Five takeaways from the Arizona Cardinals' loss to the Baltimore Ravens

The Cardinals' attempt to end the Baltimore Ravens' 21-preseason game winning streak came up short Sunday night at State Farm Stadium in a 24-17 loss. But the Cardinals showed some heart with a fourth-quarter rally to make it a closer game. 

Here are five takeaways from the game:

Quarterback play

Trace McSorley, who shined with 163 passing yards and a touchdown in leading the Cardinals on four first-half scoring drives in the team's 36-23 win over Cincinnati in the preseason opener, couldn't come up with another efficient performance on Sunday. 

McSorley was 11 of 19 for 140 yards in the first half, and didn't produce a touchdown drive through three quarters after guiding the Cardinals to three TDs on Aug. 12. He also threw two interceptions, though he did show toughness when trying to run up the middle for a touchdown near the goal line before being stopped short on a hard hit for no gain. 

McSorley ran for a score before his night was over. 

With Kyler Murray and backup Colt McCoy not playing for a second straight game, McSorley got another start and played into the fourth quarter. He finished 18 of 34 for 229 yards.

"Just wanted to see how he could play going into the third quarter, with only two quarterbacks. Wanted to give him an ample look," Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury said of McSorley.

Jarrett Guarantano played in the fourth quarter and threw a touchdown pass, making the most of the time he was given.

Rushing judgment

The Cardinals just couldn't get much going in the running game, after gaining 112 yards as a team against the Bengals. They had just 26 yards at halftime, with Eno Benjamin, Jonathan Ward and Darrel Williams seeing action. 

Ward had a 48-yard kickoff return, a 27-yard catch and looked like he might make an impact after rushing for two touchdowns against Cincinnati. But he left the game in the second quarter with a shoulder injury and didn't return. 

Ward suffered a shoulder injury that Kingsbury said "shouldn't be too bad," and offensive lineman Marquis Hayes, a rookie seventh-round pick did not play due to a minor knee injury from last week.

Arizona's net yardage in rushing was 55 yards on 21 carries.

The most impressive running back for the Cardinals after Ward departed might have been a quarterback, McSorley, who three times in the game tried to run for a score and succeeded on his third try with a one-yard run in the fourth quarter.

McSorley, with Murray calling plays from the sideline, faked a handoff to rookie Keaontay Ingram and dived up the middle for Arizona's only touchdown of the night. 

"Especially down there, we had the one drive early on where we got stopped at the goal line," McSorley said. "So the second time we got down there it was, we've got to score, we've got to get in the end zone. And I think that was kind of the mentality that at least I carried down there."

Ward's injury could open the door for more opportunity for the rookies, at least in the short team, and they will also have to contribute on special teams. The Cardinals also have yet to take a long look at Williams, although that may be by design with him being a veteran.

Missed tackles and coverages

On defense, most of the starters were rested. Those competing for a roster spot had their opportunity to stand out, but only a couple of players did so. 

Anthony Brown threw a pair of touchdown passes in the third quarter, the second one against one-on-one coverage followed by a missed open field tackle. 

Brown was the second Ravens quarterback to play after backup Tyler Huntley played the first half. Huntley connected with rookie tight end Isaiah Likely eight times for 100 yards, including a touchdown, in the first half, Likely getting open and breaking tackles after the catch. 

"That was the biggest deal. I thought we were in place, just got to get those guys down. And that tight end from Coastal (Likely) had a nice, nice half and he was impressive in college. So I could see him having a nice role in their offense, but we've got to be better tackling."

Undrafted free agent linebacker Chandler Wooten intercepted a Brown pass and set up a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter. 

"He continues to get better. He's acted like a pro, prepared like a pro since he's got here and continues to flash. So that's good to see," Kingsbury said of Wooten, an inside linebacker who played in college at Auburn.

"You just want to go out there and show you can be trustworthy and do your job. At the end of the day, the plays will come to you," Wooten said. "You don't ever want to go out there trying to press and make plays and stuff like that."

No starters on offense

No projected starter on offense played Sunday, all of those players getting the night off and tight end Zach Ertz dealing with injury. 

The Cardinals appear likely to stick with McSorley and Guarantano at quarterback for the preseason finale at Tennessee next Saturday. 

Should the starters be held out against the Titans, which at this point looks certain, their real work could come in the joint practices during the week in Nashville. That's what Kingsbury alluded to as training camp drew to a close last week. 

Wide receiver roulette

Greg Dortch and Andy Isabella followed up good preseason openers with productivity in the second game, and Victor Bolden Jr. led the Cardinals with 66 receiving yards. All three are competing for a roster spot and can all return kicks. 

Not to be forgotten in this group is undrafted rookie Jontre Kirklin, who for the second consecutive game caught a touchdown pass from Guarantano. Kirklin's 15-yard catch made it 24-17 in the fourth quarter, and Guarantano continued to look for him down the stretch. 

"That's what you want these preseason games for, is to evaluate those guys. When they're trying to execute at game speed under the lights, how do they respond? And so I think we've gotten a bunch of good eval(uation)s when we're sitting, you know, our top end guys for the entire preseason." 

Get in touch with Jose Romero at Jose.Romero@gannett.com. Find him on Twitter at @RomeroJoseM.