The Cardinals running game couldn’t bust a grape last week against the Rams, but on Sunday against the Bills, they trampled a whole vineyard.
The Cardinals gained a season-high 182 yards on the ground on 30 rushes in their 19-16 overtime loss to the Bills.
If you look deeper into the numbers, 24 of those yards came on Rashad Johnson’s run off the Cardinals’ fake punt near the end of the first half.
Quarterback Kevin Kolb contributed 66 more yards on the ground, primarily as he was on the run from the Bills’ defenders.
At the top of the list of runners for Arizona was running back William Powell, who looked quite impressive behind an offensive line who still struggled to make things open up for him, but showed flashes here and there during the game.
Powell had 70 yards on 13 carries, but he wanted more.
“I felt like the line was coming off the ball and giving us some creases,” Powell said. “We got the running game going pretty well this week, but you always want to improve and get better. I was not satisfied with it.”
Head coach Ken Whisenhunt thought Powell “did a good job running the football,” as did wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald.
“I think Willie Powell did a really good job for us creating his own lanes,” Fitzgerald said. “Across the board, I think we were happy with the way we ran the football.”
From my view here in the press box, I could see that Powell was a cut or two away from busting off some huge runs, but they never materialized.
“A couple of times I was pretty close to hitting the big one,” Powell said.
Despite consecutive losses to the Rams and Bills, Powell remains confident that he and his teammates will get back on track.
“We feel, in critical situations, we have the talent and the guys to pull out a victory regardless of who the opponent is,” Powell said. “We just have to get it together and work on it in practice.”
