Oct 5, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Arizona Cardinals outside linebacker Josh Sweat (10) walks off the field at the end of their game against the Tennessee Titans at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images

Stat Reveals Just How Poor Cardinals' Pass Rush Has Been

Originally posted on Arizona Cardinals on SI
By Donnie Druin | Last updated Oct 24, 2025 3:01 PM ET

The Arizona Cardinals have overall been well under par for play in 2025.

With a 2-5 record and a historical five-game losing streak to pair - the Cardinals have plenty of questions to answer as the second half of the schedule gets underway.

One massive area that needs improvement is their ability to put pressure on the quarterback, as Arizona's pressure rate of 23.3% is third-worst in the NFL:

The Cardinals have the 3rd-lowest pressure rate in the NFL at 23.3%, per @FTNFantasy, despite investing all these resources the past two years:

Sweat: $19.1M/year
Tomlinson: $14.5M
Jones: $10.1M
Browning: $7.5M
Collins: $7M
Nichols: $7M
Campbell: $5.5M
Robinson: Rd 1
Nolen: Rd 1
— Kyle Odegard (@Kyle_Odegard) October 24, 2025

Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon doesn't agree with the stats.

“I don't know what the stats showed, but I thought we had our best day rushing yesterday, truthfully," Gannon said earlier.

"Four-man rush mechanics, I thought we were really good yesterday. Where we weren't so good is on the back end. Just as (far as), are we taking away the first look? Are we on the right people? Are we closing windows? Are we winning leverage? That was the epitome of—we've probably had more production in games before that and you're like, ’Oh, we're rushing really good and then we didn't rush good yesterday.’

"I disagree. I thought we rushed really good yesterday. We weren't on point with the—rush and coverage go together. There were many plays in that game where you saw that, so we're going to make sure all 11 are doing the right thing.”

Arizona spent hefty resources on the pass rush, which has seen success at individual levels with names such as Josh Sweat and Baron Browning - though the unit overall hasn't been great.

“Put it all together, we better or we're not going to win. (We) have to put it all together, all three phases, 60 minutes, run (and) pass game, red zone, backed up, two-minute, four-minute, short yardage—all the things that go into the game," Gannon continued.

"I know it's funny because I smirked too, but you really don't know where it's going to matriculate for a game and that's why you have to be on the details of everything. That’s the ball, you never know when that's going to show up. I thought we did a good job hunting it. The one (where) we took the ball away then when we gave it back, unfortunate. Kind of a bad luck play—whatever. We looked at that (and said) ‘How can we avoid that one?’ It all matters, it all counts, and you have to do it well.”