Trying to defend the run in a nickel defense is not a good idea. There is a good reason why most teams play a base defense 1⁄3 rd of the time. The Cardinals’ 4 down linemen are outnumbered 4-5 (OL). That means one OL is free to pull or make blocks on the ILB. Essentially the ILBs are not covered—-so you need ILBers who are super quick to diagnose, and who can plug and finish on a dime and get into pass coverage (zone or man) in a flash.
