Cardinals at Eagles
When: 10 a.m.
Where: Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia. TV: Ch. 10.
Inside: Cardinals need to run the ball to fix the offense.
PHILADELPHIA – If last week was a must-win, then this week is a must-prove for the Arizona Cardinals.
The team got past the winless San Francisco 49ers after coach Bruce Arians told his players it was a game they had to have, showing an ability to beat bad teams at home.
But the offense looked shakier than a kindergartner on his first two-wheeler — especially in the red zone … and in the run game … and in pass protection … and … you get the point.
The Cards (2-2) face a much stiffer test on the road Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles (3-1), in a matchup that B.A.’s bunch can use to prove it’s among the NFC’s best.
Judging from the comments out of the team’s Tempe training facility this week, everyone knows exactly what the problems are — and I think the solution involves a risky mix of running the ball and going no-huddle.
“We’ve got to do a better job on offense,” said Harold Goodwin, the Cardinals' offensive coordinator. “We’ve got to be more consistent. You guys know about the protection issues. We still are trying to get them fixed, and the run game.”
Quarterback Carson Palmer said the Eagles boast “maybe the best front seven we’ve played thus far.”
Arians, meanwhile, said the Philly defense is “extremely well-coached” and that the ends are known for “getting off every play and rushing the passer. It’s a huge challenge.”
If the Cardinals find a way to win, it would be their most impressive victory of the season. The two teams they’ve defeated, Indianapolis and San Francisco, have a combined 1-7 record. And in each game, Arizona needed overtime to get it done because the offense was as effective as the study habits of a D student.
Pick your problem. In the red zone, the offense — which Larry Fitzgerald acknowledged was busted last week, saying “we’ve got to fix it fast” — hasn’t produced. In 15 possessions inside their opponents’ 20, the Cardinals have just four touchdowns, only one of which has come on the ground.
“When we’re not running the ball in the red zone, that’s a problem,” Goodwin said. “It’s about finishing.”
The run game has been worse than a road trip without coffee. The Cardinals are second-to-last in rushing yards and last in yards per carry and yards per game. There are 15 backs who have more running yards individually than the Cardinals have as a team.
“Being where we are in rushing in the league is unacceptable,” Goodwin said.
The pass protection has been just as bad. The patchwork offensive line has allowed 17 sacks for 113 yards lost, both league highs. The line also has given up a league-worst 43 hits on Palmer. The Browns have allowed 34 hits but have played two young quarterbacks who haven’t taken years of abuse. Kevin Hogan was 10 when Palmer was a rookie. DeShone Kizer was 7. Palmer hasn’t complained, or maybe we just can’t hear him over the creaking of his joints.
“I feel great,” he said this week. “Today is Wednesday, so I’d have had a different answer on Monday, but I feel great.”
Blaming the O-line, which is missing D.J. Humphries and Mike Iupati, is unfair and unproductive. Show me anything that gets better after you remove two-fifths of it. (OK, maybe one of my columns, but I digress.)
Fixing the red zone, run game and pass protection won’t come down to reducing the game to a parking lot brawl, as Goodwin suggested last week. And it will take more than “execution,” as he and several players suggested this week.
The fix, I think, will come from a mix of pounding the run and upping the pace.
If it sounds counter-intuitive to highlight a weakness, consider what Arians had to say.
“For me,” Arians said, to improve the run game, “you run it more, probably.”
It’s generally easier to run block than pass block, especially for linemen playing out of position or learning a scheme. Thanks to injuries, the Cardinals have both. Pass blocking requires players to think and react. Run blocking allows them to act and attack.
Seeking consistency on the ground will simplify the game and allow players to rely on toughness, as Goodwin called for. It’ll also help keep Palmer upright.
“If the running game comes alive,” Goodwin said, “the whole offense can come more alive.”
It’s risky because the ground attack has been so bad. It’s a chance Arians knows he has to take. “Once we start having negative runs,” he said, “I have a tendency to get away from it, and I have to fight that as a play-caller.”
Arians should play faster in spots. The two-minute drill worked in overtime against the 49ers, springing Fitzgerald for the game’s only touchdown.
Eagles coach Doug Pederson talked about the effect it has on a defense.
“It limits you from a call perspective,” he said. “If a team can run a little tempo, you get a little vanilla on defense and just play your base defense. … It’s hard to defend, quite honestly.”
Palmer likes going no-huddle: “It just puts stress on the defense. Defensive linemen get tired. The pass rush slows down a little bit. … I like those things about it.”
But there’s a risk.
“I’ve seen it go three-and-out a bunch, too,” Palmer said.
The Cardinals are going to have to embrace these gambles.
They’ve got to prove they can beat the best if they want to contend for a playoff spot.