Cardinals Can't Afford More Missed Opportunities

Both Gannon and Brissett understood they had a golden opportunity to win a home game for the first time since Week 2, and they let it slip right through their fingers.

“Ultimately didn't do enough in all three phases to win the game. But there's no silver lining in losing,” Gannon said.

Despite his frustration, he defended the play-calling, especially late in the game. On the last drive of regulation and the series in overtime, there was some questionable game management, but the head coach stood by his staff.

He mentioned his team was resilient but simply missed some plays at the end. Gannon certainly took an optimistic approach postgame, as he wouldn’t admit changes need to be made despite realizing they had a chance to come away with a victory.

“They're down. They wanted to win the game obviously. Just didn't get it done,” Gannon said.

“Yeah. We were in a position to win the game.”

Brissett had a similar outlook, but more specifically on himself. He admitted he wasn’t at his best late in the ballgame and Arizona could’ve won if he executed better.

“It's on me, man. We have to find ways to finish drives with touchdowns,” he told reporters after the game.

“We’re in these games. Obviously, there’s a difference between competing and winning them. The bottom line in this league is winning them. It's just continuing to fine-tune, stay together, fine-tune the details in all three phases of the game, and try to find a way to win.”

The Cardinals did compete, but doing so won’t show up in the standings. The only thing that will is an eight in the loss column. Arizona was good enough to win, but it couldn’t close the game out when it had the chance to.

Brissett had 317 yards and a touchdown, but in clutch moments, he wasn’t at the level he needed to be. The quarterback made solid throws throughout the game but had opportunities to win by leading a touchdown drive in either regulation or overtime and fell short both times.

Arizona wastes four takeaways by defense

In a season filled with close losses, the latest one might sting the most because of how impressive the defense was in creating impact plays.

The Cardinals forced four turnovers by the Jags — three interceptions and one fumble returned for a touchdown. In most circumstances, those four plays alone would create enough momentum to win a ballgame, but that didn’t end up being the case.

“When you win the takeaway battle there 4-0, you should have a really good chance of winning,” Gannon said.

“We have to firm up and make sure we're putting them in the right spots and do a better job to put some points on the board. And then hopefully you can win the game there.”

His team scored 14 points off turnovers, and seven of those were on the fumble recovery itself. That left just one scoring drive on the three interceptions, which simply didn’t cut it.

Brissett was critical of himself after the game, and that included being better considering all the help the defense provided. It may not have been perfect, but for the defensive unit to secure four turnovers, it should’ve jumpstarted the offense into scoring a lot of points.

“Yeah, it's tough man. We have to find ways to finish. Our defense gives us four turnovers or something like that,” Brissett said.

In the end, the Cardinals suffered another heartbreak in a season that feels like one giant missed opportunity. Six of Arizona’s eight losses are by one possession, and one of the ones that wasn’t included the Cardinals outgaining their opponent by 200 yards.

The roster isn’t uncompetitive, it just finds ways to lose in clutch moments. Sunday against Jacksonville was no different, as four takeaways by the defense weren’t enough in a frustrating overtime loss to the Jags.