Where did the Cardinals' run defense go? Jonathan Gannon says team needs to punch back
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Rams coach Sean McVay and wife Veronika have been expecting but did not have their baby on Sunday, after all. Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon, though, had a cow.
Except he didn’t sound or act nearly as disgruntled as he probably should have after watching his team get beat 26-9 by the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium.
Gannon’s Cardinals were outscored 20-0 in the second half, a familiar trend that keeps occurring. Through six games and a 1-5 start, Arizona has been outscored 98-30 in the final two quarters overall after usually playing well or above average in the first half of games.
“No, I wouldn’t say ‘mad.’ I would say that we’ve got to do a better job making sure that we’re executing at a high level, know exactly what we’re trying to get on calls and when they punch us, we’ve got to punch back a little bit,” Gannon said when asked if Sunday’s second-half display made him mad.
“They beat us in the second half, they made some plays and executed, and that’s kind of the ballgame.”
A big difference, of course, was how the Rams discovered a running game after only rushing for five yards in the first two quarters. They finished the game with 179 total rushing yards, led by Kyren Williams rumbling for 158 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries.
The Cardinals’ defense couldn’t slow him down until he finally left the game with an ankle injury late. Gannon, though, remained upbeat that his team will bounce back and recover and yes, start punching back.
“Yeah, I think it starts with me first,” he said, “but we’ve got the guys in the locker room to do it, I know that. I don’t question their toughness or effort. It’s just got to come down to the details of what we’re doing, and we’ve got to make a couple more plays here and there.”
Offensively, there were at least two particular plays that could have swung the game in Arizona’s favor and perhaps altered the final outcome. Both of them involved deep pass plays from Josh Dobbs to Marquise “Hollywood” Brown.
The first happened during Arizona’s opening drive of the game when Dobbs’ pass down the right sideline was just a tad short as Brown was near the end zone and Ahkello Witherspoon had just enough time to break up the completion. The Cardinals settled for the first of three Matt Prater field goals.
In the second quarter, while going for it on fourth and 5 from the Rams’ 40, Dobbs tried air-mailing another deep pass to Brown down the right sideline. This time, Brown caught it, but he was clearly out of bounds and the pass took him that way. Arizona lost possession and another chance to add points.
There were some other misconnections, like an ill-fated interception that was thrown behind tight end Zach Ertz, and later, a sack of Dobbs that led to a lost fumble that really sealed things. But it was the Cardinals’ lack of execution on some pass plays and their failure to capitalize in the red zone that hurt them just as much as their defense getting torched in the second half.
“We wished we would have finished in the red zone. That’s what the game ultimately came down to,” said Dobbs, who was 21 of 41 for 235 yards. “You look at our red zone drives, man, and we settled for three fields and then a costly mistake … and in the end that’s what it comes down.
“It’s tough. It sticks. Especially when we controlled the game in the first quarter. … We did some things well, so there are some things to build on, but just two or three plays, you don’t convert on a couple third downs and settle for field goals and turn over the ball in the red zone. That’s what the game comes down to.”
In review:
What went right
The Cardinals ran the ball well in the first half: Everyone wondered how the rushing attack would look with No.1 back James Conner on injured reserve with a knee problem. But Arizona responded better than expected with 103 rushing yards on 24 attempts through the first two quarters. Dobbs led the way with 37 yards on five rushes. Keaontay Ingram, back in the lineup after missing two games with a neck issue, had 36 yards on nine carries. And Damien Williams, acquired two weeks ago, added 29 yards on seven rushes.
Arizona had some timely stops early in the backfield: The Cardinals had three sacks, five tackles for losses and during the first half, held the Rams to just five rushing yards overall on three carries. Victor Dimukeje, Kyzir White and Kevin Strong each brought down Matthew Stafford on some key possessions, but he eventually found a way to burn Arizona in the end.
Matt Prater remains reliable: The veteran kicker made all three of his field goal attempts, including one from 55 yards on Arizona’s opening drive. The Cardinals wanted touchdowns, of course, but when they need three points, Prater keeps delivering and for years now, he’s been almost automatic from 50 yards and longer.
What went wrong
The secondary was tested and torched: After holding the Rams to just three points during the first 29 minutes of the game, Stafford and his receivers got to work against Marco Wilson, Antonio Hamilton and rookie Kei’Trel Clark. Stafford hit Cooper Kupp (seven catches, 148 yards and a touchdown) for a 49-yard strike near the end of the first half that led to a field goal. There was a 30-yard completion to Tutu Atwell that led to another field goal and a 13-yard touchdown throw to Kupp that gave the Rams the lead for good.
