Cardinals ‘gotta figure it out fast’ on winning at home
The Cardinals have played monstrous in their five road victories this season.
But they’ve paled in their other five games at home.
Arizona (8-2) has won by an average 18 points in away games.
In contrast, the Cardinals lost two of its last three contests by about 14, both losses at home, and won by 11 in their three home wins.
Cardinals defensive coordinator Vance Joseph told the media on Thursday their home performances have been a “struggle” and “we gotta figure it out fast.”
“If you’re going to be a dominant football team in this league, home games have to be your advantage, it can’t be your disadvantage, and right now it’s not good for us,” Joseph said.
To keep their spot atop the NFC West, they need to respond quickly at Seattle Seahawks (3-6), their fourth divisional game this Sunday.
Here’s how the Cardinals have fared on their own field:
—They edged the Minnesota Vikings, 34-33, when the Vikings missed a 37yard field goal as time expired
—They beat the San Francisco 49ers on Oct. 10, 17-10, their second-lowest scoring output of the season.
—The Packers handed the Cardinals a 24-21 loss on Oct. 28, when a miscommunication on a potential game-winning touchdown allowed Kyler Murray’s pass to be intercepted in the end zone.
— The Cardinals were manhandled by Carolina Panthers, 34-10, on Sunday.
“Our energy level at away games been out the roof,” Cardinals starting cornerback Byron Murphy Jr. said. “Our home games kind of been up and down.”
Ertz talks first-round playoff byes
Through their seven regular season games and three divisional matchups left, the Cardinals have the chance to get a first-round playoff bye if they win the NFC West.
Cardinals tight end Zach Ertz said getting the first-round bye could help the Cardinals’ chances for a deep playoff run.
He mentioned when his former team Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl in 2018, their home field advantage and a first-round bye was beneficial rather than the grind of playoff road games.
“The bye is the biggest thing to me. Obviously, playing at home is a huge, huge thing,” Ertz said. “If you’re able to be one of the best teams in the league, and you can have a bye week and home field advantage, you only have to win two games and you’re in the Super Bowl versus going on the road and playing three. So, we just gotta continue to get better and we’re not focused on playoff seeding or whatnot. We got a lot of football left to play.”
Murphy said the team understands the importance to win out, but maintains their often said 1-0 mentality every week.
“I’ve obviously been seeing it on Twitter and social media,” Murphy said. “Those types of things we talk about it within the locker room as well. But just to have that opportunity to go into a bye week undefeated in the division games, that of type of thing, record, not really looking into it a lot but just looking forward to Sunday and going game by game.”