‘Every play is like his last’: Cardinals’ scouting report on Cam Skattebo sounds about right

TEMPE — Just about everyone in the Valley knows what New York Giants running back Cam Skattebo is all about from his time as an Arizona State Sun Devil.

And although the Arizona Cardinals have yet to see the running back in action on Sundays, they know full well what the running back is about ahead of the two sides meeting in Week 4.

 

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“I’m glad I don’t have to tackle him. He’s a big boy and our guys know that,” head coach Mike LaFleur said Wednesday. “I have a lot of respect for his game. I don’t know him personally, but he’s a load. We got our hands full.”

Coming off a brutal ankle injury last year that ended his rookie season eight games in, Skattebo hasn’t lost any of his bruising style of play.

Through three starts, Skattebo is up to 177 yards and a touchdown on 50 carries. He’s added seven catches (eight targets) for 59 yards.

And as always, contact is welcomed, with Skattebo gaining 92.3% of his career rushing yards after contact, according to Next Gen Stats. Dating back to last season, that percentage ranks third among running backs with at least 75 carries.

Last week’s win over the Tennessee Titans was a prime example of that. Skattebo recorded a season-high 74 yards after contact. He also generated 19 yards off of six missed tackles.

“Physical, downhill, hard playing. It’s what you think,” defensive coordinator Nick Rallis said Thursday. “He just doesn’t go down easy. Every play is like his last play. I got a lot of respect for a ball carrier like that.”

Skattebo’s yet another tough challenge for a Cardinals defense that has struggled with getting running backs to the ground on first contact.

Entering play this week, Arizona is allowing the sixth-most yards after contact to opposing RBs at 255, per Next Gen Stats. The Cardinals have also recorded 19 missed tackles for 69 yards.

That inability to get runners down was on display this past week in Arizona’s loss to San Francisco.

“There was a handful of plays that we need to be a little bit better at, whether that’s our angle in, and honestly the biggest thing was just not wrapping up at times,” Rallis said. “We talk about getting on hamstrings or gator-roll tackling and there was a couple we left on the table that led to some hidden yardage. … We got to execute that better.”

That they do with a bowling ball of a human in Skattebo, whose helmet couldn’t even hang with his rough running style last week, up next.

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