How can Cardinals bounce back in Week 5 after ugly loss to Commanders?

TEMPE — The Arizona Cardinals’ 42-14 loss to the Washington Commanders on Sunday can be summed up in one word:

Awful.

Outgained, outplayed and outmatched, the Cardinals have little to stand on from Sunday’s shellacking.

But for as ugly as that home loss was for the 1-3 Cardinals, head coach Jonathan Gannon remains confident that Week 4’s score isn’t indicative of where his team currently stands ahead of their matchup against the San Francisco 49ers.

“I told (the team) today, you have a game like that and you think you’ve got to blow it all up, tear it all down and we’re so far away. We’re really not,” Gannon said Monday. “We’re close but not there yet with how the last game went.

“If I didn’t think we’re close, I would change it all, but I don’t think that response by me (is) the right thing to do,” the head coach added. “We’re not that far off. We just have to play and coach a little bit better.”

Despite no wholesale changes incoming, Gannon acknowledges tweaks are needed if the Cardinals hope to buck the losing trend in the Bay Area.

A look at some of the biggest:

Third downs all around

No matter how you shake it, the Cardinals have not been good on third down since wrecking the Los Angeles Rams in Week 2.

After watching the Detroit Lions convert 50% of their third-down tries (6-for-12) across a 20-13 loss, the Cardinals defense saw that number balloon to 75% (9-for-12) against the Commanders on Sunday.

On the other side of the rock, Arizona’s offense has fallen flat on converting, going 1-for-9 (11%) and 4-for-11 (36%), respectively, in each of the past two weeks.

Had it not been for three conversions late — when the game was well out of reach — that last number would have been much worse.

For both sides of the football, the issues don’t start with the inability to find success of third down. They begin on the downs before it.

Last week, the Cardinals had just three third-and-short opportunities out of eight tries before the game was out of hand. Only one of those was converted.

The other five times had an average distance of 16 yards. None of them were picked up.

“I always point out before third down. … We’ve got to do a better on job on first and second down, and then third down we’ve got to execute and stay on the field to convert so we can stay on the field and get drives moving,” Gannon said Monday.

“I know that any offense — in Pop Warner to the NFL — has a better chance converting when it’s third-and-manageable, so we have to do a better job there.”

It was the flip side defensively, with the Commanders converting their first five third downs of four yards or shorter for firsts. Those conversions helped lead to a pair of touchdowns and allowed rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels to get that much more comfortable on the road.

Arizona was able to get Washington into less advantageous third-down looks the rest of the game, with only two coming at five yards or fewer. But even then, the Commanders still converted five of their final seven.

The Arizona Cardinals defense has to do a better job of getting off the field on third down.

DC Nick Rallis on how his unit can do that moving forward: pic.twitter.com/tyFTMeG1Fb

— Cardinals Corner (@AZCardsCorner) October 1, 2024

“We got to get off the field a little bit more on third down. There are a lot of factors that play into that. The more you can make that third and longer, the better,” defensive coordinator Nick Rallis said Tuesday.

“But ultimately, it’s going to come down to, what’s the plan? Is the plan good or does it need to be better? Are we executing if it was the right call or are we not executing? It’s all those things week to week of setting up the plan the right way and executing at a high level.”

If the Cardinals want to have a chance against the Niners, who have the seventh-highest conversion rate allowed (46%) and the sixth-highest rate (44.7%) on offense, it starts with improving on third down.

Gashed on the ground

Gannon said it best last week after watching the Lions rush for 187 yards and a touchdown in the Cardinals’ Week 3 loss.

“You’re not going to win many games if a team rushes for a buck-80,” he said last Monday.

And you’re definitely not going to win many games giving up 216 yards and four scores like the Cardinals did against the Commanders.

The unit has had no answer for opposing running backs in recent weeks. And with injuries continuing to pile up — one being Justin Jones’ season-ending triceps issue — the run defense continues to get tested.

Through four games, the Cardinals sit 27th in run defense, allowing 146.5 yard per game.

And against a 49ers team that continues to flex its muscles in the run game, with or without star running back Christian McCaffrey, that spells bad news for the Cardinals unless they can patch up the leaky defense.

“(The 49ers run game) complements very well from how they set up their wide zone to how they complement their inside run game,” Rallis said Tuesday. “It all looks very similar to a defensive lineman. A back side cutoff is actually now a backside deuce. … And then all of sudden, it’s getting washed and their creasing you.

“It all syncs up very well and what they can create in wide zone is short edges and they can really capture your edge very well. That coupled with the inside runs that complement and look the same to the defense is ultimately what I think they do really well.”

Help could be on the way, though.

Now four games into the season, rookie defensive lineman Darius Robinson is eligible to be designated to return from injured reserve.

If he can get activated within his three-week practice window after that, the rookie should instantly find himself within the rotation if not a starting role and give Arizona’s a noticeable upgrade.

Getting rotation piece Khyiris Tonga should also help lighten the load for a room that has seen increases in defensive snaps since Jones went down and the rotation shrunk.

A full four quarters from Marv

Rookie wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. has come a long way from his Week 1 showing of one catch for three yards, reeling in 14 of his 25 targets for 239 yards and four touchdowns across the past three weeks.

In Gannon’s eyes, Harrison’s ascension continued against the Commanders, with the head coach telling Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo that he felt the rookie “really took a step” in the loss.

Offensive coordinator Drew Petzing doubled down on his head coach’s thinking on Tuesday.

Arizona has succeeded in getting Harrison more involved as of late. Now, it’s about doing it across four quarters.

While Harrison is averaging about eight targets per game these last three weeks, he continues to do most of his damage in the first quarter of games behind nine catches (12 targets) for 177 yards and all four of his touchdowns.

The remaining quarters, Harrison has six catches for 66 yards.

This past week was no different, with the rookie seeing just two targets in the final three quarters after four in the first two drives of the afternoon.

“I felt that, too. We have to get our best players the ball,” Murray said after the loss to the Commanders. “When we’re doing good you feel that. You feel like, ‘OK. The playmakers are making plays and everything’s flowing.’ But when it’s stagnant and you’re going three-and-out … we started a drive with two holding penalties, it’s tough to make that up.

“When you can’t get in rhythm and you’re off the field, everybody’s stats are going to look like that. That’s how the game goes.”

So, why has Harrison largely been a no-show as games roll on?

One big factor has to do with Arizona’s performance on third down, as mentioned above.

Arizona Cardinals OC Drew Petzing agrees with his head coach:

Marvin Harrison Jr. had one of his best games as a pro in Sunday’s loss to the Commanders.

So why did the wideout (again) go quiet as the game went on?

Petzing explains: pic.twitter.com/AZYrHsPr0i

— Tyler Drake (@Tdrake4sports) October 1, 2024

“I think a big portion of that the past two weeks is we haven’t been able to stay on the field,” Petzing said Tuesday.

“If you’re not converting on money downs (third downs), you’re getting less plays in those areas. In (the second and third quarters), we’ve struggled to convert on third down. We’re getting less opportunities at the plate and I think that’s a big part of it.”

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