The Arizona Cardinals undefeated season ended Sunday afternoon in Denver, amid a pile of injuries and Peyton Manning’s biggest game of the season. It was fun while it lasted, and nobody’s going to be overlooking the Cardinals in what figures to be a tight NFC West race through the rest of the season. The Broncos sent the Cardinals home with a 41-20 loss, a nice bounce back from Denver’s loss to Seattle two weeks ago.
Cardinals vs. Broncos: 3 things we learned from Denver’s blowout win
The Cardinals kept it close for awhile, but injuries and Peyton Manning took too heavy of a toll. Arizona leaves Denver with their first loss of the young season.
Doug Pensinger
Arizona kept it close through the third quarter. An 81-yard touchdown pass from Logan Thomas, filling in after Drew Stanton left with a head injury, to Andre Ellington cut the Broncos’ lead to 24-20. Manning went back to work after that series. Having thrown his 500th career touchdown pass in the first quarter, he added a third and fourth touchdown to his stat line on the day. He ended the game with 479 yards and two interceptions to go with the four touchdowns.
1) The Cardinals are running out of healthy players. Stanton wasn’t the only Cardinals player dealing with an injury. Calais Campbell left with a right knee injury. Patrick Peterson left late with an ankle injury. Logan Thomas was the only quarterback left in a Cardinals uniform, and he got a scare not long after taking over for Stanton. Carson Palmer reportedly got good news about his status over the weekend, but Arizona still hasn’t pegged a return for him.
2) Peyton Manning is still pretty good ... in case the stats above somehow left you wondering. With players like Demaryius Thomas (226 yards, two touchdowns), Julius Thomas (66 yards, two touchdowns), and others, the Broncos once again look like a team capable of going deep into the playoffs, and with a much better defense this time.
3) West is the best. Arizona is still in the thick of the NFC West chase, and with their next two games against Washington and Oakland, they should rebound nicely to keep pace heading into the midpoint of the season. San Diego won this week as well, keeping the AFC West race tied with Denver. Manning and Co. get the Jets next week, before a pair of tough games against San Francisco and the Chargers.
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