Points Allowed

[Longcolts]

Here's what I think might be a good question. I believe the Cards are 31st in points allowed so far this season. Which Defense are we in your opinion? The team that gave up 56 points in our 3 wins, or the Defense that gave up 86 points in our two loses?

 

[Seandonic]

BOTH, and they both suck. Improvement is a must, especially in the pass rush department.
Many people on this board say that the outside linebackers are being miss-used and I agree. Haggans should come out on some passing downs and Porter should ONLY play on passing downs. However, with so few OLB's on the roster, what's to be expected? These old guys are being forced to play in situations that don't suit there limited skills.
I believe that the biggest problem on this team is the O-line but at least there is some talent there and a hope for improvement throughout the year as they jell and grow as a unit.
In the case of the outside pass rush I really don't see any chance of improvement until new personnel is brought in through free agency or the draft. S. Merriman will be available at some point but he is an iffy prospect at best and most likely not "in the Cards." There is also O'brien Schofield but he is an unproven commodity.
During the off-season I was hoping that the Cards base D would have Haggans and W. Davis as the starters and Porter and C. Brown/S. Baggs as the pass rush specialist. Now two of those players are not even on the team and Davis is invisible albeit on special teams. Boy, was I naive.
All this team can hope for at this point is that M. Hall IS the answer at QB and can keep this team in games early and not have too many three and outs, thus wearing out the defense.
As usual this defense will rely on the right schemes and exotic blitz packages to be called to survive. Here's hoping they do just that.

 

[Duckjake]

This is our defense:

Opportunistic ie can force turnovers and surprisingly tough in the Red Zone. Otherwise they can't stop anybody who doesn't stop themselves.

 

[Mulli]

The trick is to score more points than you allow.

 

[Duckjake]

The trick is to score more points than you allow.

If we had a defense like the Ravens' the year they won the Super Bowl maybe our defense could score more points than they allow. But we don't.

EDIT: If you give the D credit for Levi Brown's TD because the D got the ball for the Offense inside the Saints 5 yard line they did outscore the Saints. 21-20.

 

[Brighteyes]

They got killed on the Atlanta and Charger game. The Saints game the D played great.

So is the Defense that handled the Saints so well the D we'll see the rest of the season -- or is that other, horrible D going to make another appearance?

 

[Duckjake]

They got killed on the Atlanta and Charger game. The Saints game the D played great.

So is the Defense that handled the Saints so well the D we'll see the rest of the season -- or is that other, horrible D going to make another appearance?

They did against the Saints what the Cards defense does when they have a good game. Made the most of turnovers and played tough in the redzone. That defense shows up every week. The difference is that the Rams and Saints had 4 turnovers each, Oakland stopped themselves, Atlanta and San Diego did neither.

 

[Catfish]

I believe it depends on whether this defense is inspired enough to play on any given day. When they play with inspiration like they did against the Saints, they do well. When not inspired, they lay down like they did against the Falcons.

Max seemed to inspire them to play hard, (and have fun), against the Saints. We will see if he can get the same effort from the defense, (and the offense), on the road against Seattle. Any game he can do that, we have a chance to win. I won't hurt to have Gerald Hayes back for linebacker help inside. We need to hope that we soon are able to get the other outside backer off the PUP list (or whatever list he is on), to provide help with the pass rush.

 

[jf-08]

If a team can run against us, we are smoked.

 

[CardLogic]

Here's what I think might be a good question. I believe the Cards are 31st in points allowed so far this season. Which Defense are we in your opinion? The team that gave up 56 points in our 3 wins, or the Defense that gave up 86 points in our two loses?

To run the 3-4 it is necessary to have a solid NT and outstanding OLB's. This team has neither.

 

[Mulli]

If a team can run against us, we are smoked.

If teams score more than we do, we are toast.

 

[TheHopToad]

We can't beat good teams on the road. A lot of teams have that problem. The Cards don't seem to be motivated or lack confidence, so they give up early in those games, at least the defense appears to. They play better at home and better on the road against lesser opponents.

The good news is that following that pattern, we only have one more game on the road against a potentially powerful offense--at Minnesota, and even that game could look favorable given the recent issues they've had.

Games at Seattle and Kansas City will be tough because of their crowd, special teams' play, and in KC's case, their good defense, but I don't expect either of those teams to put a lot of points on the board, especially not in the 40+ range.

The schedule from here on out looks pretty favorable to the Cardinals. Majority home games and the road games left are manageable--got the toughest ones out of the way already. And we go into the post bye part of the season at 3-2. Better than most of our expectations.

 

[ajcardfan]

The defense has had two terrible games, two above average games and one average game. By my math, we are a below average defense right now. We have to force multiple turnovers to be effective at all.

 

[40yearfan]

Our defense is the NFL's version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Will the good Dr. Jekyll show up in Seattle or will the ugly Mr. Hyde show up? Only the Shadow knows.

 

[TheHopToad]

Our defense is the NFL's version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Will the good Dr. Jekyll show up in Seattle or will the ugly Mr. Hyde show up? Only the Shadow knows.

The good defense should show up. Frankly, Seattle’s offense is not very good.

