The Cardinals Offense Handled the Jets Defense

The Cardinals offense did absolutely anything they wanted to against the Jets on Sunday. They racked up 406 yards and averaged 7.1 yards per play. They ran for 147 yards on 32 carries, and that line doesn’t do justice to how easily they dominated the Jets’ D-line. They converted on 5 of 7 third-downs. Kyler Murray threw just 2 incompletions.

This matchup was not competitive at all.

Aside from their physical dominance of the Jets, a big part of Arizona’s success had to do with the approach of offensive coordinator Drew Petzing. He attacked New York’s undisciplined (and at times over-aggressive) defense with misdirection that had them on their heels all afternoon.

It started on the second play of the game. Petzing called a boot off of power-run action out of 13 personnel (1 RB, 3 TE). Two Jets linebackers inside would bite hard on the run fake, leaving the middle wide open. By the time Kyler Murray released the ball, New York had 4 defenders surrounding third-string tight end Tip Reiman to the back side and no one near Marvin Harrison:

The next play, a toss to the left, was intended to continue stretching the Jets sideline-to-sideline. It picked up 7 yards:

Petzing followed that up by putting a wide receiver (Greg Dortch) in the backfield, faking a sweep with him to the right (and pulling a guard in his direction), before throwing a screen back to the left:

Running back James Conner had a good 30 yards to run before seeing anyone from the Jets defense up close. Then he ran through that defender like he wasn’t even there (and for all intents and purposes, he wasn’t).

The Cardinals would score 2 plays later, and it was clear almost immediately where this game was headed.

On Arizona’s next drive, Petzing caught the Jets off guard with a trap, which might not be characterized as misdirection necessarily, but it relies on a similar approach of deceiving the defense and taking advantage of over-aggressiveness.

Focus on defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw (#54), who was trying to jump the snap count all game and even got flagged for multiple offsides penalties. He was the perfect player to try and trap: