The Arizona Cardinals Receivers Are the Best in the NFL...But Can They Block?

Use the run to open up the pass—or so we once believed.

The Arizona Cardinals have defied football logic older than their last NFL championship during their unprecedented journey to the Super Bowl.

Watching a receiver keep his hands up for a block, throw an unexpected hit into a defender, and help spring his running back for a few more yards has become a rare treat in today's NFL.

And it's not what makes the Cardinals click.

Acrobatic grabs in mid-air, precise route-running, and evasive maneuvers after the catch have combined to create an NFL offense unlike anything fans have ever seen. The passing game helps to sell the run.

Warner's receivers strike fear into a defense with finesse instead of bone-crushing contact. The threat of the catch is greater than the block.

Blockers or Distractions?

Being an effective pass-blocker as a wide receiver is a skill most teams with a run-first mentality admire. It's what makes Hines Ward such an adored player in Pittsburgh and a feared one across the NFL.

For whatever reason, not every receiver can do it. In most cases, not every receiver wants to do it.

But when you play for the Arizona Cardinals, you don't have to.

Defenses live in absolute fear of Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin. Both receivers typically demand a double-team by default.

However, when a defense diagnoses a play as a run, neither receiver manages to succeed at sealing off the running lane.

Fitzgerald and Boldin can track a defender three or four yards away from a play. But as soon as the secondary recovers, the defensive backs rush up to provide support to the front seven in stopping the run.

For all that's been said about Edgerrin James' postseason rejuvenation and Tim Hightower's big-play ability, both runners are averaging just below four yards per carry.

While a 3.9-yard average is respectable, the fact that only one run in 86 attempts has gone for over 20 yards is inexcusable—especially when Arizona's passing game is so potent.

Fitzgerald and Boldin do enough to split the defense for a moment, but more should be expected if the rush attack is to become an integral part of Arizona's offense.

No Mystery to Arizona's Rushing Success

During the media festivities leading up to the Super Bowl, Kurt Warner couldn't even explain why the Cards' running game has suddenly taken off.

“I don’t know what clicked, it was just we started running the ball and having some success," he told Yahoo! reporters.

But Arizona didn't just start running the ball. Establishing the run was something Ken Whisenhunt hoped to do from the very beginning—even if it came at the cost of his own pride.

Cardinals fans were never happy when the offensive gameplan worked away from the team's strengths. For all that was written about how terrible the Cards' rush attack was, one consistency in their inconsistency was ignored.

In four of the Cardinals games this season, they were outscored in the first half by a margin of 117-7.

When playing against the Jets, Eagles, Patriots, and Vikings, the Cardinals made early mistakes and averaged under 40 rushing yards per game—disallowing the offense to establish any semblance of a balanced attack.

Playing from behind in the second-half forced Arizona to abandon the run. In games where the football was protected and the defense played well, the rushing numbers were respectable.

You can't run the ball when you're playing from behind—something Arizona hasn't done an awful much of in January.