The Arizona Cardinals struggled to run the ball well against the Green Bay Packers in their playoff game last week. It is fair to ask if they will be able to do anything against Carolina, considering their defense. Center Lyle Sendlein knows they have to do better.
He was asked if Green Bay really stacked the box against them in their game on Saturday. Sendlein said "not really."
"We should have had a little more success in the run game against Green Bay," he explained. "We have things in the game plan for when they do stack the box, and we still didn't execute so it's something if we want to keep playing, we've got to improve our run game."
And they have themselves a challenge in Carolina, where the Panthers are the league's fourth-best defense against the rush.
"We see them as the best defense in the league," Sendlein said. "Their front seven is something special, so we'll have our challenges this week."
Head coach Bruce Arians indicated they don't need to run the ball to take the pressure off the passing game, "because that's who we are on offense," but they need to do it more effectively.
Do you expect the Cardinals to run the ball a little better than they did?