Eliav Gabay
Everyone loves an explosive offense.
With the likes of Kyler Murray, Marvin Harrison Jr, James Conner, Paris Johnson Jr, Trey McBride and others on that side of the ball – it’s understandably what’s garnered the most attention going into this season.
The Murray-Harrison connection is as fun in-person as it looks on TV. Though they’re still a ways away from realizing their potential as a duo, the flashes we’ve seen (like Harrison going for 130 yards and two touchdowns against the Rams) give even more reason for excitement.
Explosive doesn’t necessarily mean reliable, however.
After hanging 41 on Los Angeles’ head at State Farm Stadium, the Cardinals started strong but ran out of gas against the NFC North Champion Detroit Lions in a 20-13 loss.
“That’s not how you beat a playoff team,” Murray said. “It’s not a playoff game, but in a sense, when you gear up for a Detroit Lions team – a team that’s got that pedigree right now – it’s that type of football game. It’s a physical football game, it’s an emotional football game, and they beat us.”
That side of the football went one for nine on third down conversions as the offensive line’s fatigue showed over the course of the game.
Moreover – the rushing game was nonexistent – scraping together 77 yards, which made it difficult to get it going through the air as well.
“It starts with me,” head coach Jonathan Gannon said. “We had to do better on third down, better at the run game, better everywhere…I did think we fought. Coming out of halftime, we were resilient, which I’m enthused about… We keep playing like that, clean up some mistakes, we’ll get back on track.”
“I’m encouraged,” Murray said. “I felt like we had a lot of opportunities to make something happen and win that game. They made more plays than us. I’m excited for the road ahead.”
As far as silver linings go, OL Jackson Barton drawing the start against Aiden Hutchinson and holding him to no sacks when they went against each other is a big positive (Hutchinson got a sack after Barton left the game with an injury).
“I was just happy for the opportunity,” Barton said. “[Hutchinson’s] a great player. He has a real good game, but it’s also a really good challenge and good opportunity to show what I can do…I wish I could’ve been out there the whole game…just got to move on to the next one.”
What has been reliable is what’s gotten a whole lot less national attention – Arizona’s defense.
The defense sacked Matthew Stafford fives times and was the main reason the Cards had a fighting chance against the Lions.
Mack Wilson felt like he was everywhere. Dante Stills made a couple huge plays in the second half, including stopping Detroit to force a turnover on downs. Dennis Gardeck got in on the action too with an interception of his own.
“[Mack] is playing extremely well right now,” Gannon said. “He battles. We use him a couple different ways. You saw him on the edge today, he’s stacked, he does a lot for us.”
How long has it been since someone other than Budda Baker got mentioned with great Arizona defense? That’s refreshing.
“We did a better job on the run game,” Gannon said. “We kept the explosives down. We rushed them well. We had a takeaway, a stop on fourth down – that’s a good battle. The defense played extremely well in the second half.”
Gannon’s vision is coming together and as volatile as this offense can be, this team will go as far as its defense takes them.
