Cardinals struggle in the running game for the first time this season
Oct 18, 2015, 4:07 PM | Updated: Oct 19, 2015, 8:37 am
Arizona Cardinals running back Chris Johnson (23) run away from Pittsburgh Steelers inside linebacker Lawrence Timmons (94) the first quarter an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2015 in Pittsburgh. The Arizona Cardinals got the ball on the two yard line. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Despite 414 passing yards, the Arizona Cardinals offense only put up 13 points in a 25-13 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and some of that had to do with the running game.
For the first time this season, the Cardinals failed to reach 100 yards rushing. After 100+ yard performances for five straight weeks and averaging 4.8, 4.1, 3.8, 5.4, and 7.5 yards per carry, the Cardinals rushing attack amounted to only 55 yards and 2.8 yards per carry.
“We never really got the run game going well like we had the rest of the season,” Larry Fitzgerald told the media.
There wasn’t much splitting of the carries, with Chris Johnson out-touching Andre Ellington and David Johnson 14-4.
Chris Johnson was ineffective with those touches. If you take out his 11-yard carry in the first quarter, he had only 29 yards on 13 carries.
“It seems the things we set out minds out to get going, we find a way to get it going, for instance, the run game. That’s something we set our minds out to get going. We were in a situation where we were just throwing the ball there and weren’t running the ball,” Carson Palmer told the media.
That’s something you can imagine the Cardinals will look to correct for their upcoming Monday night game against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 7. Ravens opponents average 100.4 yards rushing per game entering Week 6.
