Peter Schrager's Cheat Sheet: The Arizona Cardinals aren't just flashy — they're tough, too

By Peter Schrager
FOX Sports NFL Analyst

Welcome to the Week 10 edition of the Schrager Cheat Sheet.

Each week, I take a look at several things you need to know heading into the NFL weekend. This week, we look at how the Arizona Cardinals are so much more than a fun team that lights up the scoreboard, why you shouldn't blame referees for taunting penalties, how the Los Angeles Chargers have bounced back and more.

1. The Cardinals are Arizona ... tough?

I think we all expected the 2021 Arizona Cardinals to be entertaining, high-scoring and a fixture for fantasy football and NFL RedZone. What might not have been expected was for them to be one of the most physically dominant and mentally tough teams in the league.

And no one had them as the NFL's lone one-loss team after nine weeks.

What the Cardinals have done so far this season would already make for a pretty good movie. They lost their head coach and his top offensive assistant a few days before their biggest game in years due to positive COVID-19 tests and went into Cleveland and beat the Browns. They lost Chandler Jones in another game for the same reason and didn't flinch. They lost J.J. Watt for the year and kept their chins up. Rodney Hudson, Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins have all missed games due to injuries as well. In Sunday's blowout over the 49ers in Santa Clara, they lost Chase Edmonds a few minutes into the game.

Insert Colt McCoy, insert Eno Benjamin, and insert a cast of characters on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball who are fully committed to the cause. The Cardinals waxed the 49ers 34-17 in their building. And San Francisco isn't alone. Arizona kicks everyone's butts in their buildings. The Cardinals are 5-0 on the road this season and have won by an average of 12 points. That's incredible.

Look at these road game scores:

— Week 1 in Tennessee: 38-13
— Week 3 in Jacksonville: 31-19
— Week 4 in Los Angeles: 37-20
— Week 6 in Cleveland: 37-14
— Week 9 in San Francisco: 31-17

Perhaps my favorite moment of the Cardinals' 8-1 start came in Sunday's first half. With about seven minutes left in the second quarter, Cardinals WR Rondale Moore was stopped short of a first down, and 49ers CB Josh Norman felt the need to talk a little trash. Fine. 

But then, there was Kliff Kingsbury, typically mild-mannered, rarely talking any trash — jawing back and forth with the much-traveled Norman. Kingsbury showed a little bite, and penalty flags were tossed. Yes, typically, that's foolish stuff from a head coach in a divisional battle. But the Cardinals' players loved it. There was Hopkins, a few feet behind him and not in uniform, nodding and backing up his coach. Again, maybe it was silly. Maybe I'm making more of it than it really was.

But it felt like a moment. Like this team was planting its flag in a divisional opponent's building and saying, "No quarterback. No WR1. No Hall of Fame pass rusher. It's OK. We're here. And we're not going anywhere."

I love the Cardinals' start to the season because of the adversity they've overcome. I also love it because they kick butt on the road.

But maybe the part I love most is the confidence they have in one another. Nobody saw this coming. 

Correction: Nobody in the media or the cheap seats or the message boards saw this coming. You get the feeling that the Cardinals players and staff did, though, and now they're puffing their chests out just a little.

They should. It has been an awesome first nine weeks.

2. TauntGate

Who didn't see Monday night's officiating controversy coming from a mile away? The Bears and Steelers played a wildly entertaining, back-and-forth game Monday night, and naturally, the only headline Tuesday morning was about the officials and the curious taunting penalty called on Cassius Marsh.

Honestly, at some point, the NFL's new "point of emphasis" on penalizing taunting was going to play out in a big moment, on a national stage. I'm surprised it took nine weeks to get everyone up in arms.

Some context: With 3:16 left in the fourth quarter and the Steelers up three, Bears LB Marsh sacked Ben Roethlisberger on third down. Marsh did his spinning kick celebration, something he has done for years (yes, I saw a montage of Marsh's spinning kick sack celebrations online). He then peacocked over by Pittsburgh's sideline and stared. 

The official, Tony Corrente, flagged Marsh for taunting.

"It’s pretty clear to everybody who saw it that I wasn’t taunting," Marsh said afterward. "I’ve been doing the celebration my whole career."

"Keep in mind that taunting is a point of emphasis this year," Corrente said after the game. "I saw the player, after he made a big play, run toward the bench area of the Pittsburgh Steelers and posture in such a way I felt he was taunting them."

The Steelers went on to win, and Bears fans were big mad.

But this was bound to happen. Like it or not, the NFL's Competition Committee went out of its way to tell the officials to call more taunting penalties this season. The term "point of emphasis" equates to "see it, call it." Corrente, who needs to decide in the moment whether Marsh's spinning kick and glare represent taunting, threw the flag.

Was he wrong to do so? Taunting is subjective. If Corrente is being told by his bosses — and yes, owners such as John Mara of the Giants are on the committee — to throw taunting flags, if he thinks he sees a taunt, he's going to throw that flag. Remember, it's a point of emphasis.

Back in August, Mara spoke on this, saying, "We get kind of sick and tired of the taunting that does go on from time to time on the field."

"That’s something we discuss every year in the competition committee. We tried to balance the sportsmanship with allowing the players to have fun, and there’s always a fine line there, but none of us like to see that."

Ron Rivera and Mike Tomlin were on board with it, too.

Corrente is Public Enemy No. 1 in Chicago this week, and Bears fans can feel however they want about some of the other calls (or lack thereof) in Monday's loss (note: Chicago was flagged 11 times, Pittsburgh just twice.) But taunting flags are going to be thrown. 

