Trey Benson, Emari Demercado impacting Cardinals-Bears in big way

GLENDALE — The Arizona Cardinals offense goes as James Conner goes. That’s been a common theme throughout most of the season.

Keyword: Most.

While Conner is chewing up yards — racking up another 100-yard day by the third quarter — it’s the pair of young running backs in Trey Benson and Emari Demercado that are finishing the job of their starter.

Conner may have the yards, but it’s Benson and Demercado with the back-to-back scores.

Benson found pay dirt first between the two, capping off a 12-play, 63-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run. That’s the rookie’s first career NFL touchdown.

.@AZCardinals rookie RB Trey Benson takes the carry in for his first career NFL TD!

📺: #CHIvsAZ on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/W9HRN9YnfN

— NFL (@NFL) November 3, 2024

It’s an encouraging sign for the rookie, who had flashed few and far between heading into the matchup.

Benson finished the day with eight carries for 37 yards and the score.

But it was Demercado that really put an exclamation point on the first half for Arizona.

Sitting in no man’s land on Arizona’s 47-yard line with 12 seconds to go in the half, all signs pointed to a best-case scenario of a long field goal if the Cardinals offense could pick up another chunk of yards.

That was until Demercado got the rock and proceeded to blow by defenders and the target line on his way to a 53-yard touchdown.

EMARI DEMERCADO 53-YARD TD!

📺: #CHIvsAZ on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/B7dXbOt3Fu

— NFL (@NFL) November 3, 2024

The two scores were huge in building a cushion heading into halftime, with Arizona up 21-9 on Chicago.

Demercado finished the afternoon with 59 yards and the score on four carries.

“We all know what they’re capable of,” quarterback Kyler Murray said postgame. “James gets a lot of touches, so it’s tough for a lot of them to have to sit and watch at times, but that’s just what it is. When their numbers are called make it happen, and they did that today.”

Don’t forget about Trey McBride

Benson wasn’t the only Trey to find the end zone on the ground on Sunday.

Tight end Trey McBride capped off a scoring drive with a two-yard TD run in the first quarter.

Safe to say it was Trey Day!

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