Cards’ O-line helps Johnson improve
Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks sat down, addressed an injury, and then jumped straight to reiterating his main message: Improvements aren’t enough when they don’t come with a win.
“As I mentioned yesterday, and I still feel the same way, there are no moral victories in this game,” Wilks said on Monday.
The Cardinals did show signs of improvement in their 26-14 loss at Kansas City, and they’re looking to build on those moving forward. But they’ll need additional improvements out of their offensive line if they want to address questions about actual wins instead of moral victories.
Quarterback Josh Rosen was sacked five times and hit 13 times total on Sunday. The five sacks led to 42 lost yards and a fumble.
Injuries were a factor once again, as the Cardinals played almost half the game without either of their starting guards. Left guard Mike Iupati was inactive, a late scratch for his back. Right guard Justin Pugh exited early with a left knee injury.
On Monday, Wilks said that he was still waiting on MRI results from athletic trainers on Pugh. Either way, the Cardinals will need added effort from the linemen playing if they want to keep Rosen on his feet.
“It’s tough because you look at it right now, and who are you going to get?” Wilks said. “I think we’ve just got to be a little bit more creative on the offensive side of the ball in how we protect, giving Josh (Rosen) an opportunity to go through his progression, whether that’s six- or seven-man protection and leaving guys in.”
When talking about the struggles of the offensive line, Wilks centered on pass protection, since that same offensive line helped David Johnson in a number of ways. Johnson had his best game of the year, gaining 98 yards on the ground on 21 carries and tacking on 85 receiving yards.
Johnson had both of the team’s touchdowns. On the opening drive in which the Cardinals went 75 yards in 12 plays, Johnson was involved on eight of those. He said it felt more like his 2016 season, and the team could feel what a difference that makes.
“Just having that running game, getting that running game going really helps,” rookie center Mason Cole said. “It takes the pressure off the offensive line. (When) we get successful runs on first and second downs, it keeps us in third and manageable.”
The pressure increased on the offensive line late in the game, when the Cardinals tried to put together a comeback. Cognizant of the fact that Rosen would be taking to the air more, the Chiefs defense capitalized on that.
Three of their five sacks came on the same drive, late in the fourth quarter.
With 3:23 left in the game, Allen Bailey sacked Rosen for a loss of 8, moving the Cardinals back into a third-and-28 situation. After an incomplete pass to Ricky Seals-Jones, Rosen was sacked again on fourth and 28, this time by Dee Ford, giving the Chiefs the ball back once more.
“Anytime you get in a situation like that where there’s a few minutes left in the game, you’re down two (scores) and they’re looking at you like you’re going to throw the ball, it’s tough,” Cole said. “Those guys get paid a lot of money to rush the passer. But we’ve still got to do a better job at it, and we’ve got to keep ourselves out of those situations.”
Overall, the Chiefs pressured Rosen on 54.5 percent of dropbacks, the highest pressure rate by a team in any game this season, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. With the emphasis shifting to rush Rosen, Wilks wasn’t surprised that the offensive line helped Johnson will also allowing the second-most sacks this season.
“I’m not really surprised, no. I think we have to be more consistent,” Wilks said. “That was a good defense. Particularly late in the game based off the climate of the game, they knew we were in a two-minute mode, so they were coming after the quarterback.
“We just have to do a better job of winning our one-on-ones. We have to do a much better job of leaving guys in and trying to go six and seven-man protection to help Josh (Rosen).”
Rosen said he felt physically fine after getting hit so many times. But the problems were more widespread.
Andre Smith was flagged for holding three times. Two were declined, but the flags brought up third and 18, fourth and 33, and fourth and 20.
Rosen put the blame on himself for an interception on a screen play, but it didn’t help that the pocket was collapsing and that Justin Houston had his hands free. The Cardinals were only trailing by six when the Chiefs linebacker intercepted the ball at the line of scrimmage, which served as a turning point in the game.
The adjustments to the NFL are already a lot for a rookie quarterback. It’s harder spending time first behind a banged-up offensive line, and then spending time on the ground.
“He understands that it’s the nature of the position, but we don’t want this to become habit,” Wilks said. “We have to do a great job of finding different ways – because personnel isn’t going to change – so we have to find different ways within the system, within the scheme to help him out.”
Wilks says the personnel won’t change, but that’s just for now. Come the offseason, the Cardinals will once again have to address the offensive line once more. Steve Keim has drafted nine offensive linemen in six years.
The 2-7 Cardinals take on the 1-8 Raiders this Sunday, in a game that means more for the draft than for anything else. Wilks isn’t allowing himself to think that way just yet.
“My mind is not really on draft picks right now. I am trying to do everything I can to win football games,” Wilks said. “I’m not looking to say, ‘OK, we’re going to be in the top-five.’ That, to me, is a loser’s mentality. We are going to continue to work hard, and at the end of the season, whatever happens, we’ll take that order.”