The Arizona Cardinals were on the road against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. Going into the game it was understood that this would be an uphill battle for Arizona. Cardinals’ quarterback Clayton Tune was making the first start of his NFL career. This is a daunting task for any NFL player which became even more difficult as the running game was not helpful at all. This was a big part of the Cardinals losing the game 27-0.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The Arizona Cardinals had 21 rush attempts for a total of 41 yards against the Browns. They averaged 1.86 yards per rushing attempt. 28 of those rushing yards came from scrambles by Clayton Tune. Keontay Ingram had eight yards on nine carries. Rondale Moore had four carries for three yards. Tony Jones Jr had three carries for two yards. How did this rushing performance compare to some of the worst in NFL history?
23′ Cardinals vs Old School
The Cardinals had one of the worst rushing performances of the modern era but it’s no where near the worst of all-time. The worst rushing performance of all-time happened on 10/17/1943. The Detroit Lions rushed for -53 yards on 33 carries against the Chicago Cardinals. The Lions actually won that game, 7-0.
The second worst rushing performance of all-time happened earlier that month. The Brooklyn Dodgers ran for -33 yards on 23 carries against the Phil-Pitt combine. The Dodgers lost that game, 17-0.
This was a different era in football where offensive yards were very hard to come by. How did the Cardinals awful rushing performance compare to some of the modern day performances?
23′ Cardinals vs Mid 2000’s Lions
On November 11, 2007, the Arizona Cardinals held the Detroit Lions to -18 rushing yards on eight rushing attempts. Arizona won the game 31-21. The Cardinals’ defense was not good that season. They were 27th in points given up per game that season. Arizona was also ninth against the run. The Lions were having a decent year up to that point. The loss to Arizona was the beginning of a six game losing streak for Detroit.
That performance by Detroit was the worst of the modern era. Another game that stands out among the worst rushing performances of all-time was also the Detroit Lions. On 12/10/2006 the Lions ran for -3 yards on 10 carries against the Minnesota Vikings. Minnesota won that game 30-20.
The Cardinals had one of the worst offensive performances of all-time and the lack of a rushing game was the main component of that performance. It’s one of the worst rushing games of the modern era for sure.
