What the Cardinals must do to avoid embarrassing loss to Texans
The Arizona Cardinals really only have one weakness on defense.
That one weakness is located smack dab in the center of the defensive line. Anything between the 3 techniques of Vance Joseph’s defense has been one of the main ways to move the ball against the Arizona Cardinals. Joseph’s base 3-4 defense often vacates the middle of the defensive line and leaves that for his linebackers to assign.
The best example of this was Week 2 against the Minnesota Vikings and Dalvin Cook, and last week against the Cleveland Browns and Kareem Hunt. Before both running backs got hurt, the two of them were moving the ball right up in the middle and gaining good chunks of yardage with each rush.
The Houston Texans run game is their identity. It’s the reason they have an unheard of five running backs on their roster. Four of them have seen playing time, with their best outing coming in Week 1 against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
This is the only way the Texans can compete with the Cardinals – by playing “keep away” and controlling time of possession. Houston has had injuries on their offensive line in the past few weeks, so the recent returns haven’t been good from their rushing attack.
Arizona Cardinals get ready to see an old face in David Johnson
Often referred to as the guy who was traded for DeAndre Hopkins, David Johnson makes his return to Glendale. Despite Johnson trying to get back to his glory days with Arizona, he has not produced at all in Houston.
So much so that Texans fans on Twitter were wondering why Johnson wasn’t released when they heard that longtime defensive end/linebacker Whitney Mercilus was recently let go after 10 seasons with the team.
Johnson remains Houston’s primary pass-catching option out of the backfield while Mark Ingram does most toting of the rock on the ground. This won’t even be close to a revenge game for Johnson as the Cardinals should win big on Sunday.
Must Read. Why the Cardinals can win the Super Bowl. light
Welcome back, David, and thanks for bringing Hopkins and eventually J.J. Watt to the desert.