Kansas City Chiefs vs. Arizona Cardinals: Full Report Card Grades for Arizona
The losing streak is now behind the Arizona Cardinals as they took care of business at home, defeating the Kansas City Chiefs at University of Phoenix Stadium on Sunday, 17-14.
Through the standard ups and downs of the game, two big turning points came about that allowed the Cardinals (10-3) to pull out yet another victory after trailing nearly the entire game. First was linebacker Alex Okafor's interception of Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith.
The second was rookie Deone Bucannon's forced fumble of tight end Travis Kelce that head coach Bruce Arians had to challenge just to get the call right.
Those two plays gave the team all the spark it would need to pull ahead of Kansas City.
Arizona showed once again it can win a game after trailing, but at home behind a great crowd, that's almost expected these days. Going on the road and coming from behind is more difficult. Of the team's final three games, two come away from the friendly confines of University of Phoenix Stadium.
But that's for another day. How did each Cardinals positional unit fare in Sunday’s win over the Chiefs? Let’s find out.
Quarterback
1 of 10
Quarterback Drew Stanton completed only half of his passes for 239 yards and a touchdown. His day was average. Almost nothing special from the should-be backup.
Why "almost" nothing special?
One throw made Stanton's day palatable. With 3:26 left in the third quarter—moments after Okafor's interception—he threw quite possibly the best ball he has thrown this season to receiver Jaron Brown up the left seam for a 26-yard touchdown, the game-winning points.
He had time to throw most of the afternoon, but he looked better under pressure in the second half than he did in the first half. Following the break, he appeared to be far more comfortable stepping up within a closing pocket, even delivering on a deep ball to Michael Floyd after doing so on one occasion.
Overall, Stanton was just average. But his clutch play to give Arizona its 10th win of the season elevates his grade some. That was huge.
Grade: B-
Running Back
2 of 10
Heading into this week's matchup with the Chiefs, it was not known whether running back Andre Ellington would play. He was ruled out on Wednesday, and then it was going to be Stepfan Taylor, Marion Grice and Michael Bush.
Bush was cut on Friday, a surprise move that made some sense, believe it or not.
The Cardinals were left with Taylor starting on Sunday with little-known Kerwynn Williams getting the promotion from the Cardinals practice squad, and he—not Taylor or Grice—took over the backfield.
Williams ran 19 times for 100 yards (5.3 yards per carry) and received the game ball from Arians afterward. Per ArizonaSports.com's Dave Burns:
"Kerwynn Williams says the game ball he got today is going right to his parents.
— Dave Burns (@Burnsy987) December 8, 2014"
To say it most accurately, Williams was efficient, patient and showed spectacular vision on the field against the Chiefs. He looked better running the ball on Sunday than Ellington ever did this season.
Grade: A
Wide Receiver and Tight End
3 of 10
All the Cardinals needed was one play from Brown to emerge victorious. Though that was a huge play, the receivers and tight ends were not great this week. But neither were they bad.
Stanton missed some open throws once again—throws Carson Palmer would make in his sleep if he were healthy.
Larry Fitzgerald dropped a pass, but it was thrown behind him. He had to contort his already-broken body, and it would have been a nice grab because of that. He will tell you he should have had it, but he can't be at fault for the drop.
Your weekly Rob Housler sighting came at a big moment; he converted a 3rd-and-2 on a swing pass from Stanton, taking it 20 yards up the right sideline.
It's good to know Housler still can be relied on for about one good play per game, because his team may need that one big play over the next three weeks and, God willing, into January.
Overall, Sunday's game against the Chiefs was more about the running ability of the offense than it was about Stanton slinging it to the receivers. Though they did not play a consistent role in the offense, one player made the biggest play of the day to help his team win.
That affects the grade positively.
Grade: B
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Offensive Line
4 of 10
The line allowed two sacks to the Chiefs—both to future free-agent stud outside linebacker Justin Houston. On the first, Houston simply beat right tackle Bobby Massie around the edge and got to Stanton; on the second, the line failed to account for him on what may have been a breakdown in protection.
Coming away giving up only two sacks to that defense is a win if you ask anyone familiar with Kansas City's pass rush.
So on that front, the line earned a slightly above-average grade. However, when you add in the fact that it blocked for a 100-yard rusher who had exactly zero career carries until he did what he did against the Chiefs, the grade improves.
Left guard Jonathan Cooper was beaten badly by Chiefs nose tackle Dontari Poe on a couple occasions, but overall he looked good. He seemed to come out fired up and missed on some blocks early because of that, but he settled down quickly and appeared much calmer on blocks.
In all, it was a really good day for the Cardinals offensive line.
Grade: A-
Defensive Line
5 of 10
Of the seven tackles for a loss generated by the defense, four of them came from the big guys up front.
Frostee Rucker led the way with two, while Calais Campbell and Tommy Kelly each had one. They also came up with three of the team's five sacks. Again, Rucker led the way with two—Campbell had the other.
The defensive line is the reason running back Jamaal Charles ran 63 yards for a touchdown on Kansas City's first drive. Nose tackle Dan Williams had a shot to take Charles down after a moderate gain, but for some reason he shoved him rather than wrapping up and driving him to the turf.
