The evidence simply slaps anyone in the face with the force of a player’s tackle on a running back: When the Arizona Cardinals run the ball effectively with their backs, they have a better chance of winning than when they don’t.
It’s certainly noticeable this season as the Cardinals are 1-2 with both losses being by one score or less and in games where the ground game was a pittance without explosive plays.
In Week 1, it was a 34-28 loss to the Buffalo Bills, a game in which Cardinals running backs James Conner and Trey Benson combined for 63 yards on 17 attempts. Conner had one run for 20 yards and Benson’s long was six, meaning their other 17 attempts totaled only 37 yards.
Sunday’s 20-13 loss to the Detroit Lions was more of the same. Conner, Benson and Emari Demercado had 13 runs for a mere 32 yards with the longs being seven for Conner and six for both Benson and Demercado. Incredibly, the other 10 attempts totaled 13 yards.
By contrast, Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs had one run for 18 yards and two for 14, while David Montgomery had 14- and 16-yard runs among their 39 rushes for 188 yards. Those five explosive plays gained 76 yards.
Meanwhile, in the 41-10 victory over the Rams in Week 2 Conner had 21 carries for 122 yards with four runs totaling 61. He had runs of 13 and 16 yards in the first touchdown drive of the game and later added gains of 10 and 22 yards. Even Demercado had a 41-yard run late in the game.
“I know the run game on offense didn’t get quite going,” head coach Jonathan Gannon obviously acknowledged. “We have to do better in the run game. It’s just that we never got that one explosive. We knew it was going to be dirty (with) two, three yards, but you’re kind of waiting for that one to pop.”
Conner had runs of 1, 2, 3, and minus-1 in the first half for a total of eight yards on five runs and then 4, 7, 1 and minus-3 in the second half for nine yards on four attempts.
That loss of three came late in the third quarter and no running back carried the ball in the fourth quarter when quarterback Kyler Murray was 11-for-17 for 119 yards, including a 28-yard play to wide receiver Michael Wilson. The other 10 completions totaled 91 yards.
“That’s a good defense,” Murray concluded. “They’re stout up front. It was tough for us to get the run game going.”
It left the Cardinals with a 2-7 record in one-score games, dating back to the beginning of the 2023 season.
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