Cardinals LB Markus Golden, Chandler Jones ‘hunting’ opposing QBs

TEMPE, Ariz. — Together, they account for 80 percent of the Arizona Cardinals’ sack total.

They, linebackers Markus Golden and Chandler Jones, have given the Cardinals the one thing the team hasn’t had in recent memory: consistency in getting after the quarterback, at least here through the first quarter of the season.

With a sack each against the Los Angeles Rams, Jones and Golden became the first players in franchise history to record at least one sack in each of the first four games of a season.

For the record, Jones accomplished the feat first, dropping Case Keenum in the third quarter. Golden reached the milestone one possession later.

“We’re just out there hunting,” Golden said. “We’re just working hard; just doing our job, doing what we worked on in camp and it’s working right now. We just got to keep it going.”

In training camp, if you saw one, you most certainly saw the other. The pair were rarely separated with Golden, now in his second season, following every move of Jones, a five-year veteran.

They have taken that follow-the-leader approach into the season, where for two straight weeks Golden has followed Jones with a sack.

The order was reversed in the season’s first two games.

“It’s a blessing that we both have four sacks in four games. We wish we could have more wins,” Jones said Tuesday. “It’s not a competition at all; we’re just always pushing each other to get better.”

This week, the challenge before Golden and Jones is San Francisco quarterback Blaine Gabbert, one of the more elusive signal-callers. He’s been sacked just three times this season.

Gabbert, who leads the NFL’s 30^th-best offense, is well aware of Nos. 55 and 44.

“Yeah, Chandler Jones is taller (6-foot-5) and Markus is just a little shorter (6-foot-3), but they’re both talented guys. They love to rush the passer,” he said, speaking to reporters on a conference call. “They’re both physical against the run and those are the guys that they lean on in passing situations.”

Last week against the Rams, Jones, specifically, lined all over the defensive front, including tackle, where he spent much of his time when playing for New England the previous four seasons. All of that was by design, according to defensive coordinator James Bettcher.

“Trying to get him off some of the chips on the perimeter, trying to line him up inside to try to create some 1-on-1s. Ran some games with him inside and obviously we felt like it was really effective,” the coach said. “Each and every week we’re going to do whatever we got to do for both of those guys to try and help them get some 1-on-1s and continuing to develop our rush.”

The Cardinals sacked the quarterback 35 times in 2015, finishing in the lower-third in the league.

Pass rush then became a priority in the offseason, and why the Cardinals were willing to part with their 2016 second-round pick (61^st overall) plus former first-round draft choice, offensive guard Jonathan Cooper, to acquire Jones.

Through four games, Jones not only is tied with Golden for the team-lead in sacks, but his eight quarterback hits and six quarterback pressures are also team-highs.

Against the Rams, Jones had his best pass rushing performance of the season with one sack, one hit and four hurries on 32 pass-rush snaps, according to Pro Football Focus.

“When it comes to stats,” he said, “I’ll wait until like the bye week or later in the season to start thinking about stats because I feel like if you get too caught up to like what you’re doing here or this is how many tackles I got, this is how many pressures I got, it starts turning to a downfall. You start worrying about stats more than playing the game and winning the game.

“My biggest thing is just trying to be better every week and hopefully letting those better games stack.”

The Cardinals need Jones, and Golden, to have another one of those better games Thursday against the 49ers.

The sack numbers are nice, yes, but it’s getting that quarterback off his spot and making him feel uncomfortable in the pocket that will really set the tone defensively.

“(They) are definitely pinning their ears back up front,” cornerback Patrick Peterson said. “That’s very, very pleasant as a defensive back to see your front getting after the quarterback. It shows that you have an opportunity to get your hands on balls. Those guys are definitely setting the tone each and every time it’s a passing situation because we know we don’t have to blitz as much as we used to. Now we know we can play a little bit more coverage, get more eyes on the quarterback to hopefully to get the balls in our hands.

“I hope they can get a sack a game. That’s what, 32, total, so that would be great for us.”

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