The Packers exposed Cardinals' biggest weakness caused by J.J. Watt's absence
When the Green Bay Packers beat the Arizona Cardinals in Thursday Night Football, what looked like a single loss may have done a lot of damage for the remaining games of the Cardinals' season. And that has nothing to do with Kyler Murray's ankle injury in the end.
Arizona lost star defensive end J.J. Watt for the remainder of the season, and what had looked like an easy game for the Cardinals as the Packers were without their top three wideouts, became a nightmare as Green Bay exploited the opponent's biggest weakness over and over again on Thursday night.
The Cardinals can't defend the run without J.J. Watt
Arizona are 7-1, but there's a major problem with their defense.
Everyone knew that the Packers would run all night long because Aaron Rodgers had nobody to throw the ball to. The Cardinals had all the information needed to prepare for Green Bay's gameplan. Still, the visitors were able to take advantage of that matchup because Arizona had no answer even if they knew what was coming.
@whynot138 I disagree. Taking away an elite interior pass rusher against the Packers interior OL is huge, especially because Rodgers has been great from clean pockets. And not having Watt hurts the run defense. It’s a big deal!
4.4 yards per carry over 34 rushes is a fantastic number, and the longest carry had only 16 yards. Case in point: Green Bay were able to take advantage of the matchup in a consistent way simply based on talent. It wasn't a surprise. It wasn't scheme. It was simply execution.
Now, one can argue that the Cardinals defense was already bad against the run, but if Watt had played in the game, it's guaranteed that he'd have wrecked the Packers' game plan to run the ball. Watt was playing at a very high level since moving to Arizona, and he would be constantly wrecking Green Bay's backfield as the visitors have problems with the interior of the offensive line.
How serious does an injury have to be to sideline #AZCardinals DE JJ Watt? Sources say he actual tore his labrum, his bicep, and his rotator cuff — and dislocated his shoulder. Watt was playing some of his best football and helped change the culture for the undefeated AZ team.
Aaron Jones finished with 59 yards and a touchdown over 15 carries. AJ Dillon, the power back, was even better: 78 yards over 16 carries. It was great execution from the Packers.
Can the run defense come back to bite the Cardinals this season?
It's not a guarantee, but it's certainly a problem. With the offense that Arizona possess, the Cardinals will rarely play from behind in scoring, which means their opponents will have to pass the ball more.
But when teams take an early lead and start running the ball to run down the clock, well, good luck, Arizona. As of now, only the Los Angeles Chargers (5.4) have a worse run defense in yards per carry (the Cardinals have 4.9). We saw how much of a beating the Chargers took when they faced the Baltimore Ravens and their strong rushing offense.
It's a big concern that Kliff Kingsbury has to address if he wants to compete for something bigger this season.
Also Read: What is J.J Watt's Contract Breakdown?