GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Arizona Cardinals are struggling a bit these days, having lost consecutive games in NFC West Division play and in gut-wrenching fashion on a pair of last-second field goals.
The team they’re about to face is in even worse shape.
The woeful Tennessee Titans (0-4) visit the Cardinals (2-2) on Sunday having lost 10 straight games dating to last season. Rookie quarterback Cam Ward, the No. 1 pick of this year’s NFL draft, has taken his lumps, and the Titans, who are coming off a 26-0 road loss to the previously winless Houston Texans in an AFC South matchup, have scored an average of less than 13 points per game.
Even so, the Cardinals aren’t in much of a position to take any team lightly.
“I talked to the team today, not to slight college football, but this is not a 0-4 college football team that has no chance of winning,” Arizona coach Jonathan Gannon said. “Everybody in the NFL has a chance to win every game. They’ve got really good players, really good coaches.”
If so, it’s hard for their disappointed fans to tell right now.
Titans second-year head coach Brian Callahan is on the hot seat with a 3-18 record. After last week’s loss, Ward and seventh-year defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, a three-time Pro Bowl selection, voiced their frustration with the team’s failure to play better.
The reality is if things don’t change soon, there could be a significant shakeup, but offensive lineman Kevin Zeitler said it doesn’t have to get to the point.
“This thing can flip just like that,” he said. “I know that’s on us as a team to keep pushing forward until we get that moment of where it flips.”
Ward’s collegiate career, with two seasons each at Incarnate Word and Washington State before one at Miami, produced an NCAA Division I-record 158 touchdown passes as he showed steady progress while going from a zero-stars recruit coming out of high school to a high-level pro prospect.
Playing in the NFL is like nothing else in football, though, and while Ward has been busy learning as much as possible, he’s coming off his worst pro game yet — and right after Callahan handed over the offensive play-calling duties to quarterbacks coach Bo Hardegree. They get another game working together Sunday, and Ward said his biggest adjustment to the NFL has been understanding that almost every game will be close, especially in the fourth quarter.
“No matter where it’s going to, a shootout or it’s going to be a 6-6 ballgame, we always have a chance to win the football game at the end of the game, majority of the time,” Ward said. “So just always preparing myself that it is always going to be the fourth-quarter game.”
Arizona is the middle stop of a three-game road swing for the Titans, who face the AFC West’s Las Vegas Raiders next weekend.
The Titans had leads in the second half each of their first two games this season and trailed 6-0 going into the fourth quarter last week, but they’ve been outscored 47-10 in the fourth quarter overall this season. Simmons said coordinator Dennard Wilson told Tennessee’s defense it had two missed tackles in the first half against the Texans, compared to 35 in the second half.
“It’s the reason why I come in and say we are right there,” Simmons said. “It’s just a small thing we can fix that’s going to help us win a football game.”
On the other side, Arizona’s first-half offense has been brutal in both losses, getting just a field goal each time. The Cardinals recovered in the second half in both games to make it close, falling 16-15 to the San Francisco 49ers on Sept. 21 and 23-20 to the Seattle Seahawks four days later, but fighting from behind every week is not a great way to live in the NFL.
“We have to come out faster,” said quarterback Kyler Murray, who was selected with the No. 1 pick of the 2019 NFL draft by the Cardinals, who have just one winning season and one playoff appearance since 2015. “Honestly, I wish I could tell you what it was as far as in the moment and even hindsight. We have to show up to the stadium ready to play, because it’s kind of putting us behind the eight ball against the good defenses that we’ve played so far. It won’t suffice going forward.”
The huge hit Arizona has taken at running back over the past two weeks hasn’t helped.
Veteran starter James Conner went down with a season-ending foot injury against the 49ers, and second-stringer Trey Benson hurt his knee against the Seahawks and was placed on injured reserve, meaning he’ll miss at least the next four games.
That left Michael Carter, Emari Demercado and Bam Knight as the three options at running back, though Murray might consider taking matters into his own hands. The dual threat has rushed for 148 yards this season, averaging nearly 6 yards per carry.
“I remember he took my ankles from me one time,” Simmons said. “So it’s one of the things when you get him in space and if you let him get out of the pocket, he can hurt your defense.”