Cardinals’ Mike LaFleur is seething over ‘sloppy’ mistakes in preseason loss to Cowboys

The Arizona Cardinals are a work in progress under first-year head coach Mike LaFleur. Arizona struggled in a NFL preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday. The Cardinals lost, 34-13.

LaFleur wasn’t pleased with his team’s performance. He pulled no punches when speaking to reporters postgame.

“You saw it. … It’s just sloppy,” LaFleur said, per Cardinals reporter Tyler Drake.

"You saw it. … It's just sloppy."
 
As expected, Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur was not pleased with the offensive operation in tonight's preseason loss to the Cowboys pic.twitter.com/ccSqha7FeT

— Tyler Drake (@Tdrake4sports) August 23, 2026

Arizona got burned in the game by penalties. The Cardinals committed eight penalties in the contest.

“Like I told the guys, you can’t have penalties anywhere,” LaFleur said, per the team. “That’s good versus bad football. We had some in critical situations.”

Despite the loss, Arizona did have some highlights. Quarterback Gardner Minshew ended the night with a touchdown pass, and the team posted 325 total yards. The defense though allowed 413 yards to Dallas.

“Overall it was not good enough and tonight was a summary of that week in general,” LaFleur said.

Arizona next plays a NFL preseason game against the Green Bay Packers. That contest is scheduled for August 28.

Mike LaFleur wants to turn the Cardinals into a winner

LaFleur’s goal is to get this team back in the NFL Playoffs. Arizona has not had much success in recent years.

“Every year is a blank slate,” LaFleur said when taking the job, per the team. “I’m not worried about what our record was. The record last year, all that means is we have a higher draft pick. That’s all that really matters at that point. We have to go to work to build this roster. Even if we were flipped and it was 14-3, guess what? You go right back to work.

“I’m just concerned about building this staff and getting to work with these guys so that when the time does come, we’re putting our best foot forward to go win football games and hopefully update that back wall.”

Arizona finished the 2025 NFL season with a 3-14 record.

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