Where was the second-half run defense?: Williams was a beast during the final two quarters, especially on the Rams’ first possession of the second half when he carried nine times for 62 yards. Williams’ 4-yard TD run midway through the fourth quarter resulted in a fourth straight scoring possession for Los Angeles, who would make it five in a row with a fourth field goal from Brett Maher.
There’s still something missing between Dobbs and Zach Ertz: Arizona’s veteran tight end was targeted five times but only caught two passes for 22 yards. The connection really hasn’t been there much at all through six games and it was supposed to be one of the real strengths of the offense. For whatever reason, the completions and big plays haven’t developed.
What to watch this week
Cornerback Antonio Hamilton suffered a groin injury during the fourth quarter and did not return. Gannon had no immediate update on his status afterward.
Safety Budda Baker (hamstring) is eligible to return to practice as early as Monday if the Cardinals allow it. He’s already missed five games, including the four mandatory weeks while officially on injured reserve. Fellow starting safety Jalen Thompson missed Sunday’s game against the Rams with a hamstring issue he suffered last week against the Bengals.
If they both make it back this week and are able to play against the Seahawks in Seattle on Sunday, the back end of the Cardinals’ defense will receive a huge lift. Baker and Thompson are among the best at their positions, and they bring energy, aggression, and accountability to the Arizona defense.
Also, keep your eyes and ears open for any news involving quarterback Kyler Murray. The days are counting down as to when the Cardinals will open his practice window and Gannon has said publicly he expects to see Murray playing a good chunk of football at some point this season.
The question is how much practice time will Murray need to get fully back up to speed as his continues to work his way back from ACL surgery on his right knee?
The grades
Offense (C): Arizona finished with 345 yards, which isn’t bad at all. But a good chunk of that came early in the game and then late after the Rams had basically sealed things. Two more turnovers by Dobbs on a pick and a lost fumble were once again big negatives and protecting the football must continue to be a primary focus moving forward.
Defense (D): The Cardinals couldn’t stop the run game in the second half, and they allowed six plays of 20 or more yards. Holding Stafford to one touchdown pass was encouraging, but he found Kupp enough times in the right moments to swing the game and it’s clear Arizona is missing its two stars safeties in Baker and Thompson.
Special teams (A): In addition to Prater being perfect on his three field goals, this unit also forced and recovered a fumble on punt return coverage as Joey Blount knocked the ball loose from Austin Trammell and Bobby Price, elevated from the practice squad a day earlier, pounced on it, which led to a field goal.
Personnel notes
Rookie running back Emari Demercado only had two carries for 11 yards in his return to his hometown, which surely must have been a disappointment for the undrafted free agent. After doing what he did last week when Conner went down, it was expected that he would see more work than he got against the Rams.
Sunday’s game featured the only two kickers in NFL history who have at least three made field goals of 62 yards or longer in their career — Prater of the Cardinals and Maher of the Rams. Prater had a 62-yarder three weeks ago in a win over the Cowboys.
Prater hit a 55-yard field goal in the first quarter for a 3-0 lead, extending his own record for most field goals made in a career to 74.
Prater’s nine points overall on Sunday gave him 1,717 in his career, moving him ahead of Nick Lowery (1,711) and into 18th place on the NFL’s all-time scoring list.
Cardinals outside linebacker Cameron Thomas got a chance to visit with his older brother of 21 months, Zach, a backup tackle for the Rams. They are the 24th set of brothers on NFL rosters in 2023 and two years ago during the 2021 draft, they became just the fifth set of brothers ever to be selected in the same draft.
Wide receiver Hollywood Brown (illness) and defensive lineman Jonathan Ledbetter (finger) were each in the lineup after missing time in practice last week.
He said it: “Come back and compete tomorrow.” —Gannon on his message to his team after the loss.
Up next
The Cardinals meet an NFC West rival for the third time in four weeks on Sunday when they travel to Seattle face the Seahawks at Lumen Field. Kickoff is 1:05 p.m. The Seahawks own a 25-22-1 lead in the all-time series and have won each of the last three meetings, but only by a combined score of 78-70.
Seattle (3-2) fell to Cincinnati on Sunday, 17-13.
Reach McManaman at bob.mcmanaman@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @azbobbymac and listen to him live every Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. with Roc and Manuch on Fox Sports 910-AM.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Cardinals got punched in mouth by Rams, Gannon says they need to punch back
