When Arizona Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur met with the media not long after his team’s injury-riddled and stunning 33-30 overtime win Sunday over the Dallas Cowboys, he was almost at a loss for words. Well, not quite.
But he did say, “I don't know if there are any words that I can express about this team right now other than they're resilient. They just keep fighting. They're always in the fight. That was a total, total team effort right there.”
So, where do we find the words to chronicle the roller-coaster ride that took 3 hours, 36 minutes in AT&T Stadium and focus on the defense and special teams?
As LaFleur noted, “Our defense kept us around and held a really good offense. That's a very good offense and they (the defense) played extremely
well. Shoot, they (totaled 261 yards and) averaged 3.6 yards per play today.”
He’s right about that. While most of the headlines and talking points will be about quarterback Gardner Minshew II, running back Tyler Allgeier and wide receiver Michael Wilson gutting the game out with two broken ribs and leading a resurgent offense, the defense never let the Cowboys lead by more than two scores, while holding Dallas to two late field goals in the fourth quarter and forcing a three-and-out in overtime when a field goal would have won the game.
LaFleur said it was all about “play-style” coached by coordinator Nick Rallis. In addition, the Cowboys had only two plays of 20 yards or more. The total this season for those plays in Cardinals wins is five, while there have been 24 in the five losses.
The head coach concluded, “I thought Nick had a really good game plan and they had a great week, I thought. They're not really concerned about (outside) noise. They're just concerned about doing their job. And they got men on that defensive side. They're grown-ass men, and they're always excited about the opportunity.”
Here’s how it happened.
Stuffing the run
All the talk in the run-up to the game was the Cowboys' focus on the run, especially after Javonte Williams gashed the Eagles in their previous game with 155 yards on 25 carries. Sunday, Williams had one less run but 99 fewer yards.
He totaled 56 yards on 24 carries (2.3 average) and Tyler Goodson had seven attempts for 14 yards. Each back’s long run was for six yards and the individual breakdown was eye-opening.
Williams had 17 rushes for three yards or fewer, 13 of two or fewer, three for one yard, four for zero yards, plus one for minus-1 and minus-2. The 2-yard loss was on a fourth-and-1 stop by linebacker Mack Wilson Sr. in the first quarter.
Six of Goodson’s seven attempts were for three yards or fewer, five for two or fewer, one for one yard and one for minus-1.
It doesn’t get much better than that.
From goat to hero, Part 1
That describes defensive lineman L.J. Collier’s day perfectly.
The Cowboys led 24-17 in the fourth quarter with 8:18 to play and faced third-and-6 from their own 44-yard line. After wide receiver CeeDee Lamb was stopped for a 2-yard gain on third-and-6 at the Dallas 46-yard line, Collier reacted to a slight push of linebacker Jack Gibbens by Cowboys tackle Tyler Guyton and hit Guyton hard.
A 15-yard penalty moved the ball to the Cardinals' 39, and the drive continued for the Cowboys. Seven plays and 4:05 later, Dallas had first-and-10 at the Arizona 16-yard line. Defensive lineman Darius Robinson and linebacker Josh Sweat dropped Goodson for a 2-yard loss, cornerback Denzel Burke stopped tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford for a 1-yard gain and then Collier began his redemption tour by breaking through the line and deflecting a Dak Prescott pass on third-and-11.
That limited the damage to a 35-yard field goal by Brandon Aubrey, although it did create a two-score game at 27-17 and took 4:24 off the clock after the Collier penalty.
But Collier wasn’t done. After the Cardinals slashed the lead to 27-24, the Cowboys took possession at the Arizona 20 after an unsuccessful onside kick. On second-and-10, Collier dropped Prescott for a 6-yard sack, and Dallas played it safe on third-and-16, running Williams for three yards and settling for a 41-yard field goal with 1:09 remaining and a 30-24 lead.
Collier said afterward, “I’m really excited about my boys picking me up. I had a bonehead play there, stuff older guys shouldn’t do, and just for me to come back and make that play it felt really good.”
Said LaFleur, when asked about sticking with Collier after the penalty, “I know L.J., and L.J.'s smarter than that. Some guys you have to talk to in the moment, some guys you just know. And I've already talked to L.J., and I love L.J., and he knows he made a mistake right there for the team, but I trust him. There's other guys, and hopefully that never happens again, that I might have to bring out there. But all you have to do is look in L.J.'s eyes. Obviously, that can't happen, but I trust L.J.”
Goat to hero, Part 2
Until missing an extra point that likely would have won the game for the Cardinals with six seconds remaining in regulation, kicker Chad Ryland had made all 16 of his point-after tries this season to go with 18 consecutive field goals from 20-49 yards. His only missed three-pointers were from 53 and 54 yards and he had missed one extra point with the Cardinals in 2024 and none in 36 attempts last season.
But his chance at redemption came in overtime after the Cardinals opened the extra session with a three-and-out, followed by a Cowboys three-and-out thanks to Sweat’s 7-yard sack on third-and-8.
Getting the ball at their own 32, Wilson ran for 17 yards on a third-and-1 jet sweep to the Dallas 42, Allgeier ran 11 yards to the 31 and three Allgeier runs for seven yards moved the ball to the 24, setting up Ryland’s 42-yard game-winner down the middle.
Asked what went through his mind after the PAT miss (TV cameras caught him with a wry smile as if to be thinking, ‘What more can you expect on a day like this?’), LaFleur said, “It is what it is. I mean, I don't think anyone really in this room or anyone probably in the country thought that we had a chance to come back right there and make it 30-30. It was only fitting. And for Chad to finish it out for us, like I told the guys right when we started overtime, there's no way we're not coming out here (to win).
“We go three-and-out. And then our defense comes up big again and we make enough plays on offense to get it in there, and there Chad is doing it again just like he did two weeks ago at SoFi and being resilient. So proud of all those guys.”
Ryland said, “It shouldn’t have gotten to that point. In overtime, got a chance to redeem ourselves and knock it down. It’s a testament to the guys we have in this locker room, which is the most cliched thing you can say, but it’s not cliché when it’s true. Each kick is it’s own thing and when the process is good, we rock and roll and we knock down kicks. We rinse and repeat, and we wash it. As a unit, it’s important not to ride the highs and the lows and just trust the process that we’re gonna swing away and knock ‘em down.”
Asked about the mental toughness shown after the miss, he said, “How do you define mental toughness? It’s a subjective thing to some degree. A lot of it comes down to trust. Trust in our operation, trust in our snapper, trust in our holder, trust in the big guys up front and I have a ton of trust in our guys and that’s why I had no doubt that if we got in that situation again, that we were gonna knock it down.”
Call it mission accomplished.
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This article originally appeared on Cards Wire: Cardinals 33, Cowboys 30: Observations on defense, special teams
