Cardinals must rely on defense
Until offense arrives, creating turnovers is key to success
After a healthy team stretching segment performed with some soulful tunes blaring from a nearby loudspeaker to get them in the groove, the Cardinals begin each practice on defense by running their players through a series of specifically designed takeaway drills.
“Reach, reach, reach!” linebackers coach Larry Foote shouts on a daily basis.
While Foote’s linebackers are busy swiping at the vinyl arms of tackling dummies, reaching to strip in-
visible footballs, defensive line coach Don Johnson has his tackles and ends taking turns diving at an overstuffed simulated quarterback, reaching to bat down real footballs and then gobbling them up. Defensive backs have their own versions of drills, and they are all aimed at creating turnovers and swarming to the ball.
“Oh yeah, whether it’s our defensive coordinator, coach Al (Holcomb), Footie or coach (Steve) Wilks, they’re always preaching ‘reach, reach, reach,’ ” Cardinals linebacker Haason Reddick said. “It’s always ‘six inches,’ we say, and reaching is a big part of that. That’s how we do it.”
That’s how Reddick did it on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium when he made the biggest takeaway on an afternoon when the Cardinals produced five of them. With his team holding a slim, 14-12 lead over the 49ers and less than five minutes left to play, Reddick went full practice-recall mode and made his way toward San Francisco quarterback C.J. Beathard.
As Beathard looked downfield ready to throw to try to pick up a first down, Reddick reached and strip-sacked the quarterback for an 8-yard loss. The football came loose, and fellow linebacker Josh Bynes scooped it up and rumbled 23 yards for a touchdown, essentially sealing the Cardinals’ first victory of the season.
Cornerback Bene Benwikere intercepted Beathard less than a minute later for good measure and David Johnson’s second rushing touchdown put the game away.
“We did it just like we practiced it,” Reddick said. “I went in there and was able to reach and get the strip, and we finished it up with another turnover, which was awesome to see. It was excellent, man. We got a lot of turnovers, gave the offense opportunities to score, and that’s what we were doing in the preseason.
“It’s what we were hoping to do to start the regular season but for whatever reason, we couldn’t get as many as we probably should have. Hopefully, it’s here now. Hopefully, we keep it going, keep getting these turnovers and keep being the defense that we know we can be.”
The Cardinals led the NFL with 17 takeaways during the preseason but only produced four of them during their first four games. Given the state of their inconsistent offense, which has lacked both creativity and not nearly enough big plays to flip a game in their favor, the Cardinals better hope Reddick is right and the takeaways keep coming in bunches.
That’s really the only reason they were able to beat the 49ers, who dominated the game in every other facet. It figures to also be the only way they’ll have any shot at all this Sunday in Minnesota against the Vikings (2-2-1). Until Josh Rosen and David Johnson get things fully on track under offensive coordinator Mike McCoy, the Cardinals have to rely on their defense.
That was part of the plan all along, even with Sam Bradford under center. While it’s true the team expected much more out of Johnson and the run game, the Cardinals knew they were returning the core group of a defense that averaged a top-five ranking over each of the past three years. All those takeaways during the preseason were supposed to cement that fact.
“We definitely feel like we should have been able to win the last two games before this win,” Bynes said. “Defensively, we thought we did the job. It’s unfortunate we didn’t get those two wins, but we’ll take this one and see if we can build on it moving forward.”
Defensive end Chandler Jones had his most productive game of the season with six tackles, a sack, two tackles for loss, two quarterback hits, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a key batteddown pass on a two-point conversion try. He said the Cardinals should be able to replicate multiple-takeaway games like Sunday’s because of the playmakers they have throughout the defense.
Once one of them creates a turnover, he said, it’s up to the next man to deliver and so on.
“Contagious is the word. That’s the word you want to use,” Jones said. “Being one of the leaders of this defense, I try to spread that. And it can spread like wildfire. When you make plays, it spreads some of that positive energy so it definitely is contagious.”
If the Cardinals need to rely on Jones being the ringleader of the turnover brigade, that’s just fine with Wilks, even though he has plenty of defensive game-changers in players such as Patrick Peterson, Tre Boston, Budda Baker, Antoine Bethea, Markus Golden and when he’s healthy, Robert Nkemdiche.
“I’ll always envision Chandler playing that way,” Wilks said. “That’s the ability that he has, being a Pro Bowl player. He and I have talked from Day 1 when I first got here and how I saw him as a big-time player and a differencemaker out there. That’s what he played like (on Sunday).
“It really wasn’t the call. It was all him just going out there, dominating the tackle, making plays, a sack-fumble, PBUs (pass breakups), you name it. I’m excited to see where he is right now. Hopefully, he can continue on this path.”
It starts every day in practice with everyone shouting, “Reach, reach, reach!”
By reaching and putting the emphasis on trying to strip and knock the ball away instead of just barreling over the quarterback, the Cardinals are accomplishing two key elements. They’re creating turnovers and not getting flagged for roughing the passer, which is especially important this day and age when officials can’t seem to throw a flag fast enough.
“It’s something we definitely corrected the last three weeks when we start talking about really trying to make more plays on the ball,” Wilks agreed. “It’s more ‘tackle the ball’ and not really the quarterback so we can try to avoid that penalty.”
Extra point
According to Todd Archer of ESPN .com, the Cowboys are signing safety Darian Thompson off the Cardinals’ practice squad.