IN GOOD HANDS: Arizona Cardinals Make Best Case of Bad Injury Scenario, Nick Rallis Leading Charge

IN GOOD HANDS: Arizona Cardinals Make Best Case of Bad Injury Scenario, Nick Rallis Leading Charge

The Arizona Cardinals defense may be missing some pieces moving forward, but one thing is for certain above all else, the defense is in good hands with Niger and Jonathan Cannon. Let’s discuss. [Music] You are Locked On Cardinals, your daily Arizona Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Cardinal, Alex Clancy here. Follow me on Twitter, Clansancy Corner. Follow the podcast at locked on AZ cards every day. What’s up, firsttime listeners? Hey, how’s it going? Come on in. The water’s warm. Listen, man. Uh, it’s been a weird last 72 hours after what we experienced in week two against Carolina. How the game ended, the injuries, which we’re still TBD about again. Like chances are we’re not going to see Garrett Williams again this year. Again, I’m not a doctor. You hope that’s not the case, but for people who are thinking, “Oh, they’re looking for second and third options.” We’re way past that, man. We’re way past that. I know there’s some sort of competitive edge, whatever it is, but the Cardinals also have a fiduciary responsibility to tell people what the hell’s going on, and they haven’t yet. Um, above all else, the Cardinals defense isn’t broken yet, just like the offense isn’t broken yet that I discussed yesterday. For different reasons for the defense, though, which I’ll discuss. Um, the DB room is a disaster. I mean, I think it’s just we’re ripping the band-aid off. Uh, we’ll I’ll talk about that in the second segment. It’s it’s a it’s an abject disaster. Not because they’re not equipped to handle what’s happening, which they are, even though they shouldn’t be with their top five corners going down before the end of week two. They’re in a better position than they have been in a long time to be able to withstand this. With that said, it’s an absolute disaster, but the defense is in good hands with Nickles, and that’s what I’m going to start with. Today’s episode of Lockdown Cardinals is brought to you by Mazda. Like our players, we sweat every detail because when you make every move, every move count, um, pulling off the unexpected is only the beginning. Stay tuned later for highlights in this week’s moving the game forward. Mazda move and be moving. So Nick Rollis at this point, you got to believe in the guy, right? You got to believe in the guy. And I understand kind of the the push back a little bit on it because it’s just been in proof of concept form. He hasn’t had the talent necessary to really level up to that elite level DC on the field. They were, you know, middle of the pack last year with bottom five talent. Okay. So, when it comes to Nick Rollis leading the charge with Jonathan Ganon in there, obviously, you got to believe in what’s going on, right? You got to believe in what’s going on. I’ll talk about the the actual metrics of this year in just a second, but Nick Rollis has done nothing but prove that he can get the most out of the talent that he’s working with. His scheme, anybody that talks about the Cardinals defense, they say it’s crazy. They say it’s wonky. They say it’s, you know, it it’s exotic to say the least. That’s the the hot button, you know, term to use. But it doesn’t conform to rational wisdom. It doesn’t conform to uniformity. It’s just kind of different. And that’s great. There’s power in that if you have the talent that’s able to fulfill on it. And what the Cardinals have through a couple weeks are elite safeties. I think that’s safe to say. elite safeties. You’ve got now from maybe B minus C++ to BB B+ offball backers with AE Davis Gaither and M Wilson. There’s something special going on in the middle of the field and when they both rush the passer like ADG’s been he’s just the next one it seems like from Kazir White to M Wilson to ADG. Now they’re not pro bowlers but together they play pretty damn well. And then you talk about the defensive line and the edge rushers. Outside of Darius Robinson, who is statistically one of the worst NFL players through two weeks, they played pretty well. They played pretty well. Um, and it may not be flashy. It may not be, you know, uh, top tier sack numbers, but for example, this Kylo Odard, uh, friend of the show, wrote for the Cardinals for a long time. This was his tweet yesterday. Baron Browning’s pass rushing numbers through two games, 71.5, uh, PFF grade, that’s 28th out of 149. Uh, 10 pressures, which is sixth, eight hurries, which is second, and 26% win rate, which is ninth. And then um the uh uh Josh Sweat is I think 11th through two games in pass rush win rate. So like while it doesn’t look flashy, Nicorales is getting the guys to do it and and the and the the run the run defense up front has been good and the the pass defense has been great. So, I’m leaning on here, especially as we go into the great unknown of especially the next two weeks in San Francisco and at home against Seattle. The the the script the game script of the first two games were just absolutely bananas. They’re a banana sandwich. I think almost over 100 pass attempts in two weeks. How can you have human beings rush the passer that much? And I know that that’s also what inflates pressure rates, win rates, things like that. Maybe not win rates as much as pressure rates because you get more opportunities, you get more pressures. Like I understand that that’s that they coincide with each other. But if you told me the Cardinals weren’t going to go up against a team that threw the ball 40 times again this year, it’s like, yeah, okay, that’s right. That’s about right. So hundred times in the first two weeks was just crazy. The game scripts were insane. So