Jacoby Brissett apologized for the "coach talk," but the message, regardless, was powerful.
"You can't waste plays," the Cardinals quarterback said after Sunday's rough loss to the Seahawks, and despite the ragged final score (31-7), the comment seemed fitting.
On the Cardinals' opening drive of the game, Trey McBride had a nine-yard catch on first down. On second down, the Cardinals seemed to have a perfect play call to Michael Wilson for a first down and more. But Brissett couldn't get the ball to him, incomplete. The next play was wasted too, a Tyler Allgeier run that couldn't pick up the first.
There was another second-and-1 later in the first half the Cardinals couldn't convert either.
Those are the kinds of plays to which Brissett was no doubt referring, but there are others that fall into the bucket too. After the Cardinals tied the game, they recovered a Jadarian Price fumble. But they let that play go to waste by going three-and-out. Or the play where Brissett threw his one interception, a deep shot to Wilson that wasn't really close to completion.
The margin for error is thin in the NFL, and thinner still against elite teams like the Seahawks (or more specifically, their defense.) It felt Sunday that the struggles of the Cardinals on offense especially was more about the Seahawks' level than the Cardinals' arc.
"We just let them be who they are, and it showed," Bourne said.
In this gauntlet of an early season schedule, however, wasted plays can't happen.
-- It was a hard day for all the Cardinals wide receivers, but none moreso than Marvin Harrison Jr. MHJ, who had just one reception in the opener, was only targeted once on Sunday, and that was Brissett essentially throwing the ball away. It was the first time Harrison has not had a catch in a game in which he didn't leave early because of injury.
"I wouldn't look into (it) too much," coach Mike LaFleur said. "I wouldn't look into too much of anything right now. Because we didn't throw the ball for crap anyway."
LaFleur said he was not concerned about Harrison. My guess is the story won't fade, however.
-- The Notre Dame running back reunion didn't produce fireworks. Jeremiyah Love ripped off runs of eight and nine yards on back-to-back plays during the Cardinals' lone TD drive, but finished with only 29 yards on nine carries. Price did have 52 yards on 13 carries, thanks to one 25-yard romp on the first drive of the third quarter, but he left with a chest injury.
-- We will see what happens during the week, but losing both starting cornerbacks (Max Melton, foot; Will Johnson, neck) during the game will be something to watch.
-- The fourth-down goalline stop was impressive, with defensive tackle Walter Nolen III doing a good job getting low and safety Dewey Wingard sticking his nose in to make the stop late in the first half. That was the kind of play that made it feel like the Cardinals were going to hold momentum. It did not last.
-- Not a lot to break down after this one. On to San Francisco.