In their first game against the 49ers, they had 4 touchdowns. Only the first one was a result of a drive started in their own territory (36 yard line). Their second TD was after an INT brought back to the SF 13. Their third TD was a pick six. Their fourth TD was after a punt return brought back to the 40 and a 15 yard SF penalty added on. Their only other score was a FG with 2:24 left in the game.

In their second game at Denver, they were shut out in the first half and only scored two second half TDs in a 31-14 loss. Their first TD drive started at the Broncos 22 after a 63 yard punt return. Down 31-7, they did manage an 80 yard drive to score with 5:59 left in the game.

In their third game, they scored three touchdowns in a victory against San Diego. The first TD drive started at the Charger 39 yard line after a long punt return and SD penalty. Their other two TDs were both kickoffs run back by Leon Washington. They also managed two field goals.

In their last game, they managed a lone field goal and lost 20-3 to the Rams.

The key will be special teams. If we can manage to contain their return men, and not allow good starting field position, we should be able to shut down their offense rather easily. Likewise, Max can’t throw picks that also give them field position. Win TOP and make them drive the whole field and the game is ours.

 

[Duckjake]

If teams score more than we do, we are toast.

'
Toast is in Houston. He's gone get over it.

 

[Mulli]

'
Toast is in Houston. He's gone get over it.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Our defense is the NFL's version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Will the good Dr. Jekyll show up in Seattle or will the ugly Mr. Hyde show up? Only the Shadow knows.

I think it's more like Undergrad Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Even the "good D" has quite a ways to go.

Steve

 

[Catfish]

If a team can run against us, we are smoked.

That's true jf------but we can change the dynamic on that by replacing our nose tackle with Watson starting instead of Robinson. He is stronger, younger, more fit, and almost as heady as Robinson, plus he is built much closer to the ground. Williams could get spot play to relieve him, and when these two are playing the nose, nobody runs on us. We saw that again in the Saints game, when Watson and Williams were swapping at the nose, and Branch played DE instead of a taller thinner Campbell. That needs to happen instead of Robinson when we are facing a team that tries to run on us.

 

[Mulli]

That's true jf------but we can change the dynamic on that by replacing our nose tackle with Watson starting instead of Robinson. He is stronger, younger, more fit, and almost as heady as Robinson, plus he is built much closer to the ground. Williams could get spot play to relieve him, and when these two are playing the nose, nobody runs on us. We saw that again in the Saints game, when Watson and Williams were swapping at the nose, and Branch played DE instead of a taller thinner Campbell. That needs to happen instead of Robinson when we are facing a team that tries to run on us.

Agree.

 

[mojorizen7]

2cents
Having an offense that can stay on the field helps too.
IMO AZ's defense is much better than what we've seen over the last several weeks. Your offense is the problem.

Your 3rd down conversion % on offense is 29.5.....that's bad.
Your T.O.P. numbers are horrific. 26 min vs 34 min(opponent)....that always equates to your defense getting worn out.

IMO your defense hasn't fallen off a cliff this season....

Learn to run the football until you can get a QB in the offseason.

 

[Cardiac]

2cents
Having an offense that can stay on the field helps too.
IMO AZ's defense is much better than what we've seen over the last several weeks. Your offense is the problem.

Your 3rd down conversion % on offense is 29.5.....that's bad.
Your T.O.P. numbers are horrific. 26 min vs 34 min(opponent)....that always equates to your defense getting worn out.

IMO your defense hasn't fallen off a cliff this season....

Learn to run the football until you can get a QB in the offseason.

Over simplification IMHO. Our D also has a horrible 3rd down stop conversion %. We need our D to get the ball back to the Offense so they get some chances to gel and not be behind by a ton and forced to play catch up which basically takes the run game away.

Against the Falcons and Chargers the biggest culprit was the D. In the Cards 3 wins the D played well to pretty good with the O mostly sputtering. Special teams also played great against the Rams and Saints.

To your point the only unit that has been consistent is the Offense, they have stunk it up pretty much every game.

 

[Duckjake]

2cents
Having an offense that can stay on the field helps too.
IMO AZ's defense is much better than what we've seen over the last several weeks. Your offense is the problem.

Your 3rd down conversion % on offense is 29.5.....that's bad.
Your T.O.P. numbers are horrific. 26 min vs 34 min(opponent)....that always equates to your defense getting worn out.

IMO your defense hasn't fallen off a cliff this season....

Learn to run the football until you can get a QB in the offseason.

No it hasn't. It is the same defense we've had for the last two years and in some respects for the last 4 or 5. They simply cannot stop any offense with a pulse without forcing turnovers. They manage that just enough where people think we have a jekyll and hyde defense when in actuality they play the same every week.

However, this season we are seeing some improvement in both tackling and coverage from the secondary.

Oh and we have a QB. Max Hall. But who knows how long the Cards will be able to keep him off IR.

 

[AzStevenCal]

No it hasn't. It is the same defense we've had for the last two years and in some respects for the last 4 or 5. They simply cannot stop any offense with a pulse without forcing turnovers. They manage that just enough where people think we have a jekyll and hyde defense when in actuality they play the same every week.

However, this season we are seeing some improvement in both tackling and coverage from the secondary.

Oh and we have a QB. Max Hall. But who knows how long the Cards will be able to keep him off IR.

After last week I'm not all that concerned about keeping him off of IR. Now I'm worried about keeping out of the intensive care unit.

Steve