WEEK 5 · FINAL
THE READ
Riley Parker
The chaos merchant
Titans edge Cardinals by 3
Sam Darnold threw 4 interceptions and Arizona still nearly pulled it off, losing to Tennessee 24-21 in a game that hinged entirely on turnovers—the Cardinals coughed it up 4 times while the Titans did it 3. Cam Ward went 17 of 29 for 221 yards and 1 touchdown, enough to win when your defense gets 2 sacks and your opponent gains just 41 rushing yards and can't stay on schedule. Arizona's ground game didn't exist, Darnold's arm cost them the game, and Tennessee escaped 6-2 while Arizona dropped to 4-4, leaving everybody in the building knowing exactly what went wrong on Arizona's side of the ball.
Riley Parker
The chaos merchant
THE WIDER PICTURE
| Team | SRS | SOS | MARGIN | TO +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Titans | +2.6 | -1.3 | +3.9 | +12 |
| Cardinals | -1.0 | +1.2 | -2.2 | -9 |
SRS is how many points a side beats an
average team by once you account for who they played — beat a good
team by 3 and it counts for more than beating a bad one by 20.
SOS is how hard that schedule has been.
Full table.
IN THE BOOTH
Talia Morgan
Beat reporter
Arizona's ground game evaporated—41 yards on the day—and Sam Darnold threw 4 interceptions, the kind of self-inflicted damage that decides close games. Tennessee won a 3-point nailbiter it had no business losing.
Devon Walker
Beat reporter
· replying
Tennessee's defense got to Sam Darnold 3 times and still gave up 212 passing yards—Arizona made them work for a 3-point win they barely survived.
They only ever read the box score and this league's own numbers —
none of them has a source, and none of them can report anything that
did not happen.
Cam Ward
Titans
17/29, 221 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT
Sam Darnold
Cardinals
14/33, 212 yards, 1 TD, 4 INT
Jeffery Simmons
Titans
2 sacks
THE STORY SO FAR
WHAT DECIDED IT
Total yards
Titans 295, Cardinals 253
Titans
On the ground
Titans 74, Cardinals 41
Titans
Through the air
Titans 221, Cardinals 212
Titans
Giveaways
Cardinals 4, Titans 3
Titans
THE ROOM
Final. The recap is below.
THE MATCHUP SCOUT
every number below is counted from the export or read off the roster — nothing is inferred about playcalling
LEAGUE DATA
counted by Madden, and arithmetic on top of it
Pass-heavy
Pass 61% · Rush 39% · 25.3 scored, 21.4 allowed
7.8 yds/att
61.6% completions
4.8 yds/carry
333.4 yds/game
1.1 giveaways/game
8.3% sack rate
last 5: 1-4
SAPPHIRE METRICS
QB efficiency 58 · Efficient
Balance 89
Ball security 68
Back usage 35%
QB runs 2.3/game
Most exposed: pressure -- sacked on 8.3% of dropbacks
PERSONNEL
off the roster — unit averages, best starters only
QB 87
WR 87
TE 77
RB 90
OL 79
DL 90
LB 85
DB 86
Best: Jonathan Taylor HB 99
Fastest: Chimere Dike WR 94 SPD
5 at star dev or better
YOUR NOTEBOOK
what you wrote about them — private, and never a Sapphire statistic
Sign in as a member of this league to keep private scouting notes on your opponents.
LEAGUE DATA
counted by Madden, and arithmetic on top of it
Pass-heavy
Pass 64% · Rush 36% · 26.5 scored, 28.7 allowed
9.1 yds/att
56.0% completions
4.7 yds/carry
383.2 yds/game
2.1 giveaways/game
6.5% sack rate
last 5: 4-1
SAPPHIRE METRICS
QB efficiency 60 · Aggressive
Balance 86
Ball security 40
Back usage 31%
QB runs 2.5/game
Most exposed: ball security -- 2.1 giveaways a game
PERSONNEL
off the roster — unit averages, best starters only
QB 90
WR 84
TE 99
RB 90
OL 84
DL 85
LB 77
DB 87
Best: Trey McBride TE 99
Fastest: Jeremiyah Love HB 94 SPD
4 at star dev or better
YOUR NOTEBOOK
what you wrote about them — private, and never a Sapphire statistic
Sign in as a member of this league to keep private scouting notes on your opponents.
HOW THEY PLAY
the man, not the franchise — only weeks the record attributes to him, this season
impaid.w
Cardinals · his last 8 games
Throws it
Pass / run65% / 35%
Points for / against28.5 — 30.0
Margin-1.5
Giveaways a game1.6
Sacks taken6.1% of dropbacks
Lead backJeremiyah Love · 12.5/g
Top targetMarvin Harrison Jr · 29%
QB carries2.5 a game
BlackManJenkins
Titans · his last 8 games
Balanced
One back
Takes sacks
Pass / run59% / 41%
Points for / against22.4 — 19.9
Margin+2.5
Giveaways a game1.0
Sacks taken9.1% of dropbacks
Lead backJonathan Taylor · 15.4/g
Top targetCarnell Tate · 27%
QB carries1.8 a game
Counted from the weeks each man actually held his team — so a franchise that changed hands is not credited to whoever has it now. Nothing above is a playcall: the export does not carry those, and neither does this.
THE SERIES
BlackManJenkins against impaid.w — the men, not the teams
BlackManJenkins leads it 1-0.
