Cards romp with takeaways
Defense forces eight turnovers in third straight preseason victory
ARLINGTON, Texas – Every week since the preseason began, there’s been at least one glaring red flag that has stood out and annoyed Cardinals coach Steve Wilks to no end.
In the opener against the Chargers, it was the sluggish and uneven performance by the second-string offense, particularly the front five linemen. Last week against the Saints, it was the defense’s inability to stop the run because, in large part, so many players failed to stay in their gaps.
So which unit would draw Wilks’ wrath Sunday night at AT&T Stadium against the Cowboys?
Wilks could nitpick about four first-half dropped passes and two holding penalties on left guard Mike
Iupati. He could moan about his team’s lack of production on third-down conversions (2 for 13) and the fact Phil Dawson missed another field goal, although it was a 55-yard attempt.
There were half a dozen other little things he could complain about, but when you have eight takeaways in a game, giving you a league-leading and eye-popping 16 in just three games, and you beat the Cowboys 27-3 without playing your top two stars on offense, not a lot of people are going to listen to you rant.
“I’m very excited about the outcome, of course,” Wilks said. “I’m excited about how we bounced back on defense and stopping the run and I’m excited about how we ran the ball on offense. You talk about the magic number -- we want to rush for over 100 yards and we want to keep our opponent under 100 yards.
“And I can’t say enough about the eight takeaways.”
Despite pulling starting quarterback Sam Bradford after just two series and not using rookie quarterback Josh Rosen at all for fear it could put his sore right thumb in jeopardy, the Cardinals easily improved to 3-0 this preseason by relying mostly on what is becoming a frenetic turnover-making machine.
After forcing four turnovers in each of their first two wins against the Chargers and Saints, the Cardinals added five more in just the first half alone. Two of them directly resulted in first-quarter touchdowns, as rookie Trent Sherfield recovered Lance Lenoir Jr.’s second muffed punt in the end zone for one score, and cornerback Patrick Peterson jumped a route and picked off a Cooper Rush pass to Tavon Austin for a highstepping, 30-yard return for another score.
“It’s always a pleasure, first of all to get an interception, but to score with it as well, uncontested,” Peterson said. “Those are the ones you dream of. Those are the ones you always think about when you go to bed as a kid.”
Skeptics will yawn that this was only a preseason game and that the Cowboys, missing three starting offensive linemen, didn’t play quarterback Dak Prescott or running back Ezekiel Elliott for that very reason. The Cardinals, though, chose to sit running back David Johnson and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald.
Wilks had said in the days leading up to Sunday’s game that he saw value in playing all his starters in this game and that, unlike some teams, his players needed the reps because of the new coaching staff and new systems on both offense and defense. Instead, he wouldn’t let Johnson or Fitzgerald get a sniff of the field. And after watching Bradford take two hits, his night was over after completing 1 of 4 passes for six yards.
“Number 1, I think we had seen enough of those guys throughout preseason,” Wilks said. “Larry’s a leader of this team and a guy we’re counting on. Of course, the same with David.”
The Cardinals out-rushed the Cowboys 146 yards to 52, with T.J Logan leading the way for Arizona with 86 yards on just six carries.
As for Bradford, he was fine, but Wilks felt he didn’t need to see anything else out of the nine-year veteran. Bradford had two passes dropped during his brief batch of work, one by J.J. Nelson and another by tight end Ricky SealsJones.
Two players got hurt on Sunday, as the Cardinals lost third-string running back D.J. Foster to a knee injury in the first quarter and third-string defensive end Arthur Moats to a knee injury in the fourth quarter. Wilks said they will be examined again upon returning to the Valley.
With Bradford out early, the Cardinals got their longest look yet at Mike Glennon. He completed 8 of 10 passes, but they only went for 35 yards. Two receivers, rookie Christian Kirk and Brice Butler, dropped passes they should have probably had.
As for the tornado of turnovers, everybody seemed to get in on the act. Dennis Gordeck jumped on Lenoir’s first muffed punt and recovered it. Peterson caused a fumble by running back Rod Smith and linebacker Josh Bynes recovered it. Safety Budda Baker intercepted a Rush pass in the end zone for Arizona’s fifth turnover of the first half.
“Man, it’s a testament to the coaches coaching and the players taking it onto the field on game day,” Baker said. “But yeah, 16 turnovers, that’s a great positive.”
Following a 59-yard touchdown run by Logan early in the second half, the Cardinals got their other three turnovers when Gerald Hodges forced a fumble and Rudy Ford pounced on it, Cap Capi forced and recovered a fumble, and safety Travell Dixon intercepted a pass from Mike White.
That last turnover led to rookie kicker Matt McCrane closing out the Cardinals’ scoring with a 54-yard field goal with 1:51 left to play. It was McCrane’s second field goal of the preseason. He is now 2 for 2 on field-goal attempts and his other kick was good from 53 yards last week in New Orleans.
Logan said the offensive line and fullback Elijhaa Penny did a great job blocking for him on his TD run. The call was one of his favorite plays, he said, adding when he gets in open spaces like that, he usually doesn’t think anyone will catch him
“I stumbled a little bit and I wasn’t able to look up and see the scoreboard or the guy behind me, so I figured I’ve got to press and make the move,” Logan said.