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Cards take Purdue WR Moore in 2nd
There was limited film on wide receiver Rondale Moore, but that didn’t perturb Arizona General Manager Steve Keim.
After tending to the defense in the first round with linebacker Zaven Collins, the Cardinals took Moore on Friday with their second-round pick. Barring a trade, the Cardinals do not pick again until the fifth round.
Moore played at Purdue, where as a freshman, he had 1,258 receiving yards on 114 catches. He was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week four times in 2018. In 2019 and 2020, he played just seven games total, finishing his college career with 1,915 yards on 178 catches.
What you can’t do without is a dominant front-seven and a ball-hawking safety.
Back in my day ...
Let’s go back to the olden days when TVs were as square as the jaws of the men on the gridiron.
The 1985 Bears were more than the “Monsters of the Midway.” For opponents, they were the “Beasts in the Backfield.”
The Bears allowed only 198 points all season, about 12 per game, largely because of their dominant pass rush.
Defensive linemen Richard Dent and Steve McMichael and linebacker Otis Wilson combined for 35.5 sacks in an NFL where teams didn’t throw the ball nearly as often as they do today. That trio represented three of the six defensive starters who were Pro Bowlers or All-Pros that season.
Only one of those standouts, safety Dave Duerson, played in the secondary.
Mike Richardson and Leslie Frazier were the starting cornerbacks on that team. Neither one ever made a Pro Bowl in his career.
Let’s skip ahead to the 2000 Ravens.
They allowed only 165 points all season, about 10 per game. This defense also relied on being dominant up front.
Defensive tackle Sam Adams was an All-Pro. Ray Lewis was a Pro Bowler. The rest of the guys were such a force that the team allowed just 970 rushing yards all season.
This team also had a Pro Bowl safety in Rod Woodson.
Sticking with this era, the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers made opposing offensive coordinators say “arrrrgh!”
They allowed 196 points that season, a little over 12 per game, and it was all based on the pressure up front.
Defensive tackle Warren Sapp and linebacker Simeon Rice combined for 23 sacks. The team had five Pro Bowlers, and only one, John Lynch, played in the secondary.
This team, however, had a first-rate cornerback. Ronde Barber played in five Pro Bowls. He was a three-time All-Pro. He also was selected for the all-2000s team. (How is this guy not in the Hall of Fame?!)
What about Neon Deion?
There are certainly examples of top-level defenses relying on shutdown cornerbacks.
Deion Sanders helped strong defenses in Dallas and San Francisco win titles in the 1990s. And the 2015 Denver Broncos won a Super Bowl thanks to a pair of Pro Bowl cornerbacks, Aqib Talib and Chris Harris.
There certainly are differences in how the game is played today compared to the mid-80s or early-2000s. Teams pass far more often. And the rules have been changed to favor offenses.
It seems like that might combine to show the need for a strong cornerback in the modern game.
Maybe.
But those details also show the need for a dominant pass rush.
Consider Tampa Bay’s Super Bowl win last year.
That team had only one defensive Pro Bowler, linebacker Jason Pierre-Paul, and he had just 9.5 sacks. In fact, during the regular season, the Buccaneers three leading pass rushers combined for just 26.5 sacks.
But in the Super Bowl, Tampa’s defense hurried Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes 11 times. They knocked him down seven times. They sacked him three times.
That puts pressure on Arizona pass rushers J.J. Watt and Chandler Jones.
Good thing they’re two of the best to ever do it.
It puts pressure on safety Budda Baker.
Good thing he’s been a Pro Bowler three times and an All-Pro twice in the four seasons that he’s played in the league.
It puts pressure on the rookie Zaven Collins. He’s got to be able to combine with second-year pro Isaiah Simmons to give the Cardinals the type of pair at linebacker that will be considered among the league’s best. Good thing he says stuff like this: “My favorite thing to do is make a tackle for a loss. … It helps tremendously. Turnovers and stuff. … Turnovers and stuff are hard to come by. We call them takeaways because you’ve got to take it away to get the ball back.”
(Could you possibly love this kid more? If I had to tackle a dump truck, this is the type of attitude I’d want in the guy I paid to do it!)
And finally, there’s pressure on defensive coordinator Vance Joseph.
If he can move Jordan Hicks around to create mismatches, strategically break out the 0-6-5 and most of all pressure the quarterback with his front-seven and let Baker cook to hide any deficiencies he may have at corner, this team can be a Super Bowl contender.
For whatever it’s worth, it seems like this message already has been communicated to the new guy.
“It’s our job as a front seven to take pressure off (the secondary),” he said.
“That’s what we’re supposed to do. They’re playing man-coverage. They’re playing Cover 0. They’re running all over the field, chasing guys, tackling guys … it’s our jobs to help each other out.”
Steve Keim passed on taking a cornerback in the first round of the NFL Draft the same year he let Patrick Peterson backpedal out of town in free agency.
What was he thinking?
Maybe he was thinking he didn’t need one.