One key element of the Arizona Cardinals’ huge 28-16 upset victory over the Dallas Cowboys yesterday was how effective their strategy was against Cowboys’ star defensive end Micah Parsons.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!It became clear early on what they were trying to do: run right at Parsons, not away from him.
I’ll keep it real- the Cowboys defense lost the game long before Dak Prescott did.
The Cardinals game plan for Micah Parsons was counterintuitively genius and was the difference. See for yourself!#AchoAnswers @CowboysNation pic.twitter.com/miKFYcjdJA
— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) September 25, 2023
The Cardinals knew there was no way around arguably the best defender in football. The strategy yielded some pretty positive results. Arizona finished with 222 rushing yards and an average of 7.4 yards per carry, the second-most yards ever allowed by the Dallas defense under Dan Quinn.
The coaching job by the whole entire Cardinals’ staff has been nothing short of amazing so far. It is thinking outside of the box like this that has allowed them to exceed all expectations set for them early.
Yes, they are 1-2, but the Cardinals have dominated the majority of quarters played so far. They led and never looked back against what was thought to be one of the top teams in football yesterday.
With Rondale Moore, it’s taken Jonathan Gannon’s staff three weeks to decipher what Kliff Kingsbury’s staff couldn’t do in 2+ seasons.
COACHING. MATTERS. pic.twitter.com/SNPG0CCrDQ
— Johnny Venerable (@JohnnyVenerable) September 25, 2023
Coaching like this should have Cardinals’ fans excited for the future under first-year coach Jonathan Gannon, OC Drew Petzing, DC Nick Rallis and general manager Monti Ossenfort.
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Brendan Mau is a Phoenix Suns insider and college sports reporter for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau
