Full Arizona Cardinals Report Card Heading into Week 4 Bye
Raise your hand if you thought there would be only three undefeated teams left in the NFL after only three weeks. Now raise your hand if you thought the Arizona Cardinals would be undefeated heading into their Week 4 bye.
My hand was not raised in either instance.
The Cardinals played a tough three-game schedule to start the season, so it’s not as though they’re playing patsies—is there really a “patsy” in the NFL?
The San Diego Chargers are 2-1, having defeated the Seattle Seahawks at home and previously undefeated Buffalo Bills on the road after dropping the season opener to Arizona.
The New York Giants started slow, dropping their first two games. But quarterback Eli Manning put up 30 points on the previously undefeated Houston Texans, who had allowed 20 points in two games leading up to their road matchup with the G-men.
The San Francisco 49ers have issues early this season but had beaten the Cardinals four straight times. They looked as though they were headed for a similar result, but a second-half surge from Arizona broke the streak.
How has each Cardinals positional unit looked in three games so far?
I have graded every one after each game, so let’s take a look at those grades and give them—and the team as a whole—a final grade heading into the Week 4 bye.
Quarterback
1 of 10
You never want to have to rely on your backup quarterback to win games for you, but head coach Bruce Arians believed Drew Stanton could get the job done if needed.
He was so right.
Carson Palmer felt young again against the Chargers, rushing three times for a career-high 30 yards on Monday Night Football. But rather than sliding feet-first on one scramble, he instead lowered his shoulder into safety Eric Weddle.
The hit from Weddle isn’t what did the damage—it was how Palmer landed afterward that forced him to miss the next two games.
The nerve is “asleep,” for lack of a better word, and no one knows when it will wake up. “I wish I had a concrete answer or somebody knew exactly what to do to wake it up. The only answer is time, and I’m hoping it doesn’t take any more time,” Palmer told Kent Somers of AZCentral.com.
Meanwhile, all Stanton has done is lead the team to two wins without Palmer. Stanton has completed 51.6 percent of his passes for 411 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions for an 83.5 passer rating. He has been sacked four times.
His first-half performances have been decent, completing 17 of 33 passes (51.5 percent) for 198 yards and no touchdowns for a 70.0 rating. The offense has scored one touchdown, while rookie kicker Chandler Catanzaro has banged three field goals—a 57.1 percent scoring rate on all drives.
In the second half, Stanton has completed 15 of 29 passes (51.7 percent) for 213 yards and both of his season touchdowns for a 98.8 rating. He has led the two touchdown drives, while Catanzaro has converted four field goals—a 60 percent scoring rate on all drives.
Overall, you have to be pleased with Stanton’s performance, if for nothing else than the fact that he hasn’t turned the ball over once. That is huge.
| Game | Grade |
| Chargers | B+ |
| Giants | B- |
| 49ers | A |
| Cumulative | B+ |
Running Back
2 of 10
Andre Ellington’s carries have increased in each of the first three games this season, leading up to a career-high 18 against the 49ers last Sunday.
On the season, he has 46 carries for 206 yards (4.5 yards per carry), but he has yet to score a touchdown.
He has added 50 receiving yards, becoming the eighth Cardinals running back since 1960 to rush for 200-plus yards and record 50-plus receiving yards through three games—he's just the fourth to do so within his first two NFL seasons.
The Cardinals need a three-down back, especially after the arrest of backup Jonathan Dwyer. Ellington isn’t quite there, having played 135 of a possible 212 offensive snaps (subscription required). But he’s on his way, as his snaps have increased in each of the first three games, just as his carries have.
While Ellington is averaging 4.5 yards per carry, no one else on the current roster has carried more than twice (Stepfan Taylor has two carries for seven yards).
Overall, Ellington and Co. have been above average.
| Game | Grade |
| Chargers | B- |
| Giants | A |
| 49ers | B+ |
| Cumulative | B+ |
Wide Receiver and Tight End
3 of 10
| Player | Pass Snaps | Tar | PS/Tar | Rec | Yards | YPC | YAC | YAC/Rec | TD |
| L Fitzgerald | 112 | 20 | 5.60 | 10 | 107 | 10.70 | 28 | 2.80 | 0 |
| J Brown | 82 | 15 | 5.47 | 9 | 109 | 12.11 | 30 | 3.33 | 3 |
| M Floyd | 117 | 22 | 5.32 | 11 | 252 | 22.91 | 34 | 3.09 | 0 |
That table is telling. Say what you will about the season still being young and giving Larry Fitzgerald time to get involved in the offense. He will have a solid game every now and again, but the fact is this: Fitzgerald is no longer the clear-cut top target in Arizona.
