The season has officially gone off the rails for the Arizona Cardinals. The team dropped to 3-11 after suffering its sixth straight loss on Sunday. “That’s a good football team. We didn’t do enough in all three phases,” Jonathan Gannon said following the loss to the Houston Texans. “We’ve got to play a little bit better here, complimentary football. Anytime we had chances to get some momentum back, one of the three phases kind of let us down.”
Déjà Vu
The Houston Texans came out sharp in Week 15. On the second play of the game, quarterback CJ Stroud connected with Nico Collins on a slant route in the middle of the field, and the Pro Bowl wide receiver took it 57 yards for the score.
On the ensuing kickoff, Arizona Cardinals’ returner Jalen Brooks fumbled, giving the football right back to the Texans on the Cardinals’ own 22-yard line. Before the Arizona Cardinals’ offense could even take the field, they found themselves trailing the Houston Texans by ten points. “The number one job of the return units is to make sure the offense trots out there,” Gannon told Paul Calvisi on the Cardinals Locker Room Show. “We didn’t do that today.”
When the Arizona Cardinals’ offense finally got on the field, they did not have much success. On their first drive of the game, Arizona went three-and-out, recording negative seven yards. After an Arizona punt, Texans’ running back Woody Marks capped off an 8-play, 49-yard scoring drive, extending Houston’s lead to a commanding 17 points less than nine minutes into the game. The deficit was too much to overcome against the number one-ranked scoring defense in the NFL.
The Houston Texans faced little resistance, scoring points on their first five possessions and taking a 23-7 lead into halftime. The score after two quarters was eerily similar to last week’s game against Los Angeles. The Rams scored on the first five possessions and led 24-10 at halftime. Both teams finished with 40+ points.
Forty has been a common number for the Arizona Cardinals this season. They have allowed forty-plus points in four of their last six games. Since Week 10, they have been outscored 217-122 (-95 point differential). However, even with the team’s most recent struggles, Jonathan Gannon isn’t concerned. “We got beat by a good football team today. We didn’t play well enough,” Gannon said postgame. “We’re going to go back to work tomorrow. We’ve got Atlanta coming in at home. It’s our last home game. We will play well.”
McBride Continues to Make History
Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride had another monster performance in Week 15, hauling in 12 passes for 134 yards and two touchdowns. The star tight end is now up to 10 touchdowns on the year.
Trey McBride continues to etch his name in the record books. He became the first tight end in NFL history to record 100-plus receptions in two straight seasons. In addition, McBride has now recorded five-plus receptions in 16 consecutive games, which is the longest such streak by a tight end in NFL history.
The Arizona Cardinals signed Trey McBride to a four-year, $76 million contract extension earlier this offseason. McBride has been worth every penny and more. The former 2022 second-round pick out of Colorado State is having an All-Pro season in 2025.
–Follow Dan Loya on X @DLoya_NFL
