The Arizona Cardinals defense looked good on Monday night against the Dallas Cowboys and the stats back it up. The Cowboys’ offense entered the game as one of the most powerful units in the NFL, but the Cardinals’ defense shut them down.
It was Arizona’s best defensive performance of the season, and it was powered by the NFL debut of defensive lineman Walter Nolen III.
How Good Was Walter Nolen III and Arizona’s Defense?
It was Nolen’s NFL debut, so there’s not as much data to go on, but if this level of play continues, he’s a rising star.
The Cardinals’ rookie ranked No. 7 in the NFL among all defensive tackles in PFSN’s DT Impact in Week 9 with an 83.2 score.
That was the Cardinals’ second-best grade of the season, only behind veteran Calais Campbell’s 84.5 score in Week 2.
If you were watching Monday Night Football, you knew who Nolen was by the end of the night. He began by getting his first tackle for loss of his career on the Cowboys’ opening drive to force a field goal.
Then, Nolen capped his night with the first sack of his career in the fourth quarter on the Cowboys’ quarterback, Dak Prescott. The rookie ended the night with four tackles, two TFLs, two quarterback pressures, a sack, and a pass defended.
He was the first rookie to put up those stats in his NFL debut since T.J. Watt in 2017 and just the fourth to do so in NFL history.
His performance led the Cardinals’ defense to their best single-week performance of the year. Arizona’s defense ranked No. 6 on PFSN’s Defense Impact Rankings in Week 9.
The Cardinals started the year with five straight C grades on defense and then had back-to-back D grades before shutting down the Cowboys for their first B grade of the year.
Arizona put together a defensive impact score of 81.3, holding one of the highest-powered offenses in the NFL to just 17 points.
However, the challenge gets harder in Week 10. Now, the Cardinals will face the No. 7 offense in the NFL, according to PFSN’s Offense Impact. But the Seattle Seahawks are coming off their best offensive performance of the year.
Seattle was PFSN’s No. 1 Offense in Impact rankings in Week 9. The Seahawks earned an 89.9 score, good for a B+ grade. It was Seattle’s third time scoring at least 35 points this season.
The Seahawks have ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in PFSN’s Offense Impact rankings in each of those three weeks.
The Cardinals face a significant challenge as they travel to Seattle for a crucial divisional matchup that carries major playoff implications.