as we kind of navigate through what the hell we witnessed in the first two weeks, there’s so many moving parts still. There’s so many like in a ven diagram. There’s so many different pieces of the pie that could gear towards fault, could gear towards positivity, could gear towards just whatever whatever else in the middle. So, the uncertainty surrounding this team as a whole, especially on the defense moving forward is predicated and has been predicated upon a weird game script, week one, which was kind of a preseason game, and playing against two bad teams. So, we’ll find out. Even though San Francisco is not what they were two years ago with with all the injuries and everything like that, M. Jones playing quarterback, it’s going to be a much better barometer check than what we’ve seen so far. Obviously, looming, I would assume, because of course news is going to drop as I’m recording the show. I waited until 9:00 this morning, like right after I record this, I’m posting it. Okay. I had to wait as long as I could because if there was information that dropped, I wanted to be able to talk about it and not have to, you know, throw away an episode cuz as of now, there’s no news. They did bring in a couple corners, a couple veteran journeyman guys, okay? No household names really. But one thing that is for certain that hasn’t been in years past is the Arizona Cardinals have a an absolute stud at DC. He sees outside the box. I think that comes with youth. You see outside of what just the traditional defenses that are run. Jonathan Ganon obviously he’s a DB guy, this defensive minded guy. And even though I spewed yesterday that the Cardinals offense needs to step the hell up, like, okay, oh, the defense is down a couple players. Okay, offense go. You’ve got a bunch of Pro Bowlers on there, go do it. You can’t be like, “Oh, the defense is defense is going to save the day again. I don’t care that they put all the money and all the draft capital in. They ran it back for a reason. It was good enough. Now go show it.” With that aside, you can take solace, or at least I believe that you could take solace in the fact that Nick Rollins and Jonathan Ganon have a clear hold on what’s best to do with this defense regardless of who’s suiting up on game day and who’s healthy on Sunday and moving forward because this isn’t just going to be a oneweek thing. Lockdown Cardinals, your team every day. The DB room is an abject disaster. What is it going to look like moving forward? We’ll discuss it next. This episode of Lockdown Cardinals is brought to you by Mazda’s moving the game forward. For those who believe it’s not just about playing the game, it’s about refining it. There are moments that do more than put points on the board. They move crowds, move culture, and keep moving the game forward. This week’s moment that moved the game forward is I’ll tell you what, it’s that the Cardinals actually won that game. Like, I know it’s kind of counterintuitive. It’s completely backwards, but for those that have been Cardinals fans or have been in the media space or whatever it is, anywhere in between for any sort of extended period of time knows that in years past, the Cardinals could have started 0 and2. So, the fact that they won that game, kept moving the game forward, and the game in this instance is just a season where you start 2 and 0, that definitely merits the highlight for this Mazda ad read. When you follow what moves you, the unexpected is only the beginning. And just like there’s more to every highlight, there’s more to a Mazda vehicle. Mazda, move and be move. Today’s episode of Lock Cardinals is also brought to you by the Game Time app. NFL season’s back, man. I talk about it every day. And honestly, there’s nothing better than being in the stadium surrounded by fans cheering on your team. 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So, you’re like, “Oh, this is what I’m going to see when I sit down if I buy these tickets.” It’s amazing. Download the Game Time app. Create an account. Use code locked on NFL for 20 bucks off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, promo code Loc for 20 bucks off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Download Game Time today. Please go to the YouTube channel and search locked down Arizona Cardinals. Hit that subscribe button, man. Turn notifications on. It’s Cardinal Squad Show tonight 6 o’clock Arizona time. Um and then immediately following the game, well immediately following me immediately following the game. Tomorrow, Crossover Thursday with Brian Peacock. Um locked on 49ers. Good friend of mine. We’ve been we’ve been doing these for this is the ninth season now. We’ve been doing crossovers. Uh Brian’s a good one. He’s always always poking fun at the Cardinals. He’s got that little bit of elitist Cardinal 49ers media member in him. And trust me, I let him know it. Uh the Cardinals DB room is a disaster. And that’s not like I this isn’t happy laughs. It’s just like how does this happen? How did we get here? Sean Murphy bunting Stling Thomas before the season started and then Max Melton, Garrett Williams, and Will Johnson towards the tail end of the week 2 win against Carolina. How did you get here? How does this happen? All five. So during this open and then you know the first couple minutes of the show I alluded to like the Cardinals can withstand this. Okay. Regardless of who they bring in, they need 70% of the production. 