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Deone Bucannon Back To Form

Notes: Tramon Williams starts at CB; Jones gets eighth sack

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Cardinals money linebacker Deone Bucannon returns an interception against the Rams on Sunday.


LONDON, England – The list of impressive Cardinals in Sunday's 33-0 loss to the Rams was short, but Deone Bucannon may have topped the list.

The money linebacker missed the first three games of the season and didn't look like himself upon his return, but had an impressive showing against Los Angeles. Bucannon collected a team-high 12 tackles and had an interception in the third quarter.

While the defense as a whole underperformed again, getting Bucannon back to form would be a positive moving forward.

"I felt good," Bucannon said. "This was my first major surgery, so I was trying to figure what I could, what I couldn't do."

The Cardinals were already down 26-0 in the third quarter when Bucannon picked off Jared Goff. He was hoping it would light some sort of fire under the team, but it didn't happen. The Cardinals had a first-and-10 on the Los Angeles 27 on their ensuing possession but subsequently went backwards and had to punt.

"Any time someone makes a play, you want your teammates to feed off of it," Bucannon said. "I feel like we did. But sometimes the ball just doesn't blow your way."

TRAMON WILLIAMS STARTS AT CORNERBACK

After an interception last week, the Cardinals inserted veteran cornerback Tramon Williams into the starting lineup for Justin Bethel. Williams played the whole way and Arians was satisfied with his performance.

Williams was targeted a lot, which is a function of playing opposite Patrick Peterson. Williams finished with 10 tackles.

"It was a lot of action, I can tell you that," Williams said. "I think I played pretty solid. But when you lose like this, you always feel like you never performed well."

Budda Baker was used as the sixth defensive back, which pushed Bethel out of the picture on defense. He returned to his role on special teams, where he is a multi-time Pro Bowler.

ANOTHER SACK FOR JONES

The Cardinals didn't get near Goff often, but it's no surprise outside linebacker Chandler Jones was the one who brought him down. Jones had a sack near the end of the first half to make Greg Zuerlein's field goal harder, although he still nailed the 53-yard attempt.

Jones now has eight sacks on the season, which is among the league leaders. He has at least one sack in six of the seven games this season.

IN THE NEUTRAL ZONE

The Cardinals' defensive line didn't generate much pressure on Goff and made its fair share of mistakes. The line was whistled for five neutral zone infractions.

Josh Mauro had two, while Robert Nkemdiche, Rodney Gunter and Xavier Williams had one apiece. Arians thought the pressure generated by the front was "average." Jones registered the only sack of the game, although Nkemdiche did have some moments where he did a nice job collapsing the pocket from the interior.

ELLINGTON SITS WITH INJURY

Running back Andre Ellington missed the game with a quadriceps injury. Kerwynn Williams took his place as the third down back, while Brittan Golden saw an increase in playing time in five wide receiver sets.

Williams didn't carry the ball but had two catches for 27 yards. Golden had three catches for 20 yards, which all came on the same drive in the second quarter.

Images of the Week 7 affair at Twickenham Stadium in England



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