Josh Weinfuss, ESPN Staff Writer 6y

Cardinals' defense has plan to prevent another second-half letdown

SUNBURY-ON-THAMES, England -- Sunday's win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers should've been much easier for the Arizona Cardinals.

They were up 31-0 about midway through the third quarter, basking in the dominating debut of running back Adrian Peterson. Then the Bucs went on a 33-7 run in the final 23 minutes, 27 seconds to come within 38-33 with two minutes left in the game.

It was a close call for Arizona.

It was also a signal to the Cardinals' defense that they can't let up.

"We have to understand that once we have a team (down), we have to find a way to keep them there," cornerback Patrick Peterson said. "We understand that momentum shifts in games. At the end of the day, we have to find ways to weather the storm. Luckily, we did last week, and we just have to continue building on finding ways finishing ballgames.

"We started out fast, but we didn't finish fast. We'll start slow, then try to finish fast. We have to find ways to put both of those together so we can become that dynamic team that we know we are."

Defensive coordinator James Bettcher said the first step toward the Cardinals putting teams away defensively will be to eliminate big plays. Arizona gave up seven plays of more than 20 yards to Tampa Bay -- six on passes, including a 37-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick to Mike Evans that brought the Bucs within five with 2:02 left.

Bettcher named three keys to prevent another letdown: "finishing plays, staying in the moment, staying present. When you get up on someone, you got to keep grinding and keep playing one play at a time."

He said Arizona needs to play like the score is 0-0 regardless of situation. Especially in the second half.

That's when Arizona has a tendency to let teams get back into games, safety Tyrann Mathieu said.

"We may play well a few series, then we have these lapses, whether it be mental errors, whether it be guys not playing deep balls well," Mathieu said. "So, we just got to do a great job of challenging each other on the sidelines to stay consistent, to stay focused throughout the entire game."

That might never be more important than it is in Week 7.

Arizona is coming off a win that breathed new life into a team that was toiling on the edge of a lost season. The Cardinals are 3-3 but facing the third-best passing offense and highest-scoring team in the NFL on Sunday when they play the Los Angeles Rams in London.

"I think we have to play our style of football for 60 minutes," Mathieu said. "So, we know what we're going to get. We know what we're going to see. I think it just all comes down to us executing well. Like I said, not having mental errors, guys being in the right place at the right time. We've just got to focus on finishing football games."

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