All that did was spring Charles through the defense.
After that run, however, Charles was shut down due in large part to what the D-line did. That helps the grade, but the long touchdown is not forgotten.
Grade: B-
Linebacker
6 of 10
One sack, three tackles for loss, three passes deflected and three quarterback hits. On the surface, it doesn't appear the linebackers did much damage against the Chiefs. But all things considered, the corps did a nice job covering from sideline to sideline against Smith and Co.
Tight end Travis Kelce burned the inside linebackers, but no one else did. The flats were well-covered most of the afternoon thanks in large part to the linebacking corps.
The Chiefs caught passes, but they did not get out in space and run after the catch—which is where they beat teams.
Okafor's third-quarter interception was enough of a momentum swing to elevate this grade into the stratosphere. Good day for the group overall.
Grade: A
Secondary
7 of 10
On a sandlot-like scramble play where Smith ran for his life out of the pocket, he rolled right, loaded up and found receiver Jason Avant (pictured above) for 41 yards. That was the only negative play for the Cardinals secondary all afternoon.
It has to be difficult covering a receiver for as long as Patrick Peterson had to on that play, so some of the blame is deflected based on that. In all, he and his secondary mates played a great game against Kansas City's receivers.
The play of Jerraud Powers stood out on multiple occasions. He helped cover Kelce at times, and he also was responsible for keeping Avant in bounds with a minute left to play.
The receiver caught a pass from Smith with Powers in tow, but he was unable to get out of bounds as the smaller slot cornerback wrestled him to the ground from behind almost immediately.
Overall, it was a good day for the secondary. Like everyone else has this season, Arizona did not allow a receiving touchdown to any Chiefs receiver.
The status of injured cornerback Antonio Cromartie is unknown, but we have a glimmer of hope it's not as serious as initially thought, per Kyle Odegard of AZCardinals.com:
"Cromartie's injury not an Achilles as first feared, Arians said.
— Kyle Odegard (@Kyle_Odegard) December 8, 2014"
Grade: B
Special Teams
8 of 10
After a record-setting start to his rookie season, kicker Chandler Catanzaro has come back down to Earth over the past five games, hitting on just six of 10 field goals since Week 10.
Three of his four misses—including both misses on Sunday—have hit off the post and fallen into the end zone.
Catanzaro going 3-of-5 on field goals was the only bad thing about Arizona's special teams play. Every other aspect was on point.
Punter Drew Butler was sharp, pinning Kansas City inside its own 20-yard line twice. The punt and kick coverage was outstanding once again, and even Ted Ginn got in on a solid play, returning the opening kick 43 yards to set up Stanton and the offense with good field position.
The misses from Catanzaro hurt the grade, but overall this was a great day for Cardinals special teams.
Grade: B+
Coaching
9 of 10
Some of the plays Arians called were questionable, no doubt. But a choice he made that had nothing to do with his offense is the reason he has earned praise after this game.
Remember Bucannon's forced fumble on Kelce? That originally went unseen, and Arians had a choice to make.
It was close. Does he challenge the call and risk using the team's final timeout? If he was wrong, the Chiefs at worst would have tied the game and given Arizona the ball with a few minutes remaining and no timeouts.
Arians won the challenge and, subsequently, the game because of it. He did, however, admit his questionable play-calling, per Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com:
"Arians: I called some really bad plays, mentioning screen near goal line, 3rd n 2.
— Darren Urban (@Cardschatter) December 8, 2014"
Defensive coordinator Todd Bowles called a magnificent game. He had his front seven in Smith's face for much of the afternoon. His halftime adjustments were the main reason the team emerged victorious.
At one point, the Chiefs were 5-of-7 on third down. From then on, they went just 1-of-7.
Grade: B
Final Grade
10 of 10
| Positional Unit | Grade |
| QB | B- |
| RB | A |
| WR | B |
| OL | A- |
| DL | B- |
| LB | A |
| Secondary | B |
| Special Teams | B+ |
| Coaching | B |
| Cumulative Grade | B+ |
With the two-game skid coming to an end, the Cardinals are back to their winning ways—for now. It wasn't a great performance, but a win is better than the alternative.
Stanton did just enough at just the right time to pull ahead of the Chiefs with help from Williams, the former no-named practice-squad guy who "wowed" teammates over the past few weeks, per Urban:
"Arians: Kerwynn Williams was only player on practice field to make players go "wow" last 3 weeks.
— Darren Urban (@Cardschatter) December 8, 2014"
The successful rushing attack is probably the best news to come from the win. What a surprise after losing Ellington for the season and dropping Bush less than two weeks after picking him up.
From here, the Cardinals have a short week as they travel to take on the St. Louis Rams on Thursday Night Football. We will talk more about that later this week, of course.
Just know it's a huge game. The Rams have pitched two consecutive shutouts over the past two weeks, outscoring the Oakland Raiders (who just beat the 49ers) and Washington Redskins by a combined 76-0.
All stats gathered from ESPN.com.
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