Three trickeries the Arizona Cardinals will face in week nine
By Sion Fawkes
Defensive unit versus the quick-strike offense
Tagovailoa only had 22 pass attempts, completing 12 of them for just 93 yards and a touchdown. You look at his pedestrian numbers and they’re laughable. Except when you realize he and the Dolphins jumped out to a big lead and never let go.
One reason rested with the quick-strike offense, allowing Tagovailoa to beat the Rams pass rush time and again and among others, defensive tackle Aaron Donald. And it worked, as Tua was sacked just once and turned the ball over on his second play from scrimmage. Other than that, the quick-strike approach held the Rams pass rush at bay.
The Cardinals are building a reputation from their solid pass rush, which has kept opposing quarterbacks not named Russell Wilson contained. And they even stepped up late in the week seven thriller against Seattle to make Wilson uncomfortable.
The Dolphins approach will force Patrick Peterson, Byron Murphy, and company to creep up and get physical with Miami’s receivers at the line. If the corners can throw off timing between the Dolphins receivers and Tagovailoa, it will give the pass rush a chance to make a play in the backfield or force Tagovailoa into making a bad decision with the ball.