Fun AZ Cardinals Facts from Football Outsiders Almanac 2012

[kerouac9]

Submitted mostly without comment:

Cards O 20th in broken tackle percentage
Cards D 5th in broken tackle %

Daryl Washington 17T for broken tackles allowed with 10
Larry Fitzgerald 12T in broken tackles by a WR/TE with 8

Daryl Washington (5T - 30) and Calais Campbell (8T - 28) were among the Top 20 defenders in defeats.

Both Darnell Dockett and Daryl Washington were 8T for run tackles for loss (9).

Dockett was among the top 20 players in the NFL in QB hits (6T - 16).

Even though he only played half a season, Kevin Kolb was T6 for most passes tipped at the line of scrimmage (14).

Kevin Kolb was DREADFUL when under pressure. He was the fifth-most pressured QB in the league (28.6% of plays), but his DVOA with pressure was -130.1%. Without pressure, Kolb can be an above-average QB (30.9% DVOA). But he ranked 31st in differential in pressured situations.

Skelton was pressured less often (23.4%), and he performed better under pressure (-118.5% DVOA), but he's significantly less effective when he's not under pressure (8.1% DVOA).

More to come when I have more time...

 

[Arizona's Finest]

Balls getting tipped at line and playing poorly under pressure (which I believe is the EXACT opposite of an article Sando and other had earlier - or maybe that was against blitz?) gives me hope for Kolb, as you would expect those to be deficient areas when you don't understand an offense and the reads your supposed to make.

Clown better get his act together starting Monday however!

 

[Duckjake]

What is a "defeat"?

 

[Krangodnzr]

What is a "defeat"?

I think it's a combination of stops for no gain, sacks, forced fumbles, etc. if I remember correctly.

 

[kerouac9]

I think it's a combination of stops for no gain, sacks, forced fumbles, etc. if I remember correctly.

Nope. It's preventing the opposing offense from achieving necessary yardage on the particular down.

I believe that means 4 yards or less on first down, 60% of the yardage necessary for a first down on 2nd down, and the yardage necessary for a first down on 3rd or 4th down.

So, yes, it INCLUDES stops for no gain, sacks, forced fumbles, interceptions, passes defensed, etc., but it's also a more meaningful stat than just "big plays" in defense.

 

[kerouac9]

More fun Stats:

Cards were 4th in the league in fewest dropped passes, just 3.5%.

Fitz was 2T for most targets on interceptions with 9, just after Kellen Winslow, Jr.

Rob Housler stood out for being in the bottom 10 among tight ends with a plus-minus of -3.4, eighth worst.

Patrick Peterson starting 16 games against the opposition's top target ranked 3T for most first downs and touchdowns allowed in coverage (41).

Of course, contra Krang, A.J. Jefferson as a part-time player against #2 targets was 12T (33).

Those coverage problems translated to yardage totals, as well. Peterson was 6th in the NFL in passing yards allowed (673). Jefferson, however, was not far behind at 14th (563).

Jefferson was Top 10 in fewest YAC allowed in coverage: 7th at 2.3 YPC.

Adrian Wilson was either flowing to the ball excellently or playing real close to the line of scrimmage. He was 5th in average yards per tackle among DBs (4.4).

Levi Brown continues to do his family, franchise, and Russ Grimm proud, finishing only 3rd in blown blocks (including those that lead to sacks, intentional grounding, or holding calls), with 10.5.

Patrick Peterson committed 9 penalties for 122 yards as a defender last year, 11T for number but 3T for yardage.

LaRod Stephens-Howling had a disasterous year as a kick returner. 5th in worst value over average on 36 returns; -4.6 points from an average returner.

Patrick Peterson, on the other hand, was the top punt returner in the land +21.0 point over average, nearly twice the value of #2.

The Cards played in shotgun a mystifying 49% of offensive snaps last year, despite the fact that they are worse out of shotgun (-23.0% DVOA) than they are under center (-15.1% DVOA).

The defense for Arizona was frequently put in tough positions, averaging 30.8 yard line to start drives, 30th in the NFL.

Cards were the 23rd offense in the NFL in points per drive, 1.48.

Cards offense didn't use play action enough (this is going with another thread I started last week). Cards used play action on only 15% of snaps, but had a 57% better DVOA on plays where they used it.

 

[Duckjake]

Patrick Peterson starting 16 games against the opposition's top target ranked 3T for most first downs and touchdowns allowed in coverage (41).

Must have been a lot of first downs as the Cards as a team only allowed 17 passing TDs last season. 1.0625 per game. 5th best in the NFL.

The defense for Arizona was frequently put in tough positions, averaging 30.8 yard line to start drives, 30th in the NFL.

The Cardinals actually scored more TDs than their opponents in 2011. 37-34. But opponents kicked 35 FGs to the Cards 19. As I like to say, the new meaning for 3 and out for Cards opponents.

How bad were the Cards in 2010. Opponents had 41 offensive TDs to the Cards 19!

Unless I missed something: In the 16 games last season there was only one defensive TD. The Eagles Assante Samuel's INT return for a TD.

 

[Goldfield]

Wow u put in a lot of work on this one K9. Some interesting stuff.

