I am not a particularly smart man.
My football knowledge pales in comparison to those who get paid to construct a team.
So why is it that someone with a pedestrian understanding of the game saw Sunday’s defensive trainwreck coming, while the front office did not?
Please no Vance Joseph slander on Sunday if the Arizona defense gets torched. It's a personnel issue.
— Kyle Odegard (@Kyle_Odegard) September 9, 2022
Every offseason concern for the Arizona Cardinals reared its ugly head in a 44-21 drubbing at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs.
When Chandler Jones left in free agency, the Cardinals bizarrely didn’t replace him. The result? Little-to-no pressure on Patrick Mahomes and zero team sacks.
With issues up-front, defensive coordinator Vance Joseph had to scheme pressure by sending blitzes about half the time. The result? Single coverage galore on many passing plays, which Mahomes systematically picked apart.
The outside cornerback spots weren’t significantly upgraded this offseason, either, forcing Byron Murphy to play on the perimeter because the Cardinals couldn’t go to nickel. The result? Former first-round picks Isaiah Simmons and Zaven Collins flailing about in coverage against shiftier, speedier slot receivers in space.
The Cardinals had the sixth-ranked defense in the NFL last season, according to Football Outsiders, but it had long seemed fait accompli that regression was going to hit hard after a puzzling offseason of inaction, and on Sunday the evidence was overwhelming.
Jones departed, as did linebacker Jordan Hicks, cornerback Robert Alford and defensive tackle Jordan Phillips. Instead of opening up the wallet to replace them, the Cardinals stood pat, crossing their fingers that career backups would suddenly morph into critical pieces.
The defensive front looked paper thin heading into the season, the cornerbacks even moreso, and while there was a lot of hope that Simmons and Collins would live up to their draft status, there was not much proof that it was bound to happen.
So it was interesting when General Manager Steve Keim went on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Friday and said “I think our defense is going to be really, really good.”
Did he see something in training camp that had him grinning like a Cheshire cat?
But then the game happened, and the defense was overmatched in the exact areas that were never addressed in the offseason.
It was hard to follow Keim’s rationale heading into the game, and now it’s impossible to give it credence after the pummeling. The Cardinals are not going to be really, really good on defense unless they are allowed to combine rosters with Buffalo.
The Cardinals missed DeAndre Hopkins greatly on offense Sunday, just like they did at the end of last year. But the Chiefs didn’t have Tyreek Hill, and yet it looked like they cloned him three times this offseason before dealing him to Miami.
Yes, this was only one game, and yes, Mahomes has made a career of lighting up defenses. But the Chiefs’ superstar set a personal record for consecutive completions (12) and finished the game with 360 passing yards and five touchdowns.
If the Cardinals had put up some resistance and lost, this wouldn’t have been a big deal. But the weaknesses everyone screamed about for months this offseason – the ones the Cardinals seemed certain to address but never did – were painfully obvious in the rout.
The Cardinals will be better moving forward, because there is nowhere to go but up.
However, they only have this year and next of Kyler Murray on a cheap contract, and instead of a roster teeming with talent like the Bills or the Chargers, they have injury-prone stars and glaring weaknesses.
The championship window that barely cracked open last year is already closing, and unless something drastic happens, there is no defense to stop it.
