The Arizona Cardinals have struggled to run the ball through three games this season, something that is new. For the last two seasons, they were one of the best rushing teams in the league in terms of both efficiency and explosive plays. They face a Seattle Seahawks team in Week 4 that has been great against the run.
They have had explosive plays — a 52-yard run by Trey Benson in Week 1, a 30-yard run by Kyler Murray in Week 2 and a 29-yarder by Benson last weekend — but the efficiency hasn’t been there.
As a team, they are averaging 4.3 yards per attempt, but they only have 223 yards on 74 attempts outside of the three big runs, which is 3.0-yard average.
Seattle is allowing only 3.2 yards per rush this season, the third-lowest average in the league.
They are getting great defensive line play from Leonard Williams, Byron Murphy and Jarran Reed. Linebacker Ernest Jones has been great since he joined the team last year in midseason.
One of the Cardinals’ keys to victory will be increasing their rushing efficiency against one of the best rushing defenses in the league.
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
This article originally appeared on Cards Wire: Seahawks have formidable run defense entering Week 4
