Budda Baker likes to talk some smack.
Not just to the opponents, but to his teammates on the defensive line, at least when it comes to challenging them on game day.
“‘Hey, if you get these guys to this number or less, I’ll take y’all out to dinner,'” the safety will say, adding, “the next week, (if) they didn’t hold them, I’ll be like, ‘I take that dinner back.'”
Baker laughed, but the message was nothing to joke about. The Cardinals need to be better with their run defense. Stopping the run puts food on the plate of the defense, both literally and figuratively.
The Cardinals host a Green Bay squad that has one of the best running backs in the NFL in Josh Jacobs. Jacobs sits behind Jonathan Taylor for the most rushing touchdowns with six. This comes after Taylor rushed for 123 yards and a touchdown against the Cardinals last weekend, and after coach Jonathan Gannon said his defense needs to have better fundamentals against the run.
“If I’m them, and I see that we gave up 150 yards rushing last week, they’re going to try to come in here and try to run the ball,” defensive lineman Calais Campbell said. “If we want to win this game, we can’t let them run the ball. That’s got to be the number one focus.”
Last season when the Cardinals played the Packers in Green Bay, they allowed 179 rushing yards. This Cardinals squad, especially after the investments made within the defensive front seven, isn’t a bad rushing defense by any means. They rank 13th in the league, allowing 102 rushing yards per game.
In each game since Week 4, a running back has scored a rushing touchdown.
“This is the biggest challenge we’re going to have all year is stopping this run game and trying to make them one dimensional,” Campbell said. “For us to win this game, we’re going to have to do that.”