Arizona's Hit A Bumpy Patch

Losing to the Rams in St. Louis didn't concern. Well, some of the particulars - mostly the beating Kolb took - concerned me, but the fact they lost wasn't a huge deal. The Rams aren't pushovers. Losing to Buffalo in Arizona is another matter.

The running game finally showed up, as the Cards went for 182 yards on 30 carries. Two problems: First, this Buffalo. Their run defense is a joke. They gave up over 300 yards on the ground to the Niners last week, so 182 is nothing. Second, the Cards let the Bills run for 165 yards on 33 carries, which isn't much better.

Really, though, the defense didn't do badly. They held Fitzpatrick to 153 yards, less than 5 yards per attempt. They forced two turnovers. The Cards passing game simply went to sleep. Kolb was only 14 of 26 for 128 yards, so essentially the same per attempt numbers as Fitzpatrick. He threw a pick as well, and was sacked five times. The hits finally took enough of a toll to knock him out, and Skelton came in and largely played horribly (2 of 10 for 45 yards). The Cardinals did get over 300 yards of total offense for the first time all season. That's something, but this is kind of like their victory at New England, with them as the Pats. They couldn't put enough of the yards together to do more than kick long fields goals, which Feely made 3 of the 4.

Next up is Minnesota, and that concerns me. They're a good team, but they just got smoked by the Redskins. They'll be pissed and ready to defend their home turf. Plus, they have Adrian Petersen. The Cardinals' run defense better shore up fast.