James Bettcher decided to become a homicide detective last week. While the Cardinals were off, the defensive coordinator tirelessly searched for answers that were killing his defense. He reviewed all the evidence, identified the motives, and ultimately identified the biggest suspects.
The main culprits to a 3-4 start, he announced on Friday, have been the Cardinals’ ongoing inability to stop teams on third down and failing to force turnovers.
Let’s just focus on the latter for now because that is clearly the easiest to hurdle. Interceptions are one thing, but all it takes to gain separation of the football from a ball carrier is a will and a want.