Until they're not. I'm interested to see if the league sends a message to the officials after Monday night's situation. "Point made ... let's loosen the reins a bit."

A rule controversy taking over a Week 9 regular-season game is one thing, but I would hate to see a taunting flag decide a playoff game in January.

3. The Bolts are back

There's a lot to be said about the way the Chargers closed out Sunday afternoon's 27-24 win in Philadelphia. After a hot start and a wave of articles praising head coach Brandon Staley's aggressive nature the first six weeks, Los Angeles lost two straight games in which it looked nothing like the team from September and early October.

Then came the drive — 6:07 left. Score tied at 24-24. It would have been fine and dandy to engage in a little late-game shootout or ping-pong match with the Eagles' offense. But Staley, offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi and quarterback Justin Herbert weren't going to have it that way. The Chargers went on a back-breaking — potentially season-crushing — 15-play, 65-yard, game-sealing drive that ensured Philadelphia wouldn't see the ball again.

On that drive, Los Angeles went for it on fourth down two times, bled the clock dry and made sure Jalen Hurts wouldn't see the field. When kicker Dustin Hopkins booted the game-winner through, there were just two seconds left on the clock, and a pin drop could be heard at Lincoln Financial Stadium. 

Staley's decision to not settle for longer field goals with more time left, but to go for it on fourth down goes beyond just analytics and situational football. It showed trust in his QB and awareness of the franchise's reputation for bungled finishes. 

The Chargers are back on track, and if there's ever a big fourth-down decision, it appears as though their coach has a preference for putting it in his QB's hands, not the other team's.

4. Tennessee's secret weapons

Mike Vrabel is getting a lot of midseason Coach of the Year love, and rightfully so. His defensive coordinator deserves a little love, too. Shane Bowen is a first-year DC who has helped turn the Tennessee defense from a middle-of-the-pack unit into a top one. The Titans had 19 sacks in all of 2020, ranking 30th in the league. Through nine games this season, they have 23 sacks, ranking fifth in the NFL.

Bowen's promotion from outside linebackers coach to DC wasn't exactly met with a ticker-tape parade from Titans fans and local media back in January. Some scratched their heads over the fact that there was never a real announcement, but rather, the title was mentioned in the bottom half of a press release announcing the promotion of Todd Downing to OC after Arthur Smith left for the Falcons' head-coaching gig.

Bowen has been nothing short of tremendous in his first year on the gig, not only getting the most out of free-agent pass-rusher Denico Autry but also seeing the play of third-year defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons leap off the film room screen.

Bowen is a Vrabel protégé. When Vrabel was at Ohio State, the two struck up a relationship. When Vrabel left Ohio State for the Houston Texans, Bowen followed. And when Vrabel left Houston to be the HC of the Titans, he brought Bowen with him.

With everyone looking at head-coaching candidates for the 2022 season, Bowen's name is starting to generate a little buzz. Many are pointing to the success of Staley in Year 1 with the Chargers as a possible path for Bowen to follow, as both are high-energy, relentless workers who come from the defensive side of the ball.

But while Bowen has been a revelation, the Titans have another secret weapon whom you rarely hear mentioned on the broadcasts: Jim Schwartz. 

The longtime Titans DC from the 2000s, Schwartz has been through a head-coaching experience in Detroit, DC jobs in Buffalo and Philly, and a stint at the league office helping the officials. Now he's back where it sort of all began for him. His title is "senior defensive assistant," but make no mistake about it: Schwartz is no wallflower, and he's playing a key role with both the young Titans defenders and the rest of that defensive coaching staff. At just 55 years old, Schwartz is a respected defensive mind, and he has a ton of swag that players gravitate toward.

Whereas all eyes are on Bowen as the rising star, don't be shocked if Schwartz's name starts popping up on head-coaching candidate interview lists, too.

5. 49ers and Santa Clara. What gives?

One of the weirdest statistical anomalies going right now is San Francisco's inability to win at home. Dating to last season, the 49ers have lost their past eight home games. That streak includes five straight losses at Levi's Stadium, with the others being "home" games played in Arizona in 2020 after they had the last part of their home schedule moved due to local COVID-19 restrictions. The 49ers have won just one home game since their NFC Championship victory over Green Bay in January 2020.

Kyle Shanahan was asked about it this week, and he didn't have many solutions. "At home, you don't have to worry about the noise as much," he said. "That's the only difference. So I don't think we've played great football at home or on the road recently. But it's happened that we've lost more at home. For me to think that's anything in particular, I don't. We've got to play a lot better on the road and at home to become a better football team."

Yes ...

George Kittle? Anything to add?

"We're just not getting it done [at home]. We have turnovers. When you give up touchdowns after turnovers, it really hurts. We continue as an offense to put our defense in a bad spot. That just is what it is, so we've got to get better at that."

Reporters followed up Monday, asking Shanahan whether it's the pregame warmup or the hotel or the preparation? Anything? What's up with the woes at home?

"We do the same routine at home that we do on the road," he said. "You always go to a hotel. You have the same meeting time, same everything. So there's no change."

The Rams come to Levi's Stadium for a Monday night bout this week. Both teams obviously need the W. But gosh, if San Francisco loses its sixth straight game in that building? This oddity and the questions surrounding it will not be going away.

Peter Schrager is an NFL writer for FOX Sports and a host of "Good Morning Football" on NFL Network.