New York Giants Week 2: Examining the Arizona Cardinals' Offense

After being completely "skunked" last week by the Dallas Cowboys, the New York Giants will, at least on paper, face an easier opponent in the form of the Arizona Cardinals. This team is transitioning under new head coach Jonathan Gannon, formerly the defensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Giants need this game in the worst way, as to take a 0-2 record into San Francisco four days later would be a recipe for a meltdown. So, let's get to know the Cardinals on offense.

Personnel

The Cardinals offense isn’t overly impressive on paper. With starting quarterback Kyler Murray out, they’ve turned to veteran Joshua Dobbs, who has been unimpressive throughout his career. Dobbs isn’t awful, but he also isn’t a starting-quality NFL quarterback, although I doubt the Cardinals mind that much with potentially two high picks in what looks like a loaded 2024 NFL Draft.

The running back room in Arizona is still trying to find its footing but is being held back by an offensive line that’s suspect at best. James Conner had 62 yards against the Commanders, with 38 coming after contact, and backup Keaontay Ingram had minus-4 yards on the day but 7 yards after contact.

The Cardinals' offensive line will continue to be an issue all season long as they work with a rookie right tackle and veteran backup-quality starters at left guard and center. The only quality linemen they have are D.J. Humphries and former Giant Will Hernandez. Left guard Elijah Wilkinson had his lunch money taken by the Commanders, allowing five pressures on just 15 true pass sets (true pass sets exclude screens, play action rollouts, RPOs, and passes under two seconds).

The pass-catchers in Arizona are relatively one-dimensional. Marquise Brown and Rondale Moore are speedy receivers who can make plays after the catch but haven’t been put in a position to succeed. Tight end features Zach Ertz and Trey McBride, who haven’t been able to create many yards after the catch but are reliable safety valves on the inside.

Scheme

Perhaps the vanilla scheme is the most underwhelming part of the Cardinals' offense. Offensive coordinator Drew Petzing is getting his first opportunity as an offensive play-caller. I’m unsure if he’s just taking some time to open up and become more aggressive, but he hasn’t done much to impress.

Petzing is a West Coast disciple and has shown it so far, favoring keeping the ball short and over the middle of the field, although that could also be partially due to the offensive line's struggles.

Against the Commanders last week, 70 percent of Dobbs’ pass attempts went for less than nine yards past the line of scrimmage and out of his hands in less than 2.25 seconds. 59.9 percent of his passes were between the numbers as well.

With pass-catchers like Hollywood Brown and Moore, the Cardinals should be looking to get the ball to them either downfield or outside of the numbers more often to give them catch-and-run opportunities.

Petzing put Moore in the backfield multiple times throughout week one but only ran the ball with him once. Hollywood also had a carry, but that was on an end around.

The Cardinals have so far focused on being a power-run game more than anything else, which should be expected given that most of their offensive linemen are large and relatively unathletic. That could change with more draft classes and free agency, but for now, this is a power-run game and a bad one at that.

What This Means for the Giants

Luckily for defensive coordinator Wink Martindale and this Giants defense, the best way to counter this Cardinals' offense perfectly fits the Giants' strengths. Play press-man coverage in the secondary with two primary purposes: extend passing plays and make sure the short routes are blanketed.

Dobbs is a risk-averse quarterback trying to get the ball out quickly and over the middle of the field to his safety options, so the Giants will want to disrupt routes at the line of scrimmage and protect the middle of the field.

Martindale loves to call Cover 1, and with linebacker Bobby Okereke as the hole defender, there shouldn’t be much of an issue for the Giants to disrupt the short middle while playing press-man. It’s also possible that for this week, specifically, see Okereke function more in man coverage to shadow Ertz with Isaiah Simmons or Micah McFadden operating in the underneath zone.

Final Thoughts

This vanilla Cardinals offense lacks talent at key positions along the offensive line and at quarterback. For the Giants, this should be treated as a get-right game where their defense gets to line up and do what they do best: get after the quarterback and play physical coverage in the secondary.

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