As per usual, Arizona Cardinals’ defense steps up in second half
Dec 8, 2014, 2:53 AM | Updated: 4:44 am
GLENDALE, Ariz. — All week long the members of the Arizona Cardinals’ defense talked about the desire to rebound from what happened in Atlanta last week, when they surrendered 29 points and 500 total yards to the Falcons.
Not even six minutes into Sunday’s game with the Kansas City Chiefs, it appeared as if they might be unable to do so.
Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles took his second carry 63 yards for a touchdown, juking defenders and breaking tackles along the way. It was reminiscent of Steven Jackson’s 55-yard run in the first quarter last week, a play that really set the tone for the entire afternoon.
In fact, it was the first of two touchdowns Charles would score in the first half Sunday, and through 30 minutes of play, the Cardinals had allowed 14 points and 199 total yards, including 98 on the ground.
“You see guys pushing more, yelling more, and all we had to do was just — we can’t lose the fundamentals about the game. That first running play when they scored the touchdown was just a basic crack the safety/corner replace, but we missed the tackle.
“So that’s football. We don’t need to hoop and holler over basics.”
In other words, there was no panic, no ‘here we go again’ mentality.
“We’re confident in what we can do; we know what we can do as a defense,” he said. “It was just more of like a gut check, like ‘OK, we’ve got to bring our big boy pads today, it’s time to go,’ and that’s really what it was. Just kind of got our fire going.”
Indeed.
The Cardinals surrendered 191 yards in the second half, though just 28 of them were on the ground. But more importantly, Arizona’s defense kept the Chiefs off the scoreboard for the final 30 minutes of the game.
