After a 7-0 start to the NFL, the Arizona Cardinals plunged into a wave of lows, after which they only finished with 4 wins and 5 losses, slipping to 11 wins and 5 losses, losing the National League West Lead, who once led two games.
What happened between the team's first seven and the last nine? There are many factors, perhaps not necessarily the most critical but not negligible, the defensive big man, JJ Watt, the three-time best defensive player who signed the Cardinals for 31 million in two years last offseason, who suffered a serious shoulder injury in the seventh week of the game (October 24) and was once considered a season reimbursement.
In those seven games, Watt had 10 independent tackles, 5 assistive tackles, 11 defensive stops, 1 and 16 tackles each, causing quarterbacks to rush shots and 11 quarterbacks to impact, for a total pressure count of 28. In his absence, the Cardinals' average loss of points per game soared from 16.29 to 23.78.
On Friday, the Cardinals removed Watt from the injury list, which means he can now officially train with the team, and in the next three weeks, the team can activate him at any time and include him in the 53ers' list. In other words, Watt may return to the team in the playoffs, and sources have revealed that he can even catch the wild card wheel. He had a similar experience, and in 2019, after suffering a serious injury, Watt actively recovered and successfully caught the playoff wild card round.
Ahead of Monday night of Week 14 against the Los Angeles Rams, Watt came on the court for some solo practice, using the goalpost pads as if he were an offensive striker and doing some simulated passing.
The Cardinals are fifth in the overall EPA in the defensive group this year, but the defensive success rate (the odds of a positive outcome in each defensive slot) is only 14th in the middle of the league. In other words, the Cardinals' defense is not stable, and they rely heavily on key play such as making mistakes and holding on to the fourth gear.
Team head coach Cliff Kingsbury said in the interview: "[The operation] was procedural, he did everything physically allowed in the training room and the strength room, so we called him back and did some rehabilitation process. In order to reach the goal of returning to the team as soon as possible, he redoubled his efforts, and no one had ever seen him work as hard as he had in the past two months. Seeing him every day is an encouragement and it must have been helpful for us to come back to the pitch. ”