TEMPE — The Arizona Cardinals defense has been on another level four weeks into the season.
The additions of Josh Sweat, Calais Campbell and Dalvin Tomlinson this free agency have more than hit their marks early on, while rookies Will Johnson and Jordan Burch have carved out key roles within the system.
Mack Wilson Sr. has taken more onto his plate and is running with it, and Budda Baker continues to wreak havoc across the field.
That meshing of new and old has the Cardinals currently sitting sixth in the league in points per game (18.5), eighth in quarterback pressures (61) and run stuff win rate (20.8%), tied for eighth in rushing yards per game (96) and tied for seventh in pass touchdowns allowed (five).
The defense under coordinator Nick Rallis has checked some boxes and then some, serving as a big reason why the Cardinals have two wins under their belt and had a chance at two more in a pair of one-score losses.
But for this defense to truly be in that elite category as one of those units you talk about years down the line, it must improve upon its three Ts, beginning with trust and tackling.
“I think we can tackle better. That’s something that the coaches put a big emphasis on. And then just being assignment sound and trusting your teammates,” Calais Campbell said Monday. “I think most of our explosives come down to just different guys taking turns trying to do too much. I think it’s just like, settle down, understand that we have we have all the pieces in place. Just do your part, do your 1/11 and let the rest take care of itself.”
While the defense has been the reason Arizona has largely remained in games the past two weeks, leaky yards from missed tackles — and added offensive opportunities because of them — have popped up.
Seattle running back Kenneth Walker skirting by Wilson to turn a 12-yard catch and run into a 29-yard gain early in Thursday’s loss was a good example of that. Catches late by San Francisco’s Kendrick Bourne and Christian McCaffrey to help put the 49ers in walk-off field goal range marked two more instances where tackling could have been cleaner.
After seeing just five explosive plays of at least 20 yards across the first two weeks, the Cardinals have seen that number jump to 15 after allowing 10 the past two games.
Improving upon tackling and trust will very much help get Arizona back on track in stopping the run like it had before Thursday, too.
Despite sporting a top five rushing defense heading into the Thursday Night Football matchup against the Seahawks, the Cardinals watched Walker and the rest of Seattle’s rushing attack total 155 yards and a touchdown on 35 carries.
Among the most glaring trends was that all four of Seattle’s rushers at least one carry of 10 yards or more. Two recorded a run each of at least 20 yards.
As Campbell said Monday, “the run game matters.”
“I think this past week was probably our worst performance in the run game and it actually just came down to some fundamental things of winning our primary gap before getting our secondary gap or keeping a cup on the football or tackling,” Rallis said Tuesday.
“It’s things that we’ve done well and then we took a step back we got to get back to the basics on killing that run game so that we … can get people to play one-dimensional.”
The final T the Cardinals defense needs
As for the remaining T that can help get this defense in the elite echelon of NFL defenses in 2025? Turnovers.
No, Arizona isn’t in the zero-takeaways boat the New York Jets are in but are about middle of the road in the league with four (14th) — two fumbles and two interceptions.
Turnovers have been a struggle for the Cardinals since the current regime got to town, with Arizona finishing with 17 takeaways in each of the past two seasons. Both were bottom 10 marks.
Having a run defense shutting down one side of an offense can help in that department and then some.
Where does Cardinals DC Nick Rallis want to see his unit take another step forward coming off last week’s extended self-scout?
– Limiting explosives 📉
– Increasing the takeaways 📈 pic.twitter.com/AVDXJn92Oa
— Tyler Drake (@Tdrake4sports) September 30, 2025
“We need to do a better job of winning the explosive play and the takeaway battles,” Rallis said. “I’d say the last two games, there were too many explosives. That’s not a formula to win games.
“Then we got to continue to try to take that ball away. I will say it’s on their minds and there’s been some good attempts at the ball, but you got to keep taking those shots on goal and hopefully it comes to fruition. Those to me are the biggest things right there. It’s the square root of who we are.”
