ARIZONA — The Arizona Cardinals move into their Week 15 matchup likely to get a boost back to their offense.
ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter is reporting RB Emari Demercado is expected to play in their road test against the Houston Texans.
Demercado was questionable entering the weekend with an ankle injury.
The Cardinals haven’t been able to run the ball to satisfactory levels in 2025, as Arizona’s suffered losses to both the offensive line and running back room that’s impacted their overall ability to move the chains on the ground.
READ: 3 Bold Predictions for Cardinals vs Texans
Demercado hasn’t played since Nov. 16 and now comes back to a Cardinals backfield that’s touted Bam Knight and Michael Carter in recent weeks. Trey Benson was recently ruled out for the rest of the season.
In the last three weeks, Arizona’s attempted more passes per game than any other NFL team while they’ve logged the second-least rushing attempts per game.
Head coach Jonathan Gannon was asked about the disparity and trying to keep things balanced in an offense that clearly has leaned on the passing attack since Jacoby Brissett slid under center.
“Stats in a bubble don’t tell the picture. They give you some information, but they don’t tell the picture. When we’ve been down what we’ve been down, you’re not going to run it. You’re not even going to try to run it because you can’t run, you’re running out of possession, so that plays a piece,” said Gannon.
“But specifically, to your question, I always say when the defense knows you have to drop back, they have the advantage. Throughout a game, I do think the best offenses out there are pretty balanced. Then with saying that you want to stay balanced, but it also becomes who you have, what do you do well and (then) who are you playing and what do they do well? If they’re selling out to stop the run, why are we banging our head against the wall? Let’s throw it.
“If they’re putting two guys outside on certain receivers or playing shell concepts, you have to be able to try to run it because that should be the strength of a call there. When you’re in shell, the stress on a defense is the run game because you’re light in the box. So, it’s a little bit of both, I think. What you do well and what they do well, but there’s no doubt (that) you need to have efficient runs whenever you’re calling them to make sure that you’re staying ahead of the chains.
“I do believe that. Even with–not to go back to Sunday, but how many times did he throw it? Now the game got a little out of hand, so they’re kind of running it and then he got pulled, but when you look at his best games (and) their offense, he’s not throwing it more than 30 times, so it’s balanced is my point. It’s balanced.”
The Texans’ rushing defense ranks fifth in rushing yards allowed per game (94.3) while their 16 points allowed per game is tops in the league.
The Cardinals have their work cut out for them, certainly — though the speedy Demercado can potentially give their backfield a boost.