Cardinals Coach Arians Says Fans ‘Should be Disappointed’

(Featured Photo: Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said his team didn’t play well in any phase of the game. (Photo by Nicole Vasquez/Cronkite News)

By: Nicole Vasquez

(Tempe, AZ) –  After coming up a kick short against the New England Patriots, questions of is-the- sky-falling descended on the shoulders of the Super Bowl favored Arizona Cardinals.

Coach Bruce Arians gave his answer Monday after his team was humbled 23-21 by a Patriots team without Tom Brady (suspension) and Rob Gronkowski (injury).

The loss caught the team’s attention, grounding both rookies and veterans.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt,” Arians said. “Hopefully, it did.”

A few days before the opener, Arians told the media “there is no pressure” despite high expectations. The week of preparation, he said, was good.

Yet the preparation didn’t make it to University of Phoenix Stadium for primetime. A typically noisy University of Phoenix Stadium crowd was silenced.

“It wasn’t just young players, but it was a lot of young players that got caught up in everything that was going on,” Arians said. “There were some critical errors by some young players … Easy things to correct but it’s too late now. You lose a game, and I think we have enough character on our team to get it corrected and show up and have a really good Wednesday practice.”

With 41 seconds left in regulation, the Cardinals were a 47-yard-field goal away from 1-0.

But rookie long snapper Kameron Canaday sent a low snap to holder Drew Butler.

Butler tried to stabilize it, but it wasn’t enough. Kicker Chandler Catanzaro drove it wide left.

“He took the blame, like a captain should,” Arians said of Catanzaro. “I still expect him to make that kick.”

It may have come down to a rookie mistake, but Arians had the same message for everyone in the locker room.

“(I told them) it’s one game,” he said. “Go back and watch yourself and your preparation. Was it good enough? Watch the film and see if your preparation got to the stadium. Make sure you show up to work today and we’ll correct it and move on to the next game like we always do.”

Arians said his team didn’t execute in all three phases of the game.

Offensively, communication between quarterback Carson Palmer and his receivers misfired early on.

Despite signing Chandler Jones to help with the pass rush, the Cardinals couldn’t get Patriots quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo off the field on third down. New England converted on 10 of its 16 third down opportunities. That lack of pressure is what bothered Arians when watched tape of the game.

“That was probably the most disturbing thing because we’ve been so good at it,” he said.

The flat performance raised red flags for some outside the organization, but the Cardinals have a chance to move forward on home turf Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“Give us another week,” Arians said. “There’s another game, there’s 15 more of them, but there’s another one next week. I’m as disappointed as they are. They should be disappointed.”