Of all the games on Sunday, the game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Arizona Cardinals is one of the more intriguing ones.
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The Cardinals picked off Winston three times – including two by Marcus Cooper, whom Arizona traded for on September 2 – and recovered a fumble.
Cooper had two of the four interceptions of Winston Sunday, including a pick six, and he reacted by pulling the Bucs quarterback to the ground.
RETURN TO THE DESERT: Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Dirk Koetter knows the Arizona desert all too well. “We got humbled today”. And in those seven games, the Arizona Cardinals’ second-year running back has more rushing yards and total yards from scrimmage than any other player in the NFL.
“We played one of the best defenses in the league”, Winston said, “but all those interceptions are on me”. The Buccaneers may have momentum on their side, but the Cardinals enter Week 2 with a really big chip on their shoulder after missing out on a golden opportunity in the opener against the undermanned Patriots.
“It’s on goal”, coach Bruce Arians said. “But he’s got to play better, I’ve got to coach him better, he’s got to play better”. The Cardinals’ offense thrives best when its three-receiver set of Fitzgerald, Michael Floyd and Brown is all making plays, opening up the running game for Johnson to do his thing.
He was discussing the Arizona Cardinals’ mindset last week, after they were embarrassed on national TV by a New England Patriots team without its star quarterback, star tight end and two starting offensive linemen. In the two games combined, Anger has dropped five of his 11 punts inside the opponents’ 20-yard line.
Despite featuring a pair of All-Pros in cornerback Patrick Peterson and safety Tyrann Mathieu, the Cardinals are extremely thin in the secondary. Rookie Brandon Williams had been the starter.
Just get the ball to @DaJohnson7.
Now Cooper may have the job all to himself. Carson Palmer wasn’t as sharp as he normally is but he still posted 271 passing yards with two touchdowns on 24-of-37 passing.
“Everything is going to start and end with the turnovers – you can’t turn it over five times and be 5-0 in turnovers”, Koetter said.
The upcoming clash between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Arizona Cardinals will be shown live on Fox.
Evans finished with six catches for 70 yards and beat Peterson for a touchdown, but he was targeted a whopping 17 times.
The Buccaneers signed Anger as an unrestricted free agent in March after the former third-round pick played four solid seasons in Jacksonville. John Brown, normally a dynamic weapon in the passing game, was nowhere to be found Sunday night. Still, he averaged 16.5 yards per catch on his 33 grabs and had four games of averaging at least 18 yards a grab.
Obviously, there is a long way to go before Anger is truly in position to break any team punting records.
“It helps me and David out tremendously”, Chris Johnson said. “He stayed in. The decision is made”. “You never know who is going to be the guy who makes the play”.
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INJURIES: Injuries hit the Buccaneers hard.
