Los Angeles Rams

Cardinals lament defensive mistakes in Gurley's breakthrough game

Published Oct. 5, 2015 2:14 a.m. ET

foxsports

The Arizona Cardinals were willing to give rookie Todd Gurley his due for his 146-yard rushing performance in Sunday's 24-22 loss to the St. Louis Rams. They also felt they had too much of a hand in Gurley's success.

“He’s a great player, a physical player, but we need to get in our gaps,” Cardinals safety Deone Bucannon said. “Honestly that’s all it is. Every back is a big, physical back, it’s just about being mentally sound and understanding where we need to be.”

Arizona entered Sunday's game allowing an average of 88.7 yards per game on the ground and seemed intent on lowering that number after limiting the Rams to five yards on their first 10 carries. Suddenly, though, Gurley broke off several big runs en route to 144 yards in the second half alone.

“A lot of it was self-inflicted," Cardinals safety Rashad Johnson said. "In the run game, in the second half — we’d done a great job in the first half. In the second half, it seemed like we were trying to make big plays instead of just doing our jobs up front."

Linebacker Kevin Minter echoed his teammates and pointed a finger at himself for allowing at least four rushes of 20 yards after halftime.

“We’ve got to stop the simple mistakes. That’s it. Dang near all those long runs were a fit problem,” linebacker Kevin Minter said. “I’ll take responsibility on all of it, because on a lot of it if I just fit right I could’ve helped and made the play.”