Arizona Cardinals’ Points Allowed Trend Has Reached Alarming Territory

The Arizona Cardinals are 1-4 and aren't getting any better. One reason is that the defense can't stop anyone.

It has been a tough first five weeks for the Cardinals. On Sunday, they suffered their second blowout loss at home in as many contests and traded away a former first-round pick.

Both losing big at home and moving on from former first-rounders are tough pills to swallow. But what's even more alarming? The fact that the Cardinals have allowed 31+ points per game in their last four contests and 36+ per game in their last three.

Since allowing 14 points in Week 1 against the Los Angeles Chargers, the Cardinals' defense has been one of the league's worst — though poor offensive play can account for a few of those points opponents have scored.

Arizona entered Sunday's matchup vs. the Detroit Lions with 117 points allowed, or 29.3 per game. After allowing another 45, they have now allowed 162 points, or 32.4 per game. This puts them on a 17-game pace for 551 points allowed if the trend keeps up. Per StatMuse , that would be the most points allowed in NFL history.

Arizona Cardinals Points-Allowed Trend Has Been Getting Worse

Since allowing 14 points in Week 1, the Cardinals allowed 31 points in Week 2 vs. the Seattle Seahawks . They followed that up with 36 points allowed in Weeks 3 and 4, before allowing 45 points on Sunday vs. Detroit.

Take out that stellar defensive performance in Week 1, and the Cardinals have allowed an average of 37 points per game during their losing streak. Take that number and multiply it by 16 games (taking out the 14 allowed in Week 1), and it equals 592 points allowed. That puts things into perspective about how poorly the Cardinals have played defensively — especially their passing defense .

Again, we need to place some blame on the offense's shoulders, because Jacoby Brissett and Co. have been responsible for some of those points. Most notably, Deonte Banks' pick-six in Arizona's Week 4 loss to the New York Giants .

Still, the Cardinals entered their Week 5 matchup against Detroit with the 10th-worst total defense in the NFL. They had the 12th-worst passing defense and the 13th-worst rushing defense.

The Lions Took Things Up A Notch On Sunday

The Cardinals came into Week 5 allowing a league-worst 8.0 yards per pass attempt. One of the reasons Arizona's passing defense hasn't allowed more yards is that opposing quarterbacks haven't needed to throw more than an average of 27.25 times against them.

That trend continued on Sunday , when Jared Goff completed 19-for-30 passes for 271 yards — good for 9.0 yards per pass. Throw in the 163 yards Detroit gained on the ground and 5.1 yards per carry, and it shows that the Lions spent all afternoon gashing the Cardinals' defense.

Detroit finished the game with 412 total yards, meaning the Cardinals have now allowed 1,817 yards on the season. That's 363 yards per game, and it puts the Cardinals on pace to allow 6,178 yards across 17 games.

These numbers show how far behind the Arizona Cardinals are. Right now, they don't appear to have an answer to stop the run or the pass. If there is any good news, they have 12 more games to figure this out and at least start playing respectable football.