Good, Bad and Ugly From Arizona Cardinals' Dismal Loss to Broncos

The Arizona Cardinals looked like a put-together team last week in their win over the Kansas City Chiefs. Saturday was a different story. A much different story.

The Cardinals sputtered to a 27-7 loss at the hands of Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos after a tough week of joint practices.

There wasn't much positivity to glean from what looked like a disjointed, empty effort. Below is the good, bad and ugly from Saturday's loss.

Cardinals vs Broncos: The Good

Arizona's offense didn't have much to show, but backup QB Jacoby Brissett was certainly a bright spot of an overall poor group of performances.

Brissett looked sharp for the second straight week, completing six of eight passes for 57 yards and a slick 16-yard touchdown to WR Simi Fehoko up the middle on Arizona's second drive. Both incompletions hit his receivers in the hands.

Defensively, DBs Kitan Crawford and Denzel Burke — both late-rounders fighting for roster spots — made some plays in open space and in coverage. They also made mistakes, but such is the life of rookies in the preseason.

Perhaps the best-performing unit was Arizona's special teams. They kept the ball secure on returns, and punter Blake Gillikin was excellent, managing a 70-yard punt on the night. Small victories.

Cardinals vs Broncos: The Bad

Arizona executed poorly on both sides of the football after the first drive. It was simply flat all around.

Arizona managed only 135 total yards offensively, both on the ground and through the air. On defense, they surrendered an astounding 562 total yards.

The Cardinals allowed Denver's second- and third-string QBs to go 30-for-39 for 395 yards, two touchdowns and no turnovers through the air. Not good.

The poor performances didn't necessarily boil down to one or a few players having bad days, for the most part. Saturday night's game was simply not a well-executed contest.

Cardinals vs Broncos: The Ugly

Third-string QB Clayton Tune had yet another rough performance. He completed 13 of 20 passes but for only 56 yards.

While he didn't commit a turnover, he also hardly threw the ball beyond the line of scrimmage. Tune looked inaccurate and uncomfortable in the pocket, despite a decent, albeit not mind-blowing performance by the backup OL units.

Rookie CB Will Johnson had another rough day. He was charged with another penalty and didn't seem to make much of an impact.

Johnson has plenty of time to get up to NFL speed, but it was a bit concerning to see Johnson and some of Arizona's other depth players on defense struggle so much, especially early on.

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