The Arizona Cardinals’ defense has become impossible for Mike LaFleur to wave off.
Through three weeks of the 2026 season, the numbers are ugly. Arizona’s defensive EPA per play sits at minus-0.15, which is bottom three in the NFL.
The Cardinals are also giving up 6.5 yards per play, tied for last in the league. And in a league where only three scoring plays of 80 or more yards have happened so far this year, Arizona has already surrendered two of them.
That kind of start has put fourth-year defensive coordinator Nick Rallis under the microscope, especially with LaFleur juggling head coaching and offensive responsibilities. The result has been a defense that looks more exposed by the week.
“Like I said yesterday, they battled and they fought. There’s no question in my mind that we have the right - it’s a play style in there, but we have to do some of the little things better and it starts with coaching," LaFleur said when asked about the defense.
"We have to provide clarity and I’m talking all three phases: offense, defense and special teams. Because on offense - let’s not mass this by 30 points.
There was a lot to clean up. A lot to clean up and it’s the same on defense.
(We have to) continue to provide the clarity to these guys so that they are in the right alignments and doing the things necessary to play good team defense. 11 as one.”
LaFleur has made the same point repeatedly during Arizona’s 1-2 start: he doesn’t want to pin this on players. In his view, the problems begin with coaching and the details that come with it.
The Cardinals are not a disaster across the board, but the defense is becoming a weekly liability. Rallis has leaned on a heavy Cover 6 scheme, and the risks that come with it have shown up.
Arizona has struggled to generate heat on opposing quarterbacks, sitting bottom seven in the NFL with just four sacks and 20 pressures through three weeks. The team’s blitz rate is only 22%, which ranks bottom ten in the league.
“I think there are just little detailed aspects in terms of blitz timing, being in the right fronts - all those kinds of things. Again, I’m going to start with (the fact that) it's the clarity that we need to provide to these guys so that they can go out and execute in a way that’s going to be successful," LaFleur said when asked about the Cardinals' defense and their blitz rate.
He was just as direct when the conversation turned to tackling.
“Need to improve. Our guys know that and a lot of it is fundamental based, but that’s just core fundamentals that we know and that’s what I’m kind of getting at in terms of we have to be worried about us.
It doesn’t matter who we’re playing. We’ve got to do all those things that we have more control over better right now," he said.
The message is clear: the coaching staff has to clean this up. LaFleur knows it. And if the slide keeps going, bigger changes may be hard to avoid.
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