Cardinals’ game plan vs. the vaunted Cowboys’ defense
Cardinals offensive coordinator Drew Petzing, I apologize. I was not familiar with your game. This is the second week in a row that Petzing has put together a creative game plan that’s caused confusion for opposing defenses. I liked Petzing’s plan to spread the
Dallas Cowboys out and run the ball at them with dressed-up run concepts and hit them deep with creative play-action shots. In Week 3, the Cardinals had the third-highest rushing success percentage (51.9) against a Cowboys defense that some feel can be historically good.
I love using
Rondale Moore as a “wide back” and giving him carries. On his long touchdown, the Cardinals came out in 01 personnel (no running backs, one tight end and four wide receivers). The Cowboys responded with their dime personnel (six defensive backs). Before the snap, they looked confused on how to line up against the Cardinals’ formation. Dime “linebacker”
Markquese Bell lined up in the box while
actual linebacker
Leighton Vander Esch lined up outside of the box.
The Cardinals ran a midzone concept that the offensive line was able to easily block against the Cowboys’ super light front and Moore was untouched running 45 yards to paydirt.
Quarterback
Joshua Dobbs had a 140 quarterback rating on play action (11 attempts) against the Cowboys, including a 69-yard pass to
Michael Wilson.
This design is a variation of a popular throwback boot concept from the Shanahan disciples called “hiccup.” Petzing’s version is from shotgun with Wilson just running a divide route across the field. The idea is to boot in one direction to get the defense flowing that way, while a receiver runs in the opposite direction away from the flow of the defense.
As Dobbs booted to the left, the entire Cowboys defense followed, adhering to their
“boot rules” and left Wilson wide open running to the right. The pulling guard
Will Hernandez just did enough, getting in front of
Micah Parsons to give Dobbs enough time to set up and throw.
Before the season, most, including me, thought the Cardinals were going to be an easy win, but they’ve proven so far that they’re going to be feisty and they aren’t going to lay down for anyone. They play hard and they do some interesting and unique things schematically — that’s a combination that will make them a tough out.