After poor opener, Cardinals look to control Gurley, Rams

TEMPE — The Washington Redskins shredded the Arizona Cardinals for 182 yards on the ground in their season opener, most of any team in the NFL last week.

Missed gap assignments, missed tackles, insufficient physical play, poor hand work at the line of scrimmage. There were plenty of reasons listed for the downfall by defensive coordinator Al Holcomb.

Now the Cardinals have to face Todd Gurley and the Rams Sunday in Los Angeles, and that doesn’t bode well for an Arizona team looking to find itself in a new defensive scheme with a new coaching staff.

“It’s a big-time challenge this week again,” Holcomb said after Thursday’s practice. “We’ve got to address the mistakes, take the things that we didn’t do so well last week and correct those things. We’ve got to accentuate the positives, the good things that we did and we’ve got to continue to grow and build on that as a defense.”

Gurley carried 20 times for 108 yards and caught three for 39 yards, including a 19-yard touchdown reception in Sunday’s 33-13 win at Oakland. And the Cardinals know Gurley all too well.

Last season Arizona had the sixth-ranked defense overall in the NFL and was sixth against the run, yet Gurley was outstanding as the Rams swept the twogame series with the Cardinals for the first time since 2012.

“We got our behinds kicked twice by this team,” cornerback Patrick Peterson said.

The first meeting was in Twickenham Stadium in London, where the Rams routed the Cardinals 33-0. In that game, Gurley carried 22 times for 106 yards and caught four for 48. The Rams rushed for 197 yards that day. Six weeks later in Arizona, Los Angeles won 32-15 as Gurley rushed for 74 yards in 19 attempts and caught six for 84 yards.

Combine those experiences with the team’s poor play in last week’s 24-6 loss to the Redskins and the Arizona defense is in an ornery mood.