75% of the production that Will Johnson, Garrett Williams, and Max Melton, in no particular order, provided, you’d settle for 65. And those percentages are low because they were playing so well. I say that the Cardinals are most equipped to handle this because they haven’t had this deep of a roster in a long time. And I’m not saying it’s got to be, oh well, there’s there’s no AllP Pro guys on this team. How can it be there’s no absolute stars on this team. They should have signed a an elite pass rusher. They should should have signed Milton Williams and given him $100 million. He looks pretty good in New England. They should have. They should have. They should have. They didn’t. And this is also the best way to rise the tides. I’d much rather have Dvin Thomas and Kas Campbell and Josh Sch Sweat than just Milton Williams. We haven’t seen the Cardinals are towards the absolute bottom, not even bottom third, like bottom three, bottom four in the league in blitz rate cuz they haven’t had to. When you’ve got a secondary as strong as as theirs were, he didn’t really need to. He could drop people into coverage more. That was the better route better route to take. And now what we saw at the end of the Carolina game, which I know wasn’t ideal because you didn’t want to drop this stuff when you were up, you know, 273 and then 279, 2715, 2722, like you didn’t want to drop it then. But when they did draw up some blitzes, I mean, they were super effective against Carolina. And Carolina’s offensive line isn’t great, but Nick Rish didn’t just forget how to draw blitz packages. It’s what allowed the Cardinals to survive last year without any real sort of semblance of a pass rush. So, you’re starting to see the peppering in of Buddha Baker and M Wilson in the back field. Buddha Baker and uh Hakee Davis Gaither in the back field. Tren Dron Taylor Demerson is around there. Like Nick Rollis has plenty of firepower to make M. Jones’s life a living hell on Sunday. Just because you haven’t seen it doesn’t mean it’s just dissipated. So while the DB room’s a disaster, the Arizona Cardinals haven’t been let let’s I mean talking about defensive backs specifically. How many times in the last 20 years have the Arizona Cardinals had three solid corners like set and forget guys ever. So the fact that we’re even having a conversation that this defense is is not going to crater when you lose your top five corners, that shows the progress that this roster has made. So, yeah, it’s going to be a lot more difficult to have a lock down defense when your top five corners are hurt, but if there was ever a roster on the defense, outside of the cornerback room that could mask the deficiencies there, it’s this one. I’m not saying that opposing quarterbacks and wide receivers aren’t going to eat if these three guys miss a long like if they miss the majority of the season. I’m not saying that because of course that’s going to come into play. That’s where that’s going to be the biggest challenge for Nick Rice and that’s that’s obvious. But man, this is this is what the growth spectrum looks like. It’s gone from in years past upscrewed. Well, they’re going to be bottom five to I think they’re going to be able to figure it out. Not perfectly, not have a top five defense, which is what this team was looking like through two weeks regardless of what the opponents were. Okay. going into Sunday. Obviously, the antithesis of ideal and also it’s kind of like a little smirk and like a let’s see what Nick Brown’s got. And what better test than Christian McCaffrey. This is like a training wheels test. It’s not there’s no George KD, there’s no Brandon Iuk, but like what a great first test. There’s no, you know, Brock Pery, but it’s kind of perfect that that’s who they’re playing because this team can put up a lot of points with Christian McCaffrey on the field. They’ve got Trent Williams, they got Christian McAffrey, they can put up a lot of points or they could be held to 10 if this defensive front can hold up and make M. Jones’s life a living hell. another training wheel kind of thing. And this isn’t this isn’t me like trying to rainbow and butterfly this thing into being aesthetically pleasing for you guys to listen to. That’s not it’s never been me. I don’t wear that as a badge of it’s just I it’s not how my brain works. The ability to have three safeties on the field with JT, Buddha, Baker, and and and Rabbit allows for only two corners in the set to need to be out on the field instead of three, which helps. So, there’s there’s a couple different ways they can go before pivoting to the defense isn’t completely broken, which I’ve kind of alluded to, but I’ll I’ll hammer home in the next segment. There’s a couple different ways they can go. You can roll out Denzel Burke and Kro Clark and say, “Let’s see what we got.” The Cardinal saying, “Let’s see what we got.” Which is most likely what’s going to happen because they haven’t really made a move at all. Um, I feel like the best way to do it if you’re going to bring somebody in and actually is going to be there for the rest of the season and play meaningful snaps while you can’t waste games obviously in the NFL. It’s like, okay, so you got San Francisco on Sunday, you got a short week against Seattle on Thursday and week four, and then you’ve got an extra, you know, three days. So, you’ve got 10 days between games. Maybe that’s when you bring somebody in. You got those extra days, you get them ramped up a little bit. I know it’s not perfect. And again, we don’t know what’s happening. We don’t know how long Maxton’s going to be out. We don’t know how long Will Johnson’s going to be out. If I were to guess what’s going to happen is they’re going to roll out Denzel Burke and Kro Clark and say let’s rip see what we got. Kro Clark the numbers he didn’t look terrible. Denzel Burke looked better on Sunday than he did at any point during the preseason. So, and then Elijah Jones as well. Excuse me. Former third round pick out of out of Boston College. Nick Rollis spoke to the media. He said he’s high on Elijah Jones. He’s excited to give