Cardinals won the game 20-13 but Saints controlled both lines of scrimmage
by Walter Mitchell
(Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
The Cardinals did a lot of good things in their 20-13 Week 1 road win over the Saints. They scored on two excellently designed and executed TD passes in the first half. And when it mattered the most the defense was able to prevent the Saints from tying or winning the game late in the 4th quarter.
However, one of the most disappointing outcomes of the contest was the fact that the Saints dominated both lines of scrimmage, especially in the passing game.
Cases in point:
1st Downs --- NO 21, AZ - 19
Total Plays --- NO 69, AZ 61
Total Yards --- NO 315, AZ 276
Passing Yards --- NO 208, AZ 130
Tackles for Loss --- NO 7, AZ 3
Sacks --- NO 5, AZ 1
QB Hits --- NO 5, AZ 2
While the Cardinals outrushed the Saints 146-107, largely due to Trey Benson's 52-yard run early in the 3rd quarter which set up the only 3 points they would score in the half, in the second half the Saints outgained the Cardinals 175 to 112. Other than Benson's 52-yard rush, the Cardinals only managed to gain 60 yards over the final 26:45 minutes of the game.
4th quarter yards: NO 102, AZ 38
If Budda Baker wasn't able to punch the ball out of Saints' TE Juwan Johnson's hands, the Saints could have either gone for 2 points to try to win the game, right then and there, or they could have sent the game into overtime with the momentum clearly on their side.
Phew.
The Cardinals came away with the win this time but if and when other teams control the line of scrimmage in the fashion that the Saints did, it is going to be especially difficult for the Cardinals to win.
Red Rain Question: what do you attribute to the Cardinals' line struggles on both side of the ball?
Red Rain Podcast Preview:
First, we are going to show and analyze all of the top plays of the game.
Second, we are going to talk about Jonathan Gannon's "shell fest" philosophy and how that affects the Cardinals' offense and their chances of winning games.
https://x.com/WBJMItch/status/1964783635904835762
Observations of game: (I haven't gone through and rewatched any part of game yet)
ReplyDelete(1) Overall lack of energy and sense of urgency both OFF & DEF)
(2) OFF Play-calling still stuck in mud (I was happy to see a couple mesh/rub plays in passing game); Game plan was to run ball but outside Bensons 50yd run, the Cardinals running game was inept. With running game in doldrums we turn to short passing game which (again outside 1 big-play) looked like it was ineffective.
(3) DEF - You can no longer say it is lack of personnel, our DL looked gassed out of shape and sucking wind. Our DBs held up better than expected (but this was against Rattler - the same guy who had more interceptions than Wins in his career); though I'm sick of zone defense. We couldn't get pressure on QB. Pre-season is to get your guys in shape we looked out of shape. There is no excuse why Rallis play-calling couldn't get more pressure. I still think DTD would have stopped a few plays JT allowed in game so I question starting JT over DTD, something I said pre-season...
Great points.
DeleteI don't think I have ever seen a D-lineman as gassed as CC was when Rattler spiked the ball in the fourth quarter - dude is a baller (but might finally be getting too old).
Some other observation;
- Godchaux in the middle of NO d-line is a massive improvement over last years run defence.
- That is about as good a game as any offence coordinator is gonna get out of Rattler.
- With Moore calling offence and Staley calling defence, this team has a chance at an upset every week. If fact, I bet they give the 9ers everything they can handle next week and may well pull off the upset. Their first stringers are really good, but as injuries expose their depth, wins will be harder and harder to find. Already, Penning and Fuaga are missing time and Blackmon (who probably had the best defensive game of any defender against us) will now be out for the year.
- Burch is the real deal.
- Melton looks to have taken a massive jump over last year. He played great and while he got 2 penalties, they both looked like great coverage to me and not penalties at all.
-Hernandez will be in this line up as soon as he is ready. And I bet he takes over left guard and not right. Brown had a tough day and in theory lacks the ceiling that Adams should have.
- Would have been nice if Kyler had hit MHJ on that crosser from out end zone. It would be harder to point at a poor game if his line was 22/29 for 255 yards and 3 TD's and MHJ's line was 6/6 for 160yds and 2 TD's - which is what it looks to have been had he hit that shot.
- The best investment the Cardinals could have made last year was a few million bucks per year to Klayton Adams and an assistant coach title. I sure hope whatever Frye is teaching these guys starts showing results next week!!
- I bet it was the Cardinals that started the Johnson bad knee rumours. What a steal he looks to be.
I thought defensive line looked like a first team that didn't have any preseason playing time. By the second half they were gassed. Josh Sweat had little to no impact. The secondary balked out. That hit on Olave by Will Johnson was just as good as a pick six...wow. Offense looked ok but line was a work in progress. Take the win but we need to get better on both sides of the ball.
ReplyDeleteMurray continues his tragic 2nd half and 4th quarters. 2td vs 7int in his last 18 games. That’s not going to cut it in a league where guys like Josh Allen put up 3td in yesterday’s 4th quarter, exceeding Murray’s output over the last 18.
ReplyDeleteThey did not try to win and just played not to lose. Safe, safe everything except for the marvin Harrison bomb. I guess winning is the most important thing but I would like to see more aggression on both sides of the ball.
ReplyDeleteI agree, once it was a 2 score game, they seemed happy to run out the clock and like you said, play it safe.
DeleteTerrible mindset to instill in the roster if that’s what they did. The cream of the crop teams are going to keep pouring it on and an abundance of scoring isn’t something you can turn off and on. We shouldn’t felt comfortable with a 7th year vet qb 3rd year in the same system to let loose and smash the Saints. I just don’t think we were good enough to do that. Saints roster is equally talented, only difference is the qb and realistically there wasn’t much of a difference in the two yesterday which is why we had final drive drama
DeleteWe **shouldve** felt comfortable
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