The Arizona Cardinals were not a good defensive team in 2019. However, they did improve in one area over their 2018 season. They were better at defending the run. After being the worst team in the NFL in 2018 at defending the run, they were 24th, giving up 120.1 yards per game and 4.4 yards per attempt, which was 20th.
In 2018, they gave up 154.9 yards per game and 4.9 yards per carry.
It was an improvement.
How did their opponents attack them in the running game? They went right after them.
The Cardinals faced 425 rushing attempts in 2019. 202 of them were runs up the middle — 47.5% of the rushing attempts their opponents had. No other team in the NFL defended more runs up the middle.
The Cardinals allowed 4.1 yards per rush up the middle, which was 18th in the league.
Every other direction of opponent rushes were fairly even, between 31 and 43 attempts.
Opponents ran 39 times (27th-most attempts) over left end, averaging 7.0 yards per rush. That was 30th in the league.
Over left tackle, opponents ran the ball 35 times (No. 29 in the league), gaining an average of 4.63 yards per rush. That was 19th in the league.
Over left guard, opponents ran the ball 37 times (23rd) for an average of 4.51 yards. The Cardinals ranked 23rd in yards per attempt allowed over left guard.
The Cardinals faced 31 runs over right end, the third-fewest number in the league, allowing 4.97 yards per rush, which was 15th in the league.
They faced the 17th-most rushes over right tackle with 43 and were sixth in yards allowed per attempt in that direction, giving up only 3.47 yards.
Over right guard, they faced the 23rd-most rushes with 38 and ranked dead last in rushing average allowed in that direction, giving up 5.08 yards per rush.
The Cardinals hope to shore up their defense overall in 2020. They improved their run defense by more than 30 yards per game. If they improve by that much again, they would have a top-five run defense.
[vertical-gallery id=430618]
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.
Ep. 256
[protected-iframe id=”5dba5baeefa8b7e9bfd11c4333d4b344-112738498-106269283″ info=”https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/21947850/download.mp3″ ]
Ep. 255
[protected-iframe id=”5a077b6c80e43549964e9cb25d81401e-112738498-106269283″ info=”https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/21468690/download.mp3″ ]