him a shot. Maybe this is the deepest quarterback room the Arizona Cardinal have ever had. And you’re eight deep of guys who can play meaningful football. We’ll see. It is going to be trial by fire. It is going to be that on Sunday. And assuming they’re not going to bring anybody in because we’re getting pretty close. We’re getting pretty close to uh to Sunday. So, we’ll see. Um, with all that said, the Cardinals defense isn’t broken yet, and it may never get there, regardless of of Garrett Williams, Max Melton, and Will Johnson’s health. I’ll discuss both sides next. This episode of Locked on Cardinals is brought to you by FanDuel. The NFL season is here. FanDuel’s making sure you’re ready for week three, man, with a can’tmiss offer right now. Listen, listen. Please listen. New customers, if you’ve never signed up for FanDuel before, if you sign up, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets across the app. 300 new customers, you bet $5. And if your bet wins, you get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Um, it makes every game more exciting, man. Whether you’re watching your team or just keeping an eye on your on your fantasy lineup and you know quick, easy, best way to add a little more energy to Sundays. If you like single game parlays, you like betting the futures, whatever it may be, FanDuel’s got you covered. And if you’re a new customer, you bet $5. And if your bet wins, you get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. So, you ready to play? Download the download the FanDuel app by visiting fanduel.com to get started. That’s fuel.com to place your first $5 bet. If you haven’t already or if you don’t know, uh we rolled out the insider program here on Locked on Cardinals. Had a handful of subscriptions. The uh the link is in the description. Just one-on-one texting with me. Uh in-game stuff. Um been already having conversations with people. It’s been great. Just want to make myself more available. If you would enjoy that, um get your first two weeks free. Check it out. It’s uh it’s fun and we’re just getting ramped up here with the Cardinals. We have no idea what the hell is going to happen and it’s going to be super exciting regardless. What isn’t exciting is that everybody got injured in the quarterback room and it’s kind of a TBD and we’ll see on Sunday kind of the barometer check of where we’re at. Barometer check of of where we’re at mentally watching this team because if you tell me they give up 30 points be like, “Yeah, that makes sense.” If you tell me they give up 17, be like, “Yeah, that makes sense.” Like, we really don’t know where we are yet watching this team, especially now defensively because of of the injuries. And while it looks like the sky is falling, and in some respects it is, going back to my initial segment, I think you can be as close to blindly trusting Nick Rollis above the majority of coordinators we’ve experienced with this team in the last decade. I think that’s fair. He’s shown it and he like he’s shown it in the weirdest way, in the most ass backwards way. 2023 it’s like, oh, they haven’t they don’t have any good players, huh? Defense is a little spicy, frisky. And then last year it’s like, oh, seeing it. No pass rush, starting to see it. Couple better players. And then this year to start it out, it’s just like, man, watching Buddha Baker just do what he does because everything else is kind of taken care of is a beautiful thing. Watching Will Johnson really just step into his own right away. Watching Max Melton level up. Like, it’s been so fun. And then now they’ve got to pivot and Nick Rollis can adjust. So, when I say yet, I don’t think we’re really going to know until like Indie. I think Indy’s week six or week five, I mean, and then Tennessee is week six and then Green Bay is week seven. Like, we need to know what is going on before the Green Bay game. And Green Bay is playing absolutely out of their minds defensively. Um, we’ll see if that lasts. you know, they made Detroit look like they were a relegated, you know, college FBS team, but I think that we’re going to know by like week six what this new version, this new iteration of the defense looks like. So, it isn’t broken because even though they’ve played two bad teams, aside from the shenanigans that took place this past week, like and I guess the week before, they haven’t looked anemic. They haven’t looked like an opposing team could target them. The quarterbacks, there were a hundred hundred times in two weeks. That doesn’t happen. So, I implore people, take a breath. Let’s see what happens. Let’s see if they do bring in some sort of talent. Um or if they’re just going to rip with with Kitro Clark and and Denzel Burke and Elijah Jones. Maybe elevate Darren Hall. I don’t know if he would fit. Um, this is going to be one of the most like we’re going to know everything by the end of the season and this just solidifies that with Kyler Murray, with the team as a whole, the defense, with Nick Rouse’s prowess and and and genius level. This is just adding to it. So, it’s going to be like you obviously never want anybody to get injured, let alone, you know, somebody on the team that you cover that you’re a fan of. Just like losing Starling Thomas and Shawn Murphy bunting. This is going to show what this defense can be even when some of their best players are hurt. In turn, showing what this team can be when things aren’t going absolutely perfectly. Lockdown Cardinals, your team every day. Uh, crossover Thursday tomorrow with Brian Peacock. Cardinal Squad Show tonight at 6 o’clock a time live on Locked on Cardinals YouTube channel. Remember, without you there is no me. I’ll talk to you tonight on the Cardinal Squad Show and tomorrow with Crossover Thursday. Talk to you then.

