Gameday leftovers: Young Cardinals defenders produce vs. Eagles

It’s not just that the Arizona Cardinals are trending toward youth on defense.

It’s that a handful of players still on their rookie deals are putting together productive games with an increase in playing time.

Fourth-year outside linebacker Haason Reddick continued his hot streak with a strip-sack Sunday in Arizona’s 33-26 win over the Philadelphia Eagles. Second-year pro Byron Murphy Jr. had three passes defensed and helped the Arizona defense hold on the final two Philadelphia possessions.

Defensive lineman Zach Allen, inside linebacker Isaiah Simmons and outside linebacker Dennis Gardeck all recorded career-high snap counts.

Allen put together a prolific 11 tackles to lead the Cardinals. He added a sack, pass breakup and 1.5 tackles for loss while playing 74 snaps (89% of the total on defense).

It was the 2019 third-round pick’s best game yet as a pro, a breakout performance for a player who missed 12 games last season and three games this year due to injuries.

“He’s always tried to do everything like we’ve told him to do it, which as a coach you appreciate,” Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury said. “We told him to get stronger, spent all offseason here working out and getting bigger. He just had a couple injuries that slowed him down. To get him back out there and watch the success he’s having is cool to see.

“He’s a guy who was uber productive in college — he tends to always be around the quarterback when he’s in there.”

Gardeck had 24 snaps to record two sacks and a chasedown of receiver Jalen Reagor on a screen pass. Reagor got 23 yards on the 3rd-and-29 play that would have been a first down then and there had Gardeck not tracked him through the hole of defenders to catch the receiver from behind.

“He had a play on a screen yesterday that is one I will take and show my kids when I’m telling them how to play football,” Kingsbury said. “He gets thrown to the ground, gets up, chases the guy down, makes a tackle on a wide receiver. He plays the game the way it’s meant to be played.”

Then there was Simmons.

He was on the field 76% of the defensive snaps, lining up early on as a deep safety before moving to an outside linebacker spot on the play in which Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was called for intentional grounding in his own end zone for a safety.

“He’s starting to have a better understanding of the defense so he can handle that type of assignment,” Kingsbury said of Simmons.

Maybe Arizona’s best containment of Hurts, who rushed 11 times for 63 yards and a touchdown, came with Reddick and Simmons holding the edges.

“Jalen (Hurts) had really hurt New Orleans by getting outside and making plays outside of the pocket,” Kingsbury said of that linebacker tandem.

“So we knew we wanted to try to avoid that and make him step up or try to contain him in the pocket. When you have two guys who can basically run with any player on the field in Haason and Isaiah, it definitely gives you the ability to chase those guys down when they do get out and try to make a play.”

Fitz: Demanding in a way you wouldn’t think

While Larry Fitzgerald’s corner end zone catch made highlight reels because he’d yet to score a touchdown this season, nobody is accusing him of demanding that the Cardinals help him break the dry spell.

Chase Edmonds alerted Kyler Murray that the future Hall of Famer had yet to catch a touchdown this year, and Murray found an opportunity to make it happen.

That doesn’t mean Fitzgerald isn’t demanding in other ways.

He asked Arizona to run one gadget play that required him to swoop across the backfield to block for Edmonds.

Fitz lead blocking for Chase Edmonds. Doing everything for his squad 💪 @LarryFitzgerald @AZCardinals

📺 #PHIvsAZ on FOX pic.twitter.com/aAeCIdoULl

— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) December 20, 2020

“He asked for those plays,” Kingsbury said. “He actually was calling for that play before saying he thought that was a good look for it, so we called it.

“To have one of the best ever — if not the best ever — wide receivers out there diving trying to cut people for the running back is pretty spectacular at his age. You saw the impact he had, that catch was phenomenal for the touchdown. But it’s those things that he does that really endears himself to his teammates and his coaches that get to see it each and every day.”

Aqib Talib on the call

FOX brought former All-Pro cornerback Aqib Talib into the studio for his second call as an NFL analyst, and his presence went noticed for reasons good and bad.

Maybe it was unrefined — there were complaints of his overuse of the word, “man” — but it was refreshing and fun. It was honest and from the perspective of a player not far removed from the complexities of the current NFL.

Talib made it clear how he feels about the Houston Texans trading DeAndre Hopkins. He broke down plays and coverages.

Even when he misspoke, slurring Kyler Murray’s name as “calimari,” it turned into an excellent meme.

Give the man more reps.

Oh, Aqib Talib? I had no idea.
Well…I rather listen to Aqib than Cris Collinsworth or Booger McFarland.#AqibTalib #Eagles #flyeaglesfly #foxsports #PHIvsAZ pic.twitter.com/zgXegy2f1E

— AC Junior 😷 (@CamJunior1972) December 20, 2020

Aqib Talib blasted the Texans trading DeAndre Hopkins to the Cardinals and cited on air that it was the reason why Bill O’Brien does not have a job in Houston today. Commentary that you normally don’t hear on today’s NFL broadcasts. pic.twitter.com/cbvOCbir1A

— Gershon Rabinowitz (@GershOnline) December 21, 2020

I find a lot of joy knowing Bill O’Brien is somewhere watching this DeAndre Hopkins highlight with Aqib Talib’s commentary pic.twitter.com/L6FhG2j0L9

— Master (@MasterTes) December 21, 2020

pic.twitter.com/fGi5TcCxmN

— No Context Arizona Cardinals (@NoContextCards) December 21, 2020

Now how am I supposed to compete with this? ⁦@AqibTalib21⁩ GQ holiday edition for Eagles at Cardinals on ⁦@NFLonFOX⁩ pic.twitter.com/RGQObmJKL6

— Brandon Gaudin (@BrandonGaudin) December 20, 2020

Injury update

The Cardinals did not have an update on the status of Gardeck on Monday. He left the game in the fourth quarter on a cart.

Follow @kzimmermanaz