The Arizona Cardinals got 54 defensive snaps and 32 special teams snaps in their 36-30 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, and the workload was spread across a wide cast of players.
Up front, Roy Lopez and Walter Nolen III each logged 34 snaps, while Dante Stills was right behind them at 30. L.J.
Collier played 20, and Darius Robinson finished with 17. Andrew Billings was inactive, while Zach Carter and Kaleb Proctor remained on injured reserve.
Lopez was on the field even after dealing with a groin injury that kept him out of two practices during the week. He did not record a stat, which is often the case for a nose tackle.
Nolen finished with one assisted tackle and a quarterback hit, and he still hasn’t flashed the game-wrecking impact he showed in the limited stretch he played last season. Robinson and Stills each had one assisted tackle.
At linebacker, Jack Gibbens and Mack Wilson Sr. carried the heaviest load. Gibbens played 50 snaps and Wilson 52, with Baron Browning, Josh Sweat, Jordan Burch, Zaven Collins, Eku Leota and Cody Simon also getting work. Karson Sharar did not play on defense because he was used only on special teams.
Gibbens kept stacking productive snaps, finishing with eight tackles, including four solo and one for loss, plus a QB hit. Wilson added six tackles, with two solo.
Browning had two tackles, one solo and one for loss, along with a QB hit. Collins chipped in two solo tackles and two passes defensed.
Leota had two assisted tackles. Sweat did not show up on the stat sheet and was also tagged with a costly roughing-the-passer penalty in the fourth quarter, a play that gave San Francisco a first down in the red zone and helped set up a touchdown and a 29-20 lead.
In the secondary, Budda Baker and Andrew Wingard each played all 54 defensive snaps. Denzel Burke and Max Melton were right behind them at 53 apiece, while Garrett Williams returned for his first game of the season and played 19. Wydett Williams Jr. logged 12 snaps, and Kei’Trel Clark saw one.
Wingard led the team with 10 tackles, including one solo. Baker added four tackles, one solo.
Melton finished with four tackles, three solo, and a pass defensed. Burke had two solo tackles and two passes defensed.
Wydett Williams Jr. recorded two tackles, one solo, and Garrett Williams had one assisted tackle in his first game back. Dadrion Taylor-Demerson was inactive, while Joey Blount, Kitan Crawford and Will Johnson remained on injured reserve.
Special teams saw even more rotation. Karson Sharar and Cody Simon each played 26 snaps, followed by Jordan Burch and Eku Leota at 21.
Simi Fehoko, Jalen Brooks, Elijah Higgins, Hunter Long, Kei’Trel Clark, Kalen King and Wydett Williams Jr. all saw significant work as well, while Chad Ryland, Blake Gillikin and Casey Kreiter handled the kicking game duties. Zaven Collins, Devin Duvernay, Bam Knight, Max Melton and a long list of linemen and backs also contributed in coverage and return units.
Ryland converted all three of his field-goal tries, including a 49-yarder late in the fourth quarter that accounted for the Cardinals’ final points. Gillikin punted four times, averaging 50.3 yards with a 43.5-yard net. He placed two punts inside the 20 and had one touchback, though that number would have looked better if Fehoko had not misjudged a ball that bounced into the end zone.
On coverage, the Cardinals kept Deebo Samuel to 19.8 yards per kickoff return on four returns and allowed only one punt return for seven yards. On the other side, Brooks averaged 25.6 yards on five kickoff returns, and Duvernay had one kickoff return for 29 yards plus two punt returns for 20.
In Other News...
Cardinals May Have A Tough QB Decision Around Carson Beck
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Mike LaFleur has acknowledged the offense has had its struggles, but he stopped short of placing those issues on Brissetts play. That leaves the Cardinals in a familiar spot for a team trying to balance present stability with future plans, and the next move at quarterback could say plenty about how aggressively they want to hand the job over to Beck. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Just Caught A Break Before A Meaningful Giants Test
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For a Cardinals team heading into a meaningful Week 4 matchup, that changes the look of the opponent in a hurry. Burns was the kind of edge presence that can alter protection plans and force offenses to play on edge, while Darts absence removes a key piece of New Yorks offensive approach, leaving Arizona to prepare for a different kind of challenge than it expected when the schedule was released. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Rookie Back Is Giving Fans A Real Draft Debate
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For Arizona, Jeremiyah Love has become part of that discussion. The rookie back has given the Cardinals a useful burst of production while the rest of the class sorts itself out, and his start is the kind that naturally gets fans wondering how much more he can handle as the season develops. The answer may still be ahead, but his early impact has already made him one of the more interesting rookie storylines on the roster. [Read more 🡒]