Rookie John Brown has accounted for all three touchdowns by the receiving corps, and Taylor, the backup running back, has the other.
Michael Floyd has two 100-yard games to start the season. He is clearly on his way to being among the more dominant receivers in the league, but Palmer or Stanton have to get him into the end zone for Floyd to have a case.
As a whole, the tight ends and receivers have blocked well for the running backs.
With Rob Housler inactive for the 49ers game, we saw more of rookie Troy Niklas than in the first two games. However, he was used primarily as a blocker.
John Carlson has been the only viable receiving threat among tight ends, recording six catches for 96 yards (16.0 yards per catch). He appears to have an increasing role in the offense every week, so it may be just a matter of time before he has a big impact on a game.
Together, the receivers and tight ends have played well. Blocking is not a major issue, and between them, only Carlson has a dropped pass—a unit-wide 2.3 percent (subscription required) drop rate.
| Game | Grade |
| Chargers | B- |
| Giants | C |
| 49ers | B- |
| Cumulative | B- |
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Offensive Line
4 of 10
These beefy dudes have played head and shoulders better than last year’s unit did. Through three games, in fact, they're rated as the fifth-best (subscription required) offensive line in the NFL.
Left tackle Jared Veldheer began his Cardinals career with a shaky game against the Chargers, allowing five hurries. In two games since, he has not allowed a single pressure. Right tackle Bobby Massie has been equally good at protecting Palmer and Stanton, surrendering only four total pressures.
Both are in the top 20 in individual pass-blocking efficiency (subscription required) for tackles. According to Pro Football Focus, the stat is “a weighted formula that combines sacks, hits and hurries (with hits and hurries three quarters the worth) relative to how many snaps an offensive tackle is in pass protection.”
The interior linemen have had a bit more difficulty but have still protected the quarterbacks well.
In the run game, Ellington is not creating running lanes on his own. The line has gotten a lot of push up front for the most part. Ellington averaged only 3.4 yards per carry against the 49ers defense, but San Francisco has a solid front seven and was able to limit what Ellington did.
| Game | Grades |
| Chargers | C- |
| Giants | B |
| 49ers | B |
| Cumulative | B- |
Defensive Line
5 of 10
With defensive tackle Darnell Dockett out for the season with a torn ACL, it was thought the defensive line would take a step back. Dockett is one of the vocal leaders in the defensive huddle and was supposed to take the reins as the leader after the loss of linebackers Daryl Washington and Karlos Dansby.
Well, the line hasn’t missed a step sans Dockett. It may not be better than it was last year, but it is at least on par with that top unit in 2013.
Thanks in large part to Calais Campbell, Dan Williams and the defensive tackle combination of Frostee Rucker and Tommy Kelly, the Cardinals are No. 5 in the league in yards per carry allowed (2.87).
An area of concern is in pass-rushing, or a lack thereof.
A 3-4 defense relies on its defensive line not for creating pressure directly, but for setting up the linebackers behind them to get clear shots at the quarterback by taking up multiple offensive linemen.
The more bodies the D-line can occupy, the less chance a linebacker has of encountering a blocker, increasing the chance of getting pressure on the quarterback.
So far, the defensive line is not doing that with enough regularity.
| Game | Grade |
| Chargers | C |
| Giants | B- |
| 49ers | B+ |
| Cumulative | B- |
Linebacker
6 of 10
The other part of pressuring quarterbacks is those linebackers. John Abraham, the team’s leading edge-rusher a year ago, won’t be walking through the door, as he has been placed on injured reserve with a concussion.
No one else is getting regular pressure.
Quarterbacks have had plenty of time to find open receivers, which, in turn, has made the secondary look bad. It can only cover receivers so long before someone gets open.
To the linebackers’ credit, they have helped immensely in stopping running backs early this season. We mentioned the overall run defense being No. 5 at 2.87 yards allowed per carry.
When you look at just running backs against the Cardinals, that average drops to 2.58 YPC. Everyone else—receivers and quarterbacks—has a 3.65 YPC average.
| Game | Grade |
| Chargers | B- |
| Giants | C+ |
| 49ers | C+ |
| Cumulative | B- |
Secondary
7 of 10
When you look at the raw numbers, it might appear the Arizona secondary has struggled covering receivers. Opposing quarterbacks have completed 67.9 percent of their passes for four touchdowns and three interceptions and an 86.7 passer rating.
But some of that can be blamed on a lack of a pass rush up front.
