Herm Edwards on Cardinals rookie CB: ‘When you’re out on that island, it’s lonely’

During the Cardinals’ Sunday night loss to the New England Patriots, an obvious weakness for the Cardinals was not only exposed but dragged to the forefront of the game: The secondary.

Brandon Williams, the rookie out of Texas A&M who started off his college as a running back, was the team’s starting cornerback opposite Patrick Peterson going into Week 1. Well, he looked like a rookie.

Patriots backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo targeted Williams eight times and connected on four catches for 74 yards, including a broken-coverage play that led to a 37-yard touchdown.

Former head coach and NFL cornerback Herm Edwards joined Doug and Wolf on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Tuesday and said the Cardinals must do their best to support Williams.

“You got to put him in a position to have some success, and at times you’re going to have to help him so he can make some plays, because the one thing about playing that position — when you’re out on that island, it’s lonely, and you have to have selective memory,” Edwards said.

Especially with the Cardinals’ defensive scheme, there is pressure on cornerbacks, who are expected to play one-on-one coverage as the front-seven brings heat against the opposing quarterback. But to help out a young player, they may have to bring safety coverage in support.

With arguably the best corner in the league opposite Williams, the rookie has to get used to the opposing offense throwing his way multiple times during a game. The key is recovering from a bad play and not letting it become a series of mistakes, Edwards said.

“One thing you don’t want, you don’t want that quarterback to come to the line of scrimmage and you see single-safety high, and all of a sudden he says, blue-21 blue-21, check, 22, 22; that means man, they’re coming over there to you,” Edwards said. “Two things are going to happen. Either you’re going to stop it or they’re going to run you out of the league.”

The only thing left for to do is to step up and make plays, because as much as the Cardinals may try to help him, there will be situations where he’s all alone, Edwards said. It isn’t all on the 24-year-old from Houston, however.

The coaches are in the same boat as Williams. When he does poorly, it reflects on the coaching staff, Edwards said.Adjustments have to be made or the other team may just have their way with Williams.

Adjustments have to be made or the other team may just have their way with Williams.

“After that happens one time and you realize what they’re doing to you, you as a coordinator, defensively, you gotta go, ‘hey look, we gotta help this guy,’ ” Edwards said. “Let’s don’t sit here and think this is going away. We got to solve the problem, and that’s the whole key, the coaching.”

The Cardinals are confident in Williams’ skills, and they believe he can be another third-round pick. He is still learning how to play the position and the growing pains — like the blown-coverage play — are going to happen.

But it’s also on Arizona to help its rookie.