The Arizona Cardinals have not seen a great statistical improvement in their run defense over 2018. Last in the league a year ago, they are near the bottom this season. They have given up over 100 rushing yards in each of their first four games of the season.
However, each week has been because of a different reason. There have been four weeks of over 100 rushing yards and four different causes.
Week 1: Volume and some scrambles
The Cardinals allowed 116 rushing yards in Week 1 to the Detroit Lions. Detroit ran the ball 32 times, so it was only 3.6 yards per attempt. The Lions handed the ball off 27 times to their running backs for 84 yards. The Cardinals held them to 3.1 yards per attempt. No one is going to be upset at those numbers. QB Matthew Stafford also ran three times for 22 yards.
This performance was good.
Week 2: Lamar Jackson
Against the Baltimore Ravens, the Cardinals gave up 182 yards. Only 62 were to running backs on 17 carries, an average of only 3.6 yards per carry. Again, this was good. The problem was quarterback Lamar Jackson. He rushed for 120 yards on 16 carries. He completely torched the Cardinals defense with his legs.
Week 3: The big play
The Carolina Panthers rushed for 173 yards against the Cardinals. 153 of those yards were by Christian McCaffrey. 76 came on one carry. The 76-yard touchdown run he had was the backbreaker in the game. Take that play away and he was held to 23 carries for 77 yards, which is only 3.3 yards per attempt. The big play killed the Cardinals.
Week 4: Missed tackles
The Seattle Seahawks rushed for 115 yards. Chris Carson had 104 yards on 22 carries. What was the problem in this game? According to Cardinals defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, it was missing tackles. He said the defense missed “15 or 16 tackles” against the Seahawks. that is a recipe for disaster.
The Cardinals play the Cincinnati Bengals this weekend. The Bengals have the worst rushing attack in the league. They are last in yards and in yards per attempt. Maybe this is the week where the Cardinals run defense finally stops an entire rushing attack.
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