Patrick Peterson focused on defense doing its job
Nov 26, 2012, 8:53 PM | Updated: 9:03 pm
The Arizona Cardinals return to the drawing board this week after suffering their seventh straight loss this season, and for the most part it wasn’t because of poor play by the defense.
On Sunday Arizona’s defense held the Rams’ offense to just 17 points in the 31-17 loss, with the other two scores coming from interceptions returned for touchdowns. As tough as it is, the defense continues to focus on getting better and not pointing fingers at the offense.
“Right now I’m on the defensive side of the ball; we’re doing what we can do,” said Patrick Peterson. “The offense is definitely working to get better and we have to continue pushing those guys to get better.”
St. Louis quarterback Sam Bradford completed just eight passes Sunday, but two of them went for touchdowns. The Rams earned only 15 first downs on the afternoon, but turned the ball over just once. At the end of the day, the four interceptions thrown by Arizona quarterback Ryan Lindley were too much to overcome.
You would think the last two losses would be enough for the Cardinals defense to play the blame game, but it’s not, according to Peterson.
“At the end of the day we have to keep fighting as a team,” he said. “We have to do what we have to do as a defense to put our offense in good field position or even score to put points on the board and just give those guys a little bit more momentum and a little bit more confidence in themselves.”
Overall, the Cardinals rank ninth in the league in total defense while allowing 20.6 points per game. They’re also fourth in the NFL with 15 interceptions this season.
Some of the defensive players have used the term “frustrating” on more than one occasion the past two weeks, but the overall attitude has still been “team”.
Peterson says they are sticking together, at least for now.
“I can’t tell you what’s going on, on the offensive side of the ball or in the offensive room. The defense is working and we’re top ten in almost every category and it’s just coming down to guys winning the one-on-one battles. Digging down deep and getting that extra edge to put us over the hump and win that play.”
This week they’ll be looking for that edge when they travel to New York to play a Jets team that has also struggled this season with a 4-7 record.
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