An Alex Smith-Adrian Peterson pairing wasn’t the plan on offense in Washington until after Derrius Guice tore his ACL in the first preseason game of the summer, but it worked out well for them on Sunday.
Smith threw for two touchdowns, Peterson ran for one and Washington rolled to a 24-6 win over the Cardinals.
Washington held the ball for nearly 23 minutes in the first half while building a 21-0 lead behind Smith’s 13 straight completions. The offense slowed a bit in the second half, but Peterson and Chris Thompson kept making plays that helped generate 30 first downs before the night was out.
Peterson ran 26 times for 96 yards and had a 52-yard reception while Chris Thompson produced 128 yards from scrimmage to make sure no one was lamenting Guice’s loss too much in the opener. Thompson also caught a touchdown as part of an efficient and impressive outing across the board for the offense.
The Cardinals offense, on the other hand, was underwhelming in the extreme. They never came close to getting on track until the game was out of reach and only ran 14 lifeless plays before halftime. Sam Bradford went 20-of-34 for 153 yards and an interception, which is the sort of performance that will lead to calls for Josh Rosen sooner rather than later.
David Johnson’s return to action after last year’s injury resulted in just 67 yards and head coach Steve Wilks’ debut was further marred by nine penalties. Seven of them turned into first downs that compounded the problems Arizona was having all over the field in a game that won’t raise anyone’s expectations for the year to come.