Arizona Cardinals running game takes another hit

After the Arizona Cardinals running game seemingly was getting back on track, it hit a brick wall on Sunday in New Orleans

The New Orleans Saints defense is good but they flat out stood up the Arizona Cardinals rushing offense on Sunday.  The Cardinals ruled out running back David Johnson and left him inactive for the game.

Johnson has been battling a back issue for a few weeks.  He will also miss Thursday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers.

His backup, Chase Edmonds has started to see more time.  Last week he ran the ball 27 times for 126-yards and 3 touchdowns.  He had 2 touchdowns against the Cincinnati Bengals 3 weeks ago.

However the Cardinals offense sputtered again on Sunday against the Saints.  The run game was non-existent.  Then to make matters worse, Edmonds got hurt on his 4th and 1 attempt that fell short.  He injured his hamstring.

So that now leaves a huge question mark for their next game just days away.  The Cardinals used recent pickup Zach Zenner after Edmonds left.  He had 1 carry as the team at that point was left to throwing the ball after falling far behind.

Edmonds carried the ball 7 times for just 8-yards.  That won’t get it done.  The best rushing play of the game came from receiver Christian Kirk for 19-yards.

The other pickup this week at running back for the Cardinals, Alfred Morris, was inactive on Sunday as well.  If Edmonds can’t go, he certainly would be active on Thursday night. The Cardinals other running back, D.J. Foster, was also inactive nursing his injury.

Murray also didn’t help matters only running 2 times on Sunday.  They do want him to throw the ball more but there should be more than 2 carries for a guy that can move the sticks with his legs.

It will be an interesting few days to see how all this plays out.  The 49ers run defense, well, they are pretty darn good too.  It doesn’t get any easier.