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This episode dives deep into the Arizona Cardinals’ defensive predicament as they grapple with an unprecedented injury crisis in their secondary. Host Alex Clancy meticulously breaks down the challenges facing defensive coordinator Nick Rallis, who must now navigate a chunk of the season without his top five cornerbacks.

Alex explores the potential “exotic” defensive schemes Rallis might employ to compensate for the depleted defensive backfield. Listeners will gain insights into possible strategies, including an uptick in blitz packages and the implementation of three-safety sets featuring the versatile Budda Baker.

The discussion extends to upcoming high-stakes divisional matchups against the formidable San Francisco 49ers and the always-dangerous Seattle Seahawks. Alex analyzes how these injury setbacks might impact the Cardinals’ game plans and overall defensive performance against such potent offenses.

A spotlight is shone on emerging talents like rookie Kei’Trel Clark, examining how these young players might seize the opportunity to prove themselves on the big stage. The episode also touches on the broader implications for the Cardinals’ season and how this adversity might shape the team’s identity.

Alex advocates for patience among the fanbase, suggesting that a true evaluation of this reimagined defense should be reserved until Weeks 6 or 7. He provides a balanced perspective on the situation, exploring both the immediate challenges and the potential for unexpected positive outcomes.

This episode offers Cardinals fans and NFL enthusiasts alike a comprehensive analysis of a defense in flux, blending tactical insights with broader narratives of resilience and adaptation in professional football. Let’s discuss.

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