In reality, these guys are playing lights-out football on the back end. From Antonio Cromartie being rated as PFF’s No. 2 cornerback in coverage to Patrick Peterson keeping everything in front of him, they are creating one of the top cornerback duos in the league.
Neither has an interception yet, and Peterson’s two touchdowns allowed have given him all kinds of negative attention to begin the season.
However, Cromartie could have two picks, and the two are one of two pairs (subscription required) of teammates with at least 10 targets against allowing fewer than 2.0 yards after catch per reception—the other pairing is Chris Culliver and Perrish Cox of the 49ers.
Rookie safety Deone Bucannon has provided the defense with another athlete in the box as the “dollar linebacker” in nickel sets, and starting strong safety Tony Jefferson has been a pleasant surprise thus far.
With the slow insertion of Tyrann Mathieu, this secondary will only get better as the season continues. Expect big things down the stretch.
| Game | Grade |
| Chargers | B- |
| Giants | B- |
| 49ers | A- |
| Cumulative | B- |
Special Teams
8 of 10
If not for two blocked punts and some poor kick returning from Ted Ginn Jr., this special teams unit could be considered one of the best in the league.
Ginn made up for the kick returning miscues by taking a punt 71 yards for the game-winning touchdown against the Giants in Week 2, but he has some work to do if he wants to keep his job as the primary returner.
Rookie kicker Chandler Catanzaro has been fantastic to this point, connecting on nine of nine field goals with a long of 51 yards.
Among kickers with at least 10 kickoffs this season, he ranks eighth (subscription required) with an average distance of 72.1 yards—that’s 7.1 yards deep in the end zone. Under the dome at University of Phoenix Stadium, his kickoffs average 73.6 yards, or 8.6 yards into the end zone.
He has had a direct hand (leg?) in the defense being successful so far because the average starting field position for opponents after his kickoffs is the 19.2-yard line.
This unit earned the only “A+” grade of the season Sunday against the 49ers thanks to Catanzaro’s work on field goals and kickoffs, as well as a blocked field goal from Kelly.
| Game | Grade |
| Chargers | B- |
| Giants | B- |
| 49ers | A+ |
| Cumulative | B+ |
Coaching
9 of 10
Arians and defensive coordinator Todd Bowles have done a wonderful job mixing and matching players to get the most out of the team despite early injuries. It seems that when one player goes down, all it does is give another player the opportunity to step in and make plays.
For the most part, those replacement players have made plays.
As we just saw against the 49ers, adjustments are a big part of the Cardinals' success so far this season. They have trailed in the second half of all three games, only to come back to get the win every time.
Whether starting slow on both offense and defense will catch up to them remains to be seen, but the fact that the team has finished strong in every game says a lot about them—if you can finish strong, you can compete with any team in the NFL.
No team has a larger fourth-quarter point differential than Arians’ Cardinals (plus-30), and Arizona is the only team in the NFL not to allow a single point in the fourth quarter through Week 3.
You can’t be that good in the final frame without good coaching.
| Game | Grade |
| Chargers | C+ |
| Giants | C+ |
| 49ers | A |
| Cumulative | B |
Final Grades
10 of 10
| Positional Unit | Chargers Grade | Giants Grade | 49ers Grade | Overall Grade |
| QB | B+ | B- | A | B+ |
| RB | B- | A | B+ | B+ |
| WR | B- | C | B- | B- |
| OL | C- | B | B | B- |
| DL | C | B- | B+ | B- |
| LB | B- | C+ | C+ | B- |
| Secondary | B+ | D- | A- | B- |
| Special Teams | B- | B- | A+ | B+ |
| Coaching | C+ | C+ | A | B |
| Cumulative Grade | B- | B- | A- | B |
The outlook is good for the Cardinals going into the bye week. They are 3-0 and sit atop the toughest division in the league.
After traveling to play the Denver Broncos following the bye, they have a couple of “easy” games when they host the Washington Redskins and visit the Oakland Raiders.
The schedule is filled with potent offenses and stingy defenses after that, so it is important that they emerge from the Raiders game at least 5-1. If that’s possible, they could very well coast to the finish line and make the playoffs this season.
There is a lot of work to do, however, and this team is never satisfied—it has taken on the persona of its head coach in this respect.
This team will not go quietly in any fight, and it will beat the opposition to a pulp whether it wins or loses.
Enjoy the bye week, Cardinals fans. It’s going to be a long and challenging ride through the rest of the season, so get your rest now. Expect to be emotionally and mentally drained by the time Week 17 rolls around.
All stats gathered from Pro-Football-Reference.com and Pro Football Focus (subscription required) unless otherwise stated.
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