Red-zone woes hurting both offense, defense
There are couple of handfuls’ worth of reasons the Cardinals have lost two of their first three games for the second consecutive year, including injuries, inconsistency at quarterback, poor blocking and assignment errors on defense.
Nowhere are the errors more apparent than in the red zone – the area between the 20-yard lines and the end zone.
The Cardinals have had the ball in that situation 11 times in three games and scored three touchdowns, a success rate of 27 percent.
In the past two games, they scored one touchdown in seven red-zone opportunities.
Opponents have had eight such possessions and scored seven touchdowns, a success rate of 87.5 percent.
“We spent so much time on it, it’s kind of disappointing,” coach Bruce Arians said. “We’ve got to run the ball better, for sure. Defensively, we’ve got to stop the run better, and it is usually after a big play. We’ve got to play better defense after a big play put us down there.”
One reason the Cardinals have struggled to score in the red zone the past two weeks is the absence of running back David Johnson. He suffered a dislocated wrist in the first game and is on injured reserve until at least early November.
Last year, Johnson led the NFL and set a franchise record with 20 touchdowns. Seventeen of those were from distances of 18 yards or fewer.
As Arians said, the Cardinals spent extra time practicing red-zone plays this offseason, but Johnson was healthy then.
“He was obviously a monster down there in the red zone because he caught a bunch of touchdowns, and he ran in a bunch of touchdowns,” quarterback Carson Palmer said. “He’s irreplaceable. No matter what team he’s on, if he gets injured, he’s irreplaceable.
“So, you go into the season with a ton of stuff built around him, and as soon as you lose him, you’ve got to change some things. Like I said, we’re still working on execution. We’re going to continue to do that as the season goes on without Dave.”
Offensive linemen know they’re not blocking well enough. Right guard Evan Boehm said the Cardinals can’t blame their problems on Johnson’s absence.
“Look over here to your right,” he said in the locker room on Wednesday. “There are a bunch of running backs that are good enough to do it. It’s the guys back behind me (offensive linemen), we have to go out and protect better. It’s time to put it on the offensive linemen. We’ve got to go out and finish our blocks and win our one-on-one battles.”
In the past two games, penalties contributed to two red-zone failures, including a holding call that nullified a touchdown Monday night against the Cowboys.
The run blocking has been poor in the red zone and everywhere else; the Cardinals are averaging just 2.8 yards per carry.
Passing hasn’t worked, either. In three games, Palmer is 11 of 26 for two touchdowns in the red zone, according to profootballreference.com.
“The way we’re getting played, a lot of the times, everybody’s decided to sell the ranch to stop the run,” Arians said. “You’ve got to throw it, and we’re not doing a very good job of that.”
Arians, who calls plays, accepted blame, too, saying the Cardinals have used too many run-pass options (RPOs) in the red zone. Palmer has the ability to adjust those plays just after the snap, and too often the Cardinals aren’t gaining enough yardage when he attempts quick passes to receivers.
“It’s never one thing, but just execution,” Palmer said.