In their second matchup of the 2021 preseason, the Arizona Cardinals couldn't do enough to come away with a win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
Well, we got to see a bunch of Arizona Cardinals starters for the first time during this preseason matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs on Friday. However, that was not enough to leave the Cardinals with a win for the second week in a row as they lost to the Chiefs by a final score of 17–10.
Wins and losses obviously don't matter in the preseason, but it's hard to imagine that at least some Arizona players wouldn't have given the two-time AFC champion, Kansas City a boost of confidence.
Regardless of the result, there were still some positives to take away from the Cardinals' performance in the second week of the 2021 preseason (some heavily emphasized). However, there were still plenty of negatives about the Arizona game on Friday.
Arizona Cardinals starting offense looks sloppy in exhibition loss to Kansas City Chiefs
The Cardinals had six offensive campaigns against the Chiefs in the first half and scored none of them. In fact, Arizona didn't get its first point on the board until the end of the third quarter when Matt Prater dropped a 22-yard field goal.
Of the six offensive drives Arizona made in the first two quarters of the game, quarterback Kyler Murray was on the field for three of them. Unfortunately, the Cardinals' offense clashed strongly with Murray on the field, and the young quarterback spent much of his time escaping the pressure of the Kansas City defense.
Murray was sacked twice by the Chiefs and needed to see Arizona head coach Cliff Kingsbury before deciding to get off the field and out of harm's way.
It was a forgetful night for the Cardinals defense as well. Arizona allowed Kansas City to rack up a total of 458 yards and was on the field for only three offensive drives with Chiefs superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
We mentioned that there were some bright spots for the Cardinals on Friday and they included rookie receiver Rondell Moore once again looking impressive, Arizona cornerback Byron Murphy intercepted a Mahomes pass, and Prater took all his kicks (a field goal, an extra point) for the second consecutive week.