's running backs.
Minus injured star RB David Johnson and a couple of starters on the offensive line, the Cardinals came into Sunday's game averaging an NFL-worst 2.7 yards per carry. It got worse in Philly, as backup RB Chris Johnson and the rest of the team's running backs combined for just 17 yards on 13 carries. (Wide receiver J.J. Nelson's 14-yard run was the longest of the game.)
Meanwhile, the Eagles had a much more balanced offensive attack, racking up 124 rushing yards in addition to 297 passing yards.
3. Fitz is Mr. 200
We'll end with a piece of good news: Larry Fitzgerald now has at least one reception in 200 consecutive NFL games, the third-longest streak in NFL history. He reached the milestone with a 15-yard catch in the final minute of the first half.
Congrats to @LarryFitzgerald!
That's now 200 games in-a-row with a catch! pic.twitter.com/MJ4ceMNMhO
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) October 8, 2017
