The Arizona Cardinals were impressively alright last night in a white-knuckle, 18-17 win over the Chargers considering the amount of losses and departures they had throughout the offseason.
Between Daryl Washington (suspended), Karlos Dansby (in Cleveland), and Darnell Dockett (broken), three core defenders from last year’s unit that allowed the sixth fewest yards in the league are gone. Joining them Monday night were also Tyrann Mathieu due to an ACL tear that needs a little more time to mend before game action, and John Abraham, who left the game with a concussion.
So holding Philip Rivers to only 238 passing yards despite missing bodies who accounted for 24.5 sacks from last year’s total is indeed a mighty fine night. But there’s still one area defensively that needs to improve, fast.
Stopping tight ends. Any tight end.
Antonio Gates continually roasted Tony Jefferson and Deone Bucannon. Especially Jefferson, who was responsible for Gates during three of his six receptions, and 50 of his 81 total receiving yards. Much of that yardage came on a critical 34-yard completion on third-and-13 in the fourth quarter, extending a drive that would have ended in points had it not been for a snap whoopsie by Rivers that took his offense out of field-goal position.
Toss on Ladarius Green’s production and the Cardinals gave up 105 yards to tight ends, including two chunk plays for 20 yards or more. The injuries didn’t help matters, but even with all those bodies healthy and functioning this is still a Cardinals defense that allowed 76.0 receiving yards per game to the position last year, a league high.
To zoom in closer and illustrate the extent of that lumbering coverage gap, let’s take a trip back to late last season. Here’s how the Cardinals’ tight end woes appeared in the boxscore over their final four games of 2013:
- Week 14 vs. Rams: 64 yards to tight ends
- Week 15 @ Tians: 53 yards and a touchdown
- Week 16 @ Seahawks: 15 yards and a touchdown
- Week 17 vs. 49ers: 45 yards and a touchdown
Since we’re keeping score, that’s 282 yards and three touchdowns allowed to tight ends over a five-game period, four of which were played with a far more reinforced front seven featuring versatile defenders up the middle. Dansby, for example, had four interceptions and 19 passes defensed last year, both career highs (oh and look, he also picked off a pass during his first regular-season Browns game).
Being a tight end speed bag isn’t a good look for any defense during this modern age when they prefer to be called pass catchers, especially in their Twitter bios. Many are larger, house-like wide receivers, and a defense is required to match their physicality.
In time first-round pick Deone Bucannon will do exactly that, and getting Mathieu’s ball skills back will certainly help matters too. Not at all helping: having nearly zero pass rush, especially if Abraham has to miss time.
This a team that faces Vernon Davis twice each season, and also has Julius Thomas, Jason Witten, Zach Ertz and Brent Celek, the Lions’ stable of tight ends, and a presumably healthy Jordan Reed by Week 6 on this year’s schedule. Good luck with that.
