as good as arizona cardinalsI've been impressed with their defense the last three weeks, as much as their offense has been lately.
Since Week 8, they are 6th in EPA per play allowed and 8th in completion percentage allowed. As the three-safety defense begins to take hold, one player that stands out every time I watch the Cardinals' defense is safety Budda Baker. According to Sports Information Solutions, Baker ranks second in the NFL with 100 tackles (!) and seven tackles for loss, making him the linchpin to making this defense work. He's playing at an All-Pro level for a Cardinals defense that needs his disruption, which is pretty great. So let's dig into what makes Baker so special and how this defense unlocked him. But for that, I have to go back to Ames, Iowa.
In 2022 I wrote: iowa The three-safety defense and how it might be introduced to the NFL. I was initially a little worried about whether the defense would struggle against condensed sets at the NFL level, but I was optimistic that the team could shape it with personnel. Now, the Cardinals have played a three-high defense for most of the season and have struggled in the area in the run game, but what they've done is put their best players on the field.
Usually, the best player for a third-high defense is a middle safety, or star. He is the equalizer, the apex of the triangle between the linebackers and the secondary, allowing the backers to play slow or run fast downhill in the run game. Enter Baker, the game's best equalizer. Defensive coordinator Nick Larris will unleash Baker in the run game, help even out bodies in the box, and bring him in from deep to cause problems in the run game. Baker has always been a threat downhill, but his instincts in the run game really stood out this season.
This play against the Bears shows how this defense adjusts in a three-high shell and how Baker can be unleashed here. This motion passes Baker, and you can see how he's a player that helps keep the defense even in numbers. Then on the snap the Bears run a toss play and Baker flies like a bat out of hell and makes this tackle for 1 yard. An incredible play by a talented player.
The Jets played with 12 players, so the Cardinals spent a lot of time defending their home field, which allowed Baker to get closer to the line of scrimmage. The fact that he moves faster than anyone else on this zone run shows how much time he spends studying the game and his opponents. With the big bodies up front holding the gap, Baker can jump in and intentionally cause problems.
What he did to Davante Adams here is, in a word, foul. The Jets ran the zone again and Baker hit Adams with a stutter swipe that would make any defensive lineman jealous. He's making plays in the backfield before the RB has a chance to make them! As a side note, this is an incredible run defense from EDGE's Jesse Luketa and LB Kyzil White. This is winning football here.
In the passing game, Baker often runs down the middle of the field as a Tampa defender in coverage of the Tampa 2 rather than a slower linebacker, but he becomes a threat when the Cardinals unleash him on blitzes. The Cardinals send everyone and their grandmothers into this blitz, but RB Breece Hall picks up the LBs on the blitz, allowing Baker to light up Aaron Rodgers like a Christmas tree with a free run. Enter chaos mode!
The Cardinals are in their second year of rebuilding and are short on talent, but they remain at the top of the NFC West thanks to a dynamic offense and a defense capable of making splash plays like Baker. I love seeing their 3-high defense solve problems facing the NFL, and their future has me excited as the secondary grows and the front adds bigger bodies. It's a thing.
Baker will be a free agent after this season, but if Larris and the Cardinals want to continue this defense, he's a key piece they need to keep.
