GLENDALE, Ariz. -- It may have been just a hot Saturday night in late August.
It may have been just the second preseason game.
It may have been against an offense without its starting quarterback and first-round running back.
But to Arizona Cardinals inside linebacker Kevin Minter, the way Arizona’s defensive line handled the San Diego Chargers' first-team running game was enough for him to get giddy at the potential. Arizona’s first-team defense held the Chargers to 13 rushing yards in the first quarter before the starters were pulled.
There is a caveat, however: Neither quarterback Philip Rivers nor running back Melvin Gordon played for San Diego on Saturday. Regardless, Minter could see a run defense similar to the Cardinals’ last two seasons brewing.
“Our D-line is downhill,” he said. “They are messing stuff up. They are taking people back and redoing the line of scrimmage. I did a little bit, but it’s really on them. (Defensive end) Calais (Campbell) and them had a field day, especially that rookie (defensive tackle Rodney Gunter).
“I don’t know if you noticed, but he was putting some people on their butts back there. We are trying to establish ourselves as a run-stopping defense, and I think we are kind of making some noise right now.”
Minter said Arizona’s defensive line -- which includes a combination of Campbell, Gunter, Frostee Rucker, Matt Shaughnessy, Xavier Williams, Alameda Ta'amu, Cory Redding, Josh Mauro and Ed Stinson -- reminds him of the lines he played with at LSU, which had the ninth-best rushing defense in the country in 2012 and the fifth best in 2011, according to NCAA.org.
The Cardinals’ defense has hung its hat on two things the last two seasons: blitzing and stopping the run. It finished 2013 as the NFL's No. 1 rush defense but dropped to 13th last season as injuries became too much to overcome.
How last season finished is still fresh in Rucker’s memory.
“The way we spiraled out of control at the end of the season last year, it was uncharacteristic of us,” Rucker said. “And we know we didn’t start the season off thinking about the 2014 season, but we know we have the nucleus of the group still here. We got to rewrite what we started, being No. 1 against the rush and getting after the passer and things like that.”
That process has already started.
The defense is already jelling, Rucker said, because of “really good” and “tough” training camp practices, which has led to a cohesiveness that was seen Saturday night.
Minter is looking forward to next Sunday night in Oakland -- not because the game will be televised nationally, however. Arizona’s starters will play more than a quarter, which will allow the defensive first-team to “tell the tale,” Minter said.
“It has been a great camp and we are showing it in the games,” Minter said. “We just have to keep consistent. I feel like I played better this game. I talked to some of the other guys and they feel like they played better.”
