Cardinals Path to Victory Must Be Paved Through Rushing Attack

The Arizona Cardinals are in search for their third win of the season, and Week 6's opportunity comes in the challenge of beating Seattle Seahawks on their home turf.

Both teams feel the pressure to again reach .500, as Arizona/Seattle stumble into Sunday with a record of 2-3.

With offensive weapons such as Kyler Murray, Zach Ertz and Marquise Brown ready to leave their mark on this game, the real path to victory rests within Arizona's ability to run the football.

At first glance, that might be difficult with three Cardinals running backs out of commission. James Conner, Jonathan Ward and Darrel Williams aren't available for Week 6.

Enter: Eno Benjamin.

The former Arizona State Sun Devil has cemented himself in the Cardinals' backfield as RB2 only behind Conner.

Benjamin has shined in his limited opportunites thus far, and historically speaking, is set to be in for quite the amount of carries.

Scott Barrett points out when head coach KliffmKingsbury has an injured RB1 or RB2, the top running back averages 18.6 carries and 5.4 targets per game.

Is Eno Benjamin a safer bet than Christian McCaffrey for 20-plus touches this week?

From 96 Stats: https://t.co/RGjC6BLFp0 pic.twitter.com/7KWgN51Phq
— Scott Barrett (@ScottBarrettDFB) October 15, 2022

Yet Benjamin won't be the only running back the Cardinals will look to on Sunday.

Rookie Keaontay Ingram is set to play the first snaps of his career in Seattle, a big moment for the sixth-round draft pick.

“I feel very comfortable. I’m confident in myself,” he told reporters on Thursday (h/t Tyler Drake). “I feel like the guys that are surrounding me are confident in me, too, so I think it’s about that time to get ready to roll now.”

Kingsbury gave his vote of confidence in Ingram earlier this week:

“He’s very talented. That’s why we kept five. You don’t see that a lot, but he was really impressive in pre-season and has been impressive on scout team. Now it’s just about making sure he understands the game plan and executing at a high level if he gets called upon, but his natural gifts are pretty special we think," said Kingsbury.

Arizona will also rely on Corey Clement, who was signed just this week to fill Arizona's running back corps.

Clement will also play some special teams snaps,

"This is what we're built for," Clement said. "Sixth year in the league, I have gotten the swing with how organizations work. You have to conceptualize everything. Dumb down the playbook if you can the first week and get the ball rolling."

Now, Arizona's unproven rushing attack has quite the opportunity ahead of them: Seattle ranks last in defense with 430 yards allowed per game. 170 yards of that figure is on the ground, which includes five yards per carry and nine rushing touchdowns thus far.

As lead betting analyst Logan Bell points out in his three bets to take vs. Seattle, the Seahawks have given up 145+ rush yards per game since Week 2, including 3 games of 179+ yards.

Those performances include:

⁃ Alvin Kamara: 23 carries for 103 yards

⁃ Jamaal Williams: 19 for 108

⁃ Cordarrelle Patterson: 17 for 141

⁃ Jeff Wilson: 18 for 84

⁃ Melvin Gordon + Javonte Williams: 19 for 101

In Seattle's three losses thus far, they've allowed team totals of 179, 189 and 235 rushing yards. Arizona has out-rushed their opponents in both wins this season

Arizona isn't at full health for their Week 6 matchup with the Seahawks, but their backfield is more than capable of getting the job done.

It may also be important to control the clock and keep the ball out of the hands of Seahawks QB Geno Smith, who has played exceptionally well through the first five weeks of the season.

The NFL is all about exploiting holes and weaknesses. Seattle's is obvious, and now it's all on the shoulders of Benjamin and company to pave the way for Arizona's third win of the season.

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