Don't disregard Cardinals' defense
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By Nicholas J. Cotsonika
Detroit Free Press
(MCT)
The Cardinals are more than Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin. Though the defending NFC champions don't enter Sunday's game against the Lions with a highly ranked defense, they have playmakers.
"They're kind of probably the forgotten part of their team, because you hear so much about their offense," said offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, who used to face the Cardinals in the NFC West as the Rams' head coach.
"But I've been watching them, have been in that division, watching a lot of those players develop over the last couple years, and their defense is a big reason why they were in the Super Bowl last year."
This season, the Cardinals rank 25th in total defense, 17th against the run and 28th against the pass. So they give up yards.
But they're allowing 16.4 points per game on the road, third-best in the NFL. They're allowing opponents to convert 34.6% on third down, fourth-best. They have 36 sacks, tied for fourth. Cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and safeties Adrian Wilson and cornerbacks Antrel Rolle have combined for 11 interceptions.
"They're just an unbelievably talented defense when it comes to their speed," Linehan said. "I think the thing that shows up to me is their team speed at all positions. The defensive line and linebackers are guys that play in space as good as anybody, and they do. They get a lot of sacks. And their secondary, three guys have 11 interceptions. That says a lot about their ball-skill ability back there."
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