2-0 Cards know they must clean up 'sloppy ball'

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Kyler Murray knows the Arizona Cardinals are playing with fire by not being able to close out games the way they want to.

A week after surviving a late-game push by New Orleans Saints, it happened again during the Cardinals' home opener against the Carolina Panthers.

After jumping out to a 27-3 lead early in the third quarter thanks to a dominating defense and Murray orchestrating an offense to do whatever it pleased in the middle portion of the game, Arizona gave up 19 unanswered points in the second half but held off a Panther's comeback attempt thanks to a fourth-down sack in the final minute by Calais Campbell to win, 27-22, on Sunday at State Farm Stadium.

With a Week 3 trip to their NFC West rivals, the San Francisco 49ers, coming up next weekend, Murray said improvements are needed -- and needed soon.

"We could be 0-2, but we're 2-0 with this issue," Murray said. "I don't want to make it a thing, but at the same time, yeah, we got to be better. We got to finish games. That's the bottom line because it didn't bite us in ass today. Didn't bite us in ass last week, but you keep playing around, you get bit, so we got to be better."

A combination of offensive miscommunications, a botched onside kick recovery, an interception and a slew of late-game penalties that kept Carolina's hopes alive contributed to Arizona not being able to close out the game how they wanted.

After last week's win in New Orleans, Murray said he wanted to close out games with the ball in Arizona's hands. Technically, the Cardinals did that, getting the ball back after Campbell's sack with 26 seconds left and then Murray took a knee to end the game.

However, getting to that final kneel down wasn't easy.

After Arizona scored a touchdown with 4 seconds left in the first half and then marched the opening kickoff of the third quarter down for another touchdown, they were in control with a 24-point lead. But the Panthers responded in the third with a touchdown pass from Bryce Young to Hunter Renfrow to cut into the Cardinals' lead, 27-9.

On the next series, Murray dazzled with a 30-yard scramble, evading three tackles and creating an instant highlight with his run. Then three plays later, he was intercepted while trying to throw the ball away, which the Panthers turned into another touchdown to come within 27-15. Following a Cardinals' punt, the Panthers scored again, pulling within 27-22.

Then Carolina declared an onside kick and was able to recover at its own 49 after the ball went off a member of Arizona's return team.

Arizona's defense regained its early-game dominance when linebacker Zaven Collins strip-sacked Young and rookie linebacker Jordan Burch recovered with 1:32 left in the game. However, a penalty on rookie cornerback Denzel Burke negated the play, giving the ball back to the Panthers.

What then ensued kept Carolina alive to the end.

A questionable roughing-the-passer penalty on Arizona edge rusher Josh Sweat turned what was supposed to be a third-and-17 into a first down with 54 seconds left. Then, with 43 seconds left, Arizona defensive lineman Dante Stills was flagged for being offsides, turning what was supposed to be a fourth-and-20 into a third-and-15, giving the Panthers another down of hope.

"I don't know how many penalties that was in a row, yeah, it was kind of a shit show to be honest," Murray said. "But I'm just glad we got a win."

Two plays later, Campbell sealed it.

"It was a lot of different factors," defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson said. "Just discipline with technique and stuff like that.

"And just the flags. That's another thing. We got to play within the rules there. We can't be given up penalties when we're supposed to go off the field and stuff like that."

It was "just sloppy ball," wide receiver Michael Wilson said. And, he added, the Cardinals not controlling what they could control.

Coach Jonathan Gannon took responsibility for the Cardinals' late-game slip, saying during his postgame press conference that he needed to coach better.

Sunday wouldn't have turned into what it did if Arizona was able to get off the field on fourth down more, Gannon said.

"I got to coach us better to understand what's going on in the game and what calls we need to execute to put games away," he said. "So, the turning point to me was we just really never got that stop that we needed or to keep points off the board to let our offense go out there and really put the game away. And it's not the players at all. They fought their butt off. It's completely on me."