Cardinals' Coverage Issues via Flawed Schemes and Personnel Decisions
By Walter Mitchell
It is bullshit to say that the Cardinals suck on defense due to a lack of talent,
Any player in the NFL will tell you that his success is dependent on his coaches putting him in the best positions to succeed.
What that essentially means for players is two things:
1. The schemes need to be tailored to the strengths of the players.
2. The coaches need to do their best to prepare the players in a manner that breeds confidence, sound fundaments and mutual trust.
Over the past four years, what we have been seeing from the Cardinals' defense is how inherently flawed their schemes are. Let us count a few of the ways:
1. Players are being put in positions that are not their strengths.
2. The soft zones, which the coaches are playing over 80% of the time are improperly taught.
Example A: when you see two players standing next to a receiver, but not one of them is guarding the receiver, that's a huge mistake.
Example B; when three players are equidistantly forming a triangle around a receiver and not one of the three players is guarding the receiver, that is a huge mistake.
We showcased these flaws on Red Rain Podcast this week via a close look at all of Matthew Stafford's best passes versus the Cardinals in Week 18 which, despite the offense getting the team a 20-16 lead late in Q3, the defense predictably left a number of the Rams' receivers uncovered, in all 3 of the Rams' game winning TDs.
Take another look for yourself: It's a 4-minute exposition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMkwyHgPnIk
What's completely apparent here is how the Cardinals' defenders do not pick up receivers quickly enough to leverage them or to be able to make plays on the football. It often looks like "token" or, even worse, "ghost" coverage.
Note: Kenny Albert mentioned how excited Jonathan Gannon was to see how Denzel Burke would do versus Puka Nacua in pass coverage --- yet, please raise your hand if you believe Denzel Burke is a good matchup for Puka Nacua.
Denzel Burke's PFF grades Week 18 vs LAR were:
Overall: 43.5;
Tackling 55.8;
Coverage: 35.2
(gave up 5 catches in 5 targets for 50 yards, 2 TDs and a RTG of 147.9).
Conversely, the one CB who stepped up on Stafford and Nacua in this game was Elijah Jones, who made the best flurry of CB plays during the entire season, while finally getting his chance to play.
Elijah Jones' PFF grades Week 18 vs LAR were:
Overall: 82.4,
Tackling: 76.7;
Coverage: 83.0
(gave up 1 catch on 3 targets, with 2 PBUs, for 21 yards, 0 TDs and a RTG of 59.0.
Yet this year, when one would believe the coaches would say, hey let's see what Elijah Jones can keep doing with the 1st team defense, Jones has been relegated once again to the 3rd team.
Yesterday, Theo Mackie of the Arizona Republic posted his 53-Man roster prediction.
Theo has the Cardinals cutting Elijah Jones and keeping Starling Thomas V ahead of him, despite acknowledging Thomas' struggles in the pre-season.
I countered with this reply on X:
Hard to justify cutting the most consistent cover CB the Cardinals have had the last two years in Elijah Jones.
Last pre-season, Elijah led all CBs in coverage by a wide margin: 3 receptions in 8 targets, for 26 yards, 3 PBUs and a 46.9 RTG.
Then in Week 18 vs NFL MVP Matthew Stafford, Elijah gave up 1 in 3 targets, for 21 yards, 2 PBUs for a 59.0 RTG.
This pre-season, Elijah has given up 4 in 8 targets for 31 yards and a 59.9 RTG. And has not given up a single TD as a Cardinal.
Conversely, Cardinals' CB QB-RTGs and TDs last season were:
Elijah Jones --- 59.0 --- 0 TDs Denzel Burke --- 81.3 --- 3 TDs Max Melton --- 93.0 --- 0 TDs Will Johnson --- 112.2 --- 4 TDs Kei'Trel Clark --- 131.5 --- 1 TD Garrett Williams --- 132.9 --- 6 TDs Jaden Davis --- 139.6 ---1 TD Darren Hall --- 158.3 ---1 TD Team RTG/TDs --- 107.1 --- 31 TDs
The thing that also separates Elijah Jones is that he is a good man-to-man CB on a defense that struggles in man-to-man coverage. Let alone on a defense that plays the softest zones in the NFL.
At 6-2, 185, 4.44 speed, 41.5" vertical, 7.07 3-cone, Elijah Jones brings impressive physical attributes to the potion, which quite frankly, all of his counterparts save for Max Melton's 4.39 and 6.95 3-cone), do not match.
