NFL analyst Mark Schlereth: Cardinals DC Nick Rallis can only do so much

Amid increasingly loud calls from Cardinals fans for changes at quarterback, defensive coordinator and general manager, NFL analyst Mark Schlereth on Wednesday echoed a point made by Arizona Ring of Honor member Adrian Wilson on Tuesday:

Defensive coordinator Nick Rallis can only accomplish so much given the team he coaches.

The Cardinals opted not to make sweeping personnel changes after a fourth straight loss in which they allowed at least 30 points, despite head coach Mike LaFleur fielding questions about the possibility. Arizona let in 45 points at home on Sunday against the Detroit Lions, which paired with a Marvin Harrison Jr. trade to drum up even more fan frustration.

Wilson’s point on Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta was that the scheme has not been the issue as much as the lack of high-level talent to execute it. Whether drafting, talent acquisition, development or all of the above are culprits, the unit does not have “an elite player,” Wilson said.

Schlereth went further.

“Defensively, man, they were putting it on Detroit for the first half of that game for the most part,” Schlereth told Bickley & Marotta. “And then all of a sudden, you don’t have enough depth. This is part of a rebuilding team. You don’t have enough depth and enough quality players to overcome a really piss-poor offensive performance because eventually they’ll wear you down. And that’s kind of what happened.”

The Cardinals worked a trio of 3-and-outs from the Lions to start the game before the wheels fell off. After an opening-drive touchdown, Arizona’s offense went 3-and-out for five straight possessions, and the defense eventually bent and broke into hundreds of little pieces.

Schlereth called the blitz Arizona ran in the opening series, when Budda Baker sacked Jared Goff for a loss of 12 yards, brilliant as an argument that Rallis can come up with effective schemes.

“They ran Budda Baker across the field like he was going from one side to the other for the passing strength,” Schlereth said. “And as soon as the ball was snapped, he’s shooting up the middle with that double A-gap blitz, and they’re dropping off the defensive ends. I’ve never in all my years of studying this game, which is 26 now as an analyst and playing this game 12 before that, I had never, ever seen that blitz. I was like, ‘Wow.'”

When a defense struggles as much as Arizona has, the coordinator gets thrown into the spotlight. Rallis is also a holdover from the Jonathan Gannon coaching staff after he was fired, and the defense did not have much success last year, either.

To be fair, the 30-point streak would have been snapped against the New York Giants had quarterback Jacoby Brissett not thrown a pick-6 at the end of the game, and perhaps had he not been intercepted in his own territory during the second quarter to lead to a go-ahead touchdown.

The Cardinals were up 14-3 against the Giants and blew it, as Arizona has not allowed more than seven points in any first quarter five games in.

This does not take Rallis off the hook or even the hot seat if that is the case. His name is attached to team allowing the most points per game in the NFL, a unit that has been taken advantage of as games progress. But the struggles have been a complete organizational failure, an argument for how much removing the play-caller will really help in the short-term until more fundamental changes are made.

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