 

[Osbern61]

Great stats thanks for posting. The Kolb pressure stat is alarming. The Skelton stat w/o pressure is alarming.

 

[Darkside]

Great stats thanks for posting. The Kolb pressure stat is alarming. The Skelton stat w/o pressure is alarming.

Honestly, I'd rather take Kolbs stat w/pressure because I think it's fixable. Skelton's stat without pressure says to me that when they don't blitz and they're dropping 5 or 6 DB's into coverage that he has no clue what to do.

 

[Duckjake]

Honestly, I'd rather take Kolbs stat w/pressure because I think it's fixable. Skelton's stat without pressure says to me that when they don't blitz and they're dropping 5 or 6 DB's into coverage that he has no clue what to do.

Yeah the only thing Skelton knows how to do is drive the team 70-80+ yards for Touchdowns.

 

[Darkside]

Yeah the only thing Skelton knows how to do is drive the team 70-80+ yards for Touchdowns.

1 out of every 10 drives.

 

[Duckjake]

1 out of every 10 drives.

That's all we need with our Defense.

 

[Russ Smith]

Great stats thanks for posting. The Kolb pressure stat is alarming. The Skelton stat w/o pressure is alarming.

Alarming but not surprising IMO. We heard teams say it last year(the 49ers for example) you don't have to blitz Skelton you can just play your coverages and confuse him so why risk big plays on broken blitzes. With Kolb, it was apparently the blitz was effective so teams brought pressure more against Kolb than they did Skelton. Teams scouted us well, Kolb in come after him, Skelton in lay back and wait for him to throw the ball to you.

We saw that all last year.

 

[Duckjake]

Alarming but not surprising IMO. We heard teams say it last year(the 49ers for example) you don't have to blitz Skelton you can just play your coverages and confuse him so why risk big plays on broken blitzes. With Kolb, it was apparently the blitz was effective so teams brought pressure more against Kolb than they did Skelton. Teams scouted us well, Kolb in come after him, Skelton in lay back and wait for him to throw the ball to you.

We saw that all last year.

Skelton does need to cut his Interception %. 5 is way too high. Needs to be 3 or below. But you have to ask why wasn't Skelton confused and throwing INTs in the 4th quarter when the pressure was on? Instead he was completing 70% or more of his passes on some of those long TD drives.

Could it be a sign that he has the ability to adjust to what the Defense is doing as the game progresses? If so that could be great for us as the more time he spends in the NFL the better he is going to get at reading defenses and the fewer INTs he'll throw.

 

[InfiniteRed]

Sorry, what is a DVOA?

 

[Duckjake]

Sorry, what is a DVOA?

Don't know. But I do know we beat six teams ranked higher than us in DVOA and only lost one to a team ranked lower.

Somebody needs to ask Somers what the heck happened in that Minnesota game. Maybe Kolb was drugged or something. Started the game: Drive #1: INC, INC. Drive #2: Delay of Game,INC. Drive #3 Interception. Drive #4 9 yard completion, sack and lost fumble.

 

[Russ Smith]

Skelton does need to cut his Interception %. 5 is way too high. Needs to be 3 or below. But you have to ask why wasn't Skelton confused and throwing INTs in the 4th quarter when the pressure was on? Instead he was completing 70% or more of his passes on some of those long TD drives.

Could it be a sign that he has the ability to adjust to what the Defense is doing as the game progresses? If so that could be great for us as the more time he spends in the NFL the better he is going to get at reading defenses and the fewer INTs he'll throw.

That's the 64K question, is it defenses going more soft zone prevent or is it him finally figuring out the defense who knows. If he can bottle it and do it earlier in games it's absolutely a good thing.

Last year it was pretty simple Kolb in pressure us, Skelton in play coverage, hopefully this coming season that won't be the case, for whoever is starting.

 

[Duckjake]

That's the 64K question, is it defenses going more soft zone prevent or is it him finally figuring out the defense who knows. If he can bottle it and do it earlier in games it's absolutely a good thing.

Last year it was pretty simple Kolb in pressure us, Skelton in play coverage, hopefully this coming season that won't be the case, for whoever is starting.

You know if he can bottle it and do it earlier in games we'll be winning like in 2009. No wait we'll be even better because this defense won't blow 21-3 and 17-0 leads like they did then.

K9 will be ecstatic because we're beating teams 42-13 instead of 17-13. Of course then we'll complain if we lose in the playoffs.

 

[kerouac9]

Sorry, what is a DVOA?

Defense-Adjusted Value Over Average. Basically, for defense, a negative number is good. For offense, a positive one:

DVOA is a method of evaluating teams, units, or players. It takes every single play during the NFL season and compares each one to a league-average baseline based on situation. DVOA measures not just yardage, but yardage towards a first down: five yards on third-and-4 are worth more than five yards on first-and-10 and much more than five yards on third-and-12. Red zone plays are worth more than other plays. Performance is also adjusted for the quality of the opponent. DVOA is a percentage, so a team with a DVOA of 10.0% is 10 percent better than the average team, and a quarterback with a DVOA of -20.0% is 20 percent worse than the average quarterback. Because DVOA measures scoring, defenses are better when they are negative. For more detail, read below.

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/info/methods

 

[InfiniteRed]

I see, thanks.