So, as a CB for the Arizona Cardinals in his game action (pre-season and regular season), on a team where the CBs are consistently getting toasted in pass coverage and are too often embarrassing liabilities as tacklers:
Elijah Jones:
8 receptions in 19 targets, 42,1%,
78 yards, 9.8 yds, per catch,
5 PBUs, 0 TDs, 0 int.,
QBR of 57.2 (59.0 vs Matthew Stafford)
But, nah, he should get cut.
No CB on the roster can come even remotely close to matching these numbers.
Elijah Jones has done his part with whatever chances he's been given.
Dissenters will claim pre-season bias and "limited sample size" --- but there are no numbers anyone can point to that make a strong a case for their wanting to see Elijah Jones get cut.
Here's what's so wrong about the coaching --- if the CB jobs were truly a competition as Nick Rallis has been professing, then why would the coaches not give Elijah Jones a single chance to play with the first team?
What is the answer to that question?
Pappoe-ing Another Question
Another annoying theme among the local pundits' 53-Man Roster Predictions is their desire to see the team cut Owen Pappoe.
Again, for a team whose inside linebackers have been at the bottom of the NFL in pass overage the last 3 years, Owen Pappoe has been the one bright light of the group:
Pass Coverage Grades - Regular Season:
2023 Pappoe 69.9 --- starters ---> K. White 59.8; J. Woods 46.0
2024 Pappoe76.9 O ---starters ---> K. White 32.0; M. Wilson 56.8
2025 Pappoe 70.3 --- starters ---> M. Wilson 59.8; A. Davis-Gaither 36.5
But then dissenters will claim, Pappoe is a poor tackler as an ILB.
Not true. Last season playing with the NFL's worst tackling team in the NFL, Owen Pappoe had the team's 2nd highest tackling grade at 82.0.
This past weekend versus the Cowboys, Owen Pappoe led the team with 10 tackles and a tackling grade of 80.7.
While Karson Sharar has been popping some big tackles on special teams, his tackling grade on the defense versus the Cowboys was 40.4. with a coverage grade of 39.8.
Yet, a number of Arizona pundits and fans want to see the coaches cut Owen Pappoe so as to keep Karson Sharar.
Conclusion:
Elijah Jones and Owen Pappoe are the best cover guys at their positions.
2025 Cardinals' Defense #1 in NFL in 1st downs given up.
2025 Cardinals' Defense #2 in 1st downs given up on pass play conversions. Often to wide open receivers.
Just maybe --- this year --- the Cardinals may want to start covering the opponents' receivers.
But, hey, go ahead and cut their best cover CB and ILB who have the speed and athleticism to make all the difference.
Cover 2, Man Under
Here's an idea for running a Cover 2, 5-man under, 4-man rush in passing situations
The Cover 2 Man Under design is sound — it accounts for all five eligibles and even builds in a robber/spy. The problem is Arizona lacks the bodies to run it, and the staff won't bend the scheme to hide that.
ReplyDeleteWhat fits: Budda on the RB (a rangy safety erases any back, and becomes a free rusher if the back stays in) and Nolen at 3-tech (the only interior guy who threatens the pocket).
What doesn't: Roy Lopez at the other tackle is a run-stuffing clog on a passing down — a dead rush lane on a call that needs four rushers to win. And there's no better option; Robinson's a former first-rounder with a 3.3% career pressure rate. Cody Simon on the tight end is the coverage wound — a young linebacker on a move-TE with no help, the exact mismatch that's bled this defense for years. How does it come close to working without Sweat, who could be traded by November.
The coaching is the real indictment. Rallis runs man-under as a fixed system and won't scheme help for what his players can't do — he lines a linebacker across from a mismatch because the call says so, then acts surprised. He keeps rushing four without the horses (27th in pressure, 28th in sacks) instead of manufacturing pressure. When offenses use formations and motion to force a bad matchup, Rallis has no answer ready — so good teams find whoever can't cover his man and go right at him.
Bottom line: Ossenfort didn't build a pass rush, and Rallis won't scheme around not having one.
They would never know if they never try it. I love Cody Simon on TEs all day. If not him, then Owen Pappoe. But I worry that you are correct about Rallis' stubbornness to change.
DeleteNot quite sure what do to about Zaven or Will Johnson
ReplyDelete