Cardinals 20, Chiefs 17: What we saw from Arizona on offense

USA Today

a day ago

We look at what we saw from the offense against the Chiefs.
The Arizona Cardinals defeated the Kansas City Chiefs Saturday night in their preseason opener 20-17. The starters played a little more than a quarter, but it was the backups who rallied back from a 14-3 deficit to win.
As a team, they had 355 yards of offense, 24 first downs and converted 4-of-9 third downs.
What can we take away from the offensive performance?
Cardinals 20, Chiefs 17: Takeaways on offense
The Cardinals rushed for 140 yards on the evening, which should be expected. Of the 140 yards, 51 came late from Zonovan "Bam" Knight in the final quarter as the Cardinals ran the clock out. The Cardinals expect to have a strong rushing attack shared between James Conner and Trey Benson.
When quarterback Kyler Murray was in the game, the offense ran smoothly. He had only one incompletion. He completed passes to five different receivers. However, as sometimes the problem was last season, they didn't turn either of their two drives into touchdowns. Murray threw an interception and then they had to kick a field goal after Benson could not pick up a third-and-one run play.
Brissett and the second-team offense went three-and-out on their first drive, and he was hit twice in three plays. But he led the Cardinals to two touchdowns, giving them the lead. He was exactly what fans expect — steady and efficient. He even used his legs once to set up the second touchdown.
While Brissett was hit twice in the first possession he played, the pass protection was good. The Chiefs finished with only one sack and three quarterback hits, meaning the sack Clayton Tune took and the two hits Brissett took in thet three-and-out were the only ones of the game.
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