It wasn’t just a single player who spanked the Arizona Cardinals in their home opener on Sunday, Sept. 20.
It only felt that way.
The Cardinals thought they had a game plan to contain wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, but he reeled in a game-high nine catches for a game-high 155 yards and three touchdowns during the Seattle Seahawks’ 31-7 romp at State Farm Stadium.
It was a dominating performance by arguably the best wideout in the NFL. He started things off with a bang by sprinting past a confused Arizona secondary and hauling in an 82-yard TD pass from Drew Lock on Seattle’s second play of its opening possession.
Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur told reporters it was because the defense was playing Cover Zero, meaning there were no defensive backs
available downfield to help. Cardinals veteran safety Budda Baker called it what it was — a mistake.
“That play was a bad communication, a lot of guys playing something, a lot of guys playing a different thing,” he said after the Cardinals fell to 1-1. “I put it on myself to communicate better so everyone understands what the call is. That’s what happened on that one.”
That play was the only real blemish for the Cardinals during an otherwise competitive first half, which ended with the teams tied at 7. Arizona, LaFleur said, saw some hope and a chance. Instead, the Cardinals saw more of Smith-Njigba.
The reigning NFL Offensive Player of the Year found the end zone just 2½ minutes into the third quarter when Lock fired over the middle, Cardinals cornerback Max Melton slipped and fell, and Smith-Njigba jumped to snare a casual 7-yard TD.
After converting a Jacoby Brisset interception into a field goal, JSN and the defending Super Bowl champions struck again when Smith-Njigba caught a 12-yard pass in the end zone, running right to left ahead of Baker's coverage.
“We had a plan,” Baker said, “and the plan just wasn’t good enough.”
It was 24-7 with 12:40 left to play, and it was a dagger that killed any thought of a Cardinals’ comeback.
“He’s a dang good receiver,” LaFleur said of Smith-Njigba. “The second play (early in the first quarter), that’s one obviously you want back. We can be better than that just from an execution standpoint. But he’s a dang good receiver. He’s arguably the best one.”
LaFleur said his Cardinals were focused on stopping Smith-Njigba, but added, “You don’t want to sacrifice stopping the run and stuff, too, so you’re mixing and matching it.
“I don’t even know what his stats were. I’m not worried about it schematically in terms of what he was doing. He’s going to get his at times. You’ve got to limit it and help our guys out, but I don’t think that was the case. I thought we were playing real good defense up until probably that last 20 minutes, and they kind of just took over from there.”
If Brissett (95 passing yards) and the offense (151 total yards) had performed better, Sunday’s game could have been a lot closer and easier to stomach. But when the Seahawks finished their convincing win with a late, methodical 16-play, 70-yard TD drive that consumed 10 minutes and 14 seconds, it was an absolute gut punch.
“You’ve still got to go play defense,” Cardinals outside linebacker Zaven Collins said. “I’ve just got to buckle down and play as much ball as necessary, whether it’s three-and-out or having to go 16 plays or whatever it was.”
The Cardinals better rest up and get ready because they’re about to face another potential game-wrecker of a playmaker in versatile running back Christian McCaffrey when they play at the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Sept. 27.
McCaffrey has faced the Cardinals nine times in his career, scoring 13 touchdowns (seven rushing, six receiving) and logging 713 yards on 130 carries (5.5 average) and 554 yards on 59 catches (9.4 average).
In San Francisco’s 35-13 win over Miami in Week 2, McCaffrey ran for two touchdowns to become the fourth-fastest player in the Super Bowl-era history to reach 100 career touchdowns and the third player ever with at least 50 TDs with two different franchises.
He’s been a Cardinals’ killer, and Baker, perhaps more than anyone in the Arizona locker room, knows it.
Not that he was ready to fast-forward and dive into what it’ll take to slow down CMC better than the Cardinals tried to contain JSN. Baker, after all, hadn’t even reached the showers when he consented to stop for a quick postgame interview.
“Yeah, yeah,” he said, nodding his head about McCaffrey. “Personally, man, we just lost. I’ve got to watch the film and see the things we’ve done good, see the things we’ve done bad and just try to correct those details, and then we’ll get onto the 49ers.”
If the Cardinals let CMC do to them what JSN just did, they’ll likely be SOL.
Reach McManaman at bob.mcmanaman@arizonarepublic .Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @azbobbymac and listen to him live every Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. on Roc and Manuch with Jimmy B on ESPN 620 (KTAR-AM) and every Thursday on the Doug Franz Unplugged podcast via Apple or Spotify.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Whatever plan the Cardinals had didn't work against Jaxon Smith-Njigba
