Revenge of the Birds
The Arizona Cardinals (2-5-0) are getting ready for the Monday Night Football (MNF) contest against the Dallas Cowboys (3-4-1). The game will be on a national stage in front of over 100,000 hometown Texas fans and approximately 15 million viewers. This year, MNF viewership is up 10%.
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Both teams have been a disappointment this season. Arizona began 2-0 and then lost three games they had won in the closing quarter. The Cowboys can outscore anybody in the league, but their defense is porous and ranked dead last in most defensive categories.
The Cardinals’ defense will most likely be outmatched by the high-flying aerial attack of Dallas. They are ranked #17 against the pass, but have a very good defense against the run, currently ranked #7.
Part of the reason Arizona is so good versus the run is because of DT Calais Campbell. He is on his second stint with the Cardinals after being selected in the second round of the 2008 NFL draft out of Miami. He spent nine seasons with Arizona before going on to play for four other NFL clubs. In April, GM Monti Ossenfort inked Campbell to a one-year, $5.5 million contract with the team that originally drafted him.
Against the Cowboys, Campbell will have started his 250th NFL game.
This is not consecutive, mind you, but career total starts in his 18-year career. Only 15 athletes have reached the 250-start plateau. QB Tom Brady heads the list with 333 starts.
Campbell is now 39 years old. That in itself would be assumed to mean that he should become a two-down gap plugger because of his 6’-8” frame and tipping the scales at 315 pounds during the season, and easily pushing 350 pounds during the off-season despite having a nutritionist on staff monitoring his pizza intake.
But Campbell has been one of the Cards’ best defenders this season.
This season, he has seven starts, 19 total tackles, 3 sacks, 5 tackles for loss, 1 batted pass, 5 QB hits, 2 hurries, 5 knockdowns, 10 pressures, and just two missed tackles.
It just seems he is in the most opportune spot when a big play is needed. And the fact that the big play is arriving from the middle of the defensive line instead of flying off the edge or on a stunt from a safety is remarkable. And a lot of times, his presence or pressure in the pocket doesn’t get an actual stat, but it will give a result for another player’s act.
Big dudes are supposed to become immovable objects that prevent ball carriers from gaining yardage up the gut and have to resort to taking it outside instead. This shuts down the inside running lanes and protects the linebackers.
Campbell has been voted to the Pro Bowl six times, two while with Arizona on the first go-round. He has been named First Team All-Pro once, and Second Team All-Pro twice, both while with the Cardinals. He was later...