BlackManJenkins won the last one.
1 meeting
avg 24.0 — 21.0
biggest: 3 pts to BlackManJenkins
S2 · week 5
BlackManJenkins 24 — 21 impaid.w
BLACKMANJENKINS
Only meetings Sapphire can attribute to both men are counted — a Madden export never says who owned a team last season, so the series starts where the record does.
MATCHUP ADVANTAGES
unit averages against each other — inside three points is a push
Titans receivers vs Cardinals secondary
87 v 87
EVEN
Cardinals receivers vs Titans secondary
84 v 86
EVEN
Titans line vs Cardinals front
79 v 85
CARDINALS
Cardinals line vs Titans front
84 v 90
TITANS
Titans backs vs Cardinals run defence
90 v 82
TITANS
Cardinals backs vs Titans run defence
90 v 89
EVEN
Titans passer vs Cardinals secondary
87 v 87
EVEN
Cardinals passer vs Titans secondary
90 v 86
CARDINALS
TOP PERFORMERS
🎬
The Game Recapthis game as an episode -- the score, the stars, the numbers that decided it -- and a video you can post ›
BOX SCORE
TITANS
CARDINALS
TITANS
CARDINALS
TITANS
CARDINALS
TITANS
CARDINALS
TITANS
CARDINALS
TITANS
| PLAYER | C/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | SCK | LNG | RTG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cam Ward QB | 17/29 | 221 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 23 | 65.4 |
CARDINALS
| PLAYER | C/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | SCK | LNG | RTG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sam Darnold QB | 14/33 | 212 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 38 | 34.7 |
TITANS
| PLAYER | CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | BTK | YAC | LNG | FUM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan Taylor HB | 20 | 76 | 3.8 | 1 | 10 | 50 | 22 | 0 |
| Mecole Hardman WR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cam Ward QB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Chimere Dike WR | 1 | -2 | -2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
CARDINALS
| PLAYER | CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | BTK | YAC | LNG | FUM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jeremiyah Love HB | 15 | 41 | 2.7 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 10 | 0 |
| Marquise Brown WR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tyler Allgeier HB | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Trey McBride TE | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
TITANS
| PLAYER | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | YAC | DRP | LNG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chimere Dike WR | 6 | 63 | 10.5 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 17 |
| Elic Ayomanor WR | 4 | 53 | 13.2 | 0 | 31 | 0 | 23 |
| Carnell Tate WR | 2 | 37 | 18.5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 22 |
| Jonathan Taylor HB | 3 | 36 | 12 | 0 | 20 | 1 | 15 |
| Daniel Bellinger TE | 2 | 32 | 16 | 1 | 21 | 0 | 18 |
CARDINALS
| PLAYER | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | YAC | DRP | LNG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marquise Brown WR | 3 | 75 | 25 | 0 | 22 | 1 | 38 |
| Trey McBride TE | 3 | 44 | 14.7 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 23 |
| Marvin Harrison Jr WR | 3 | 41 | 13.7 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 22 |
| Jeremiyah Love HB | 3 | 30 | 10 | 0 | 38 | 0 | 12 |
| Michael Wilson WR | 2 | 22 | 11 | 0 | 17 | 1 | 12 |
TITANS
| PLAYER | TKL | SCK | INT | PD | FF | CMP ALW | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alontae Taylor CB | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ty Okada FS | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DJ McKinney CB | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DeForest Buckner DT | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Anthony Hill Jr. MIKE | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jeffery Simmons DT | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Joshua Williams CB | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cedric Gray WILL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cor'Dale Flott CB | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Kevin Winston Jr FS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| John Franklin-Myers DT | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Keldric Faulk LEDG | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kayvon Thibodeaux LEDG | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
CARDINALS
| PLAYER | TKL | SCK | INT | PD | FF | CMP ALW | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cobie Durant CB | 7 | 1.5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Will Johnson CB | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dadrion Taylor-Demerson FS | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Maxwell Hairston CB | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kaleb Proctor DT | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Walter Nolen III DT | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mack Wilson Sr MIKE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jordan Burch LEDG | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Josh Sweat REDG | 1 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Zaven Collins LEDG | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Andrew Wingard FS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Budda Baker SS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
TITANS
| PLAYER | FG | XP | LNG |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maddux Trujillo K | 1/1 | 3/3 | 20 |
CARDINALS
nothing recorded
RECENT FORM
Titans
L
23–31 vs Jaguars
WK 4
W
45–13 vs Jets
WK 3
L
38–42 vs Falcons
WK 2
Cardinals
W
45–35 vs Commanders
WK 4
L
7–19 vs Rams
WK 3
L
13–41 vs Seahawks
WK 2
TEAM STATS
| Titans | Cardinals | |
|---|---|---|
| 295 | TOTAL YARDS | 253 |
| 221 | PASSING YARDS | 212 |
| 74 | RUSHING YARDS | 41 |
| 3 | SACKS ALLOWED | 2 |
| 2 | SACKS MADE | 3 |
| 3 | GIVEAWAYS | 4 |
| 4 | TAKEAWAYS | 3 |
Bold is the side that won that line. Giveaways come off a team's own offensive rows and takeaways off its own defensive rows — two separate payloads, so they need not tie out against each other.
ALL-TIME HEAD-TO-HEAD
1
TITANS
—
0
CARDINALS