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Oct 5, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Arizona Cardinals running back Emari Demercado (31) runs the ball for 71 yards before fumbling against the Tennessee Titans during the fourth quarter at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images

Report Card: Grading Cardinals' Three Biggest Failures

Originally posted on Arizona Cardinals on SI
By Kyler Burd | Last updated Oct 6, 2025 12:13 PM ET

Let's get that out of the way at the very top. Feel free to take that F in any way you please. Failed offense. Failed play calling. Failed execution. Failed organization.

This week, we can dispense with the traditional grade report that goes position by position and tries to give a fair grade for individual/positional performances. Instead, let's take a minute and wallow in the fact that the Arizona Cardinals are failing as an organization at the moment, which goes beyond individual athletic performances.

There are some highlights, of course. The defense continues to perform rather well but the complete failure of the offense to hold up its end of the bargain is quickly sinking any hopes the Cardinals had to taste the postseason for the first time in four years.

Biggest Failures

1. Emari Demercado dropping the ball

Up 21-12, Demercado popped off a massive 72-yard run that should have put the dagger in the Titans and gave the Cardinals a commanding three score lead in the fourth quarter.

Instead, following in Colt's receiver Adonai Mitchell's footsteps from just last week, Demercado dropped the ball before it crossed the plane of the end zone. The ball bounced out the back of the end zone and gave the Titans a touchback, breathing life back into their comeback hopes.

As Gannon mentioned afterwards, no game comes down to one play but it is difficult to not look at this as the defining failure of the afternoon.

2. Rabbit Taylor-Demerson fumbling an interception

The Demercado mistake was frustrating, no doubt. But the Cardinals still maintained a nine point lead late in the fourth quarter until safety Rabbit Taylor-Demerson gifted the Titans an unexpected lifeline.

Cam Ward was leading his team down the field and was approaching the redzone when a bad ball went into the hands of Taylor-Demerson, the sort of thing that should have sealed up a Cardinals home win.

Instead, on the way down Taylor-Demerson lost control of the ball and as other Cardinals attempted to recover the fumble it bounced into the endzone before being reeled in by a Titan. This touchdown directly set up the scenario a few minutes later where the Titans only needed forty yards or so to steal a win with a field goal as time expired.

3. Forgetting Marvin Harrison, Jr. exists

Just looking at the final stat line for second year receiver Marvin Harrison, Jr. does not tell the full story.

The good news is that in the first quarter it looked like the yips, or whatever was mentally holding him back the past few weeks, was finally over. He made a handful of great catches including going up over two Titans defenders for an incredible 40-yard grab. He finished with four catches on five targets for 98 yards.

The bad news, is that offensive coordinator Drew Petzing seemingly forgot that his reborn star receiver existed after the second quarter.

Harrison, Jr. had only one target and one catch in the entire second half, another nice 19-yard reception, and neither quarterback Kyler Murray nor Petzing looked his way again.

Who the ultimate blame for that falls upon, quarterback or coordinator, is up for debate but it was absolutely noticeable that after torching a bad Titans defense in the first half one of the Cardinals premier offensive weapons went radio silent. Yet again.

Where do the Cardinals go from here?

This is the primary question that all Cardinals fan are going to be asking themselves this morning, and the truth is that there are not many great options.

It seems incredibly unlikely that any jobs will be lost this early in the season when the team still has a mathematical chance at a postseason run. Instead, the fanbase will likely be treated to more coach speak as the organization tries to figure out what is going so wrong.

The first two seasons under head coach Jonathan Gannon, the Cardinals were notable for playing tough and playing above their paygrade considering the talent they had available on the roster. Now, after some key offseason additions and draft selections, the team should have the talent to succeed but has lost the fire and grit that they were previously known for.

This feels like a team that has lost its way and where the blame lies for that is going to be a highly individual opinion, but the fact remains that the Cardinals have actively found ways to lose the past three weeks and fan support is fading at a historic rate.

The Cardinals started this season with at least a modicum of national respect as a team that had slowly improved each year under Gannon and his staff. Now, they seem to be reverting to their old ways.

Yes, a miracle could happen and the team still has time to turn things around. But based off what we saw the past few weeks there is truly no grade that the Cardinals can receive other than an F.