Arizona Cardinals run game off to concerning start 2 games in

GLENDALE — While there is a lot to be excited about with the offensive potential of the Arizona Cardinals, the unit is going nowhere until it figures out the ground game. Through two weeks, Arizona grades amongst the worst in the NFL, and a 31-7 loss on Sunday was an upset in the making had the Cardinals been able to manage an effective rushing attack.

The Cardinals got 14 carries for 39 yards from the duo of Jeremiyah Love and Tyler Allgeier. Outside of carries of eight and nine yards from Love uncoincidentally on Arizona’s lone touchdown drive, there were no signs of life on the ground. Love rushed it nine times for 29 yards and Allgeier was limited to 10 yards off his five carries.

It goes without saying that a bad day against Seattle’s elite defense that ranked first by a wide margin in EPA allowed per rush last year does not provide the best indicator of the Cardinals’ possible long-term issues in that department. Two-week sample sizes are dangerous to lean on in any facet too. But this happening two weeks in a row does flash back to 2025, when Arizona’s 2-0 start was mired in part by a bad rushing effort against two of the worst defenses in the league.

In Week 1, the Cardinals were tied for 28th in rushing success rate, per Next Gen Stats. And that was with Love having a handful of carries where he got an extra yard or two on a run that was going nowhere. They were ninth in rushing yards over expected at +10, which was a +10 from Love, +7 from Jacoby Brissett and a -7 from Allgeier.

Arizona’s struggles in the first half offensively on Sunday were somewhat defined by failures in the running game. On second or third down with three yards or less to go, Love was stuffed twice for negative yardage, and it happened once to Allgeier on 3rd-and-1 a minute into the game. All three led to punts, and of Arizona’s first five full drives in the opening two quarters, four ended in punts. All four of those combined for 15 plays and 30 yards.

Brissett covered for similar issues in L.A. by converting 15 first downs through the air, and all six third-down successes were either because of his legs or arm. That is not a sustainable long-term formula, and Sunday showed.

In the first half, the Cardinals had three first downs on passes and went 2-for-8 on third down.

This was across a first half in which Seattle would have had just 102 yards on 29 plays had you wiped away Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s 82-yard cakewalk of a touchdown. In other words, it was a tremendous waste of an offensive performance considering how the defense made a Drew Lock-led offense look like a Drew Lock-led offense.

“We had some opportunity, particularly in the first half. … In the second half, there was no fluidity,” Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur said, later noting how Arizona’s failures in short downs set the Cardinals up for losses in momentum.

If you are a believer in momentum, it felt like whoever snatched it first in the second half would be the winner. Seattle’s goofy 62-yard kick return followed by four plays in 37 yards for a touchdown was the initial grasp, and Arizona would need a healthy drive to re-stabilize.

LaFleur didn’t run it once in three plays, and Brissett tossed an interception on third down that gave the Seahawks the ball at Arizona’s 44-yard line. A Seahawks field goal then made it 17-7 Seattle halfway through the third quarter.

The ensuing drive then had a first-down carry of three yards for Love and a first-down carry of two yards for Allgeier. It lasted six plays before another punt, this time at 3:13 to go in the third quarter.

At that point, Seattle hadn’t had a legitimate drive all game long. You knew we’d eventually see one, and that came due across 10 plays and 80 yards for Smith-Njigba’s third touchdown grab of the day to send us into garbage time. The Seahawks put together one more for good measure and dominated the second half 24-0. Smith-Njigba had 155 yards to the Cardinals’ 151.

The passing game was particularly putrid as well, deserving a fair share of the blame for this stinker. Brissett regressed significantly after his most confident and well-executed start as a member of the Cardinals, going 17-of-28 for 98 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He was either slightly or way off on most of those incompletions, taking a major step back in how he handled pressure. Marvin Harrison Jr. has one catch through two weeks.

Whichever part of the offense you want to blame more, it’s the side of the ball Arizona is supposed to win through, and no matter how much the defense overachieves, it will eventually crumble as it did on Sunday if the offense is that ineffective. Avoiding these types of snowballings will be immensely easier with some semblance of a running game. We will soon learn if this was just a blip against two defenses with a high reputation or is a season-long trend.

Related

Cardinals crash back down to earth with home-opening loss to SeahawksCBs Max Melton, Will Johnson exit Cardinals-Seahawks with injuriesCardinals legend, Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald throws out first pitch at Diamondbacks gameRoy Lopez, Isaiah Adams active for Cardinals-SeahawksCardinals to play on ‘Rivalries’ field design to match with uniforms in home openerCardinals mailbag: Just how surprising was Kendrick Bourne’s production?