How are we winning games?

[Darkside]

Not meant to be sarcastic nor smartassy. A post by Cardpa got me thinking:

Good teams win games like this one, bad teams lose games like this one. Every team will have bad games, the question is can you do just enough to pull it out despite your best effort to lose it.

I would argue all of our games have been rather poorly played except in a few key areas. Look at these #'s, some of them are skewed because of our early bye, but not that skewed:

Offensive ranks:

Passing offense rank: 28
Rushing offense rank: 30
Team Receiving rank (yards): 28
Offensive scoring rank: 27
Total offensive (Yards): 28

Defensive ranks:
Team sacks rank: 29
Team defense vs the pass (total yards): 25
Team defense vs the run stats (avg yards per carry): 3rd
Team defense vs the run stats (total yards): 1st
Team defense vs pass (avg yards per game): 32 (318 yards avg per game against us--only Jacksonville and Tampa are even close)
Total team defense (total yards): 25

Those #'s are ugly, and we played some good teams. I will do individual stats combined with team stats after week 8 to compare improvement. I know some of you hate stats, and I agree it doesn't tell the whole story, but it's good to compare relative effectiveness. I don't consider this as absolute, especially with our bye so early, but I think it's a good indicator, because in the areas we do well in the bye hasn't effected us (more on that shortly).

However, it's remarkable to have the record we have given these #'s. I attribute it primarily to coaching and our kicker.

First, we're disciplined:

Least penalized team in the league (total penalties).
Least penalized team in the league (total yards).

And look at this:

11 turnovers taken, with only 3 (fumbles) given up, for a differential of 8 (!).
Our turnover differential is 3rd in the NFL. GB and NE each have a differential of 9 (with 1 more game played).

And this:

Field goal stats rank: 2nd (with 1 less game than NE) 14/14.
20-29: 1/1
30-39: 8/8
40-49: 4/4 (!)
50+: 1/1

And finally this, which, as crazy as it sounds, is a main reason we're winning games, combined with 1) stopping the run 2) not committing penalties 3) turnover differential and 4) exceptional kicker:

Kickoff stats (avg kickoff): #1 @ 66.8 average yards on kickoff.
Only 9 returns
Only 23.3 yards on return

Average field position due to kickoffs is having a large impact.

So that's my take so far, after the first quarter of the season. I believe once our offense starts hitting on some cylinders and we get Carson back full time and some continuity we'll be explosive. Not turning the ball over is huge. Not committing penalties is huge. Our kicker is nails. And we turn teams one dimensional with our run defense, which is what we want with our talent on the back end.

Once the offense and the back end of our defense gets rolling, we are going to make a huge run late in the season.

This team is so well coached it's not even funny.

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(Grabbed my stats from: http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/stats and http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/team/_/stat/)

 

[NeverSayDieFan]

I KNOW...I KNOW...(raising hand high)

Uh. at least I know a BIG part of it. MOST NFL games are close...usually decided by 7 or less. We have a kicker who's giving us 9 pts. per game on top of anything else we do. That's HUGE!! IMO...

MARK IN SC

 

[AZCrazy]

Well, I was going to try to answer your question, but you already did it, and did it perfectly. Those are exactly the reasons the team is winning in spite of terrible injury misfortune.

1) run D
2) turnovers
3) kicking
4) penalties
5) Bowles

 

[BillsCarnage]

Next man up depth.

Can't do it all season, but the depth is showing.

 

[AZ Native]

Not meant to be sarcastic nor smartassy. A post by Cardpa got me thinking:



I would argue all of our games have been rather poorly played except in a few key areas. Look at these #'s, some of them are skewed because of our early bye, but not that skewed:

Offensive ranks:

Passing offense rank: 28
Rushing offense rank: 30
Team Receiving rank (yards): 28
Offensive scoring rank: 27
Total offensive (Yards): 28

Defensive ranks:
Team sacks rank: 29
Team defense vs the pass (total yards): 25
Team defense vs the run stats (avg yards per carry): 3rd
Team defense vs the run stats (total yards): 1st
Team defense vs pass (avg yards per game): 32 (318 yards avg per game against us--only Jacksonville and Tampa are even close)
Total team defense (total yards): 25

Those #'s are ugly, and we played some good teams. I will do individual stats combined with team stats after week 8 to compare improvement. I know some of you hate stats, and I agree it doesn't tell the whole story, but it's good to compare relative effectiveness. I don't consider this as absolute, especially with our bye so early, but I think it's a good indicator, because in the areas we do well in the bye hasn't effected us (more on that shortly).

However, it's remarkable to have the record we have given these #'s. I attribute it primarily to coaching and our kicker.

First, we're disciplined:

Least penalized team in the league (total penalties).
Least penalized team in the league (total yards).

And look at this:

11 turnovers taken, with only 3 (fumbles) given up, for a differential of 8 (!).
Our turnover differential is 3rd in the NFL. GB and NE each have a differential of 9 (with 1 more game played).

And this:

Field goal stats rank: 2nd (with 1 less game than NE) 14/14.
20-29: 1/1
30-39: 8/8
40-49: 4/4 (!)
50+: 1/1

And finally this, which, as crazy as it sounds, is a main reason we're winning games, combined with 1) stopping the run 2) not committing penalties 3) turnover differential and 4) exceptional kicker:

Kickoff stats (avg kickoff): #1 @ 66.8 average yards on kickoff.
Only 9 returns
Only 23.3 yards on return

Average field position due to kickoffs is having a large impact.

So that's my take so far, after the first quarter of the season. I believe once our offense starts hitting on some cylinders and we get Carson back full time and some continuity we'll be explosive. Not turning the ball over is huge. Not committing penalties is huge. Our kicker is nails. And we turn teams one dimensional with our run defense, which is what we want with our talent on the back end.

Once the offense and the back end of our defense gets rolling, we are going to make a huge run late in the season.

This team is so well coached it's not even funny.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Grabbed my stats from: http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/stats and http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/team/_/stat/)

Excellent Post

 

[Cheesebeef]

if this offense ever gets untracked like it did the second half of last season, we'll be a legit contender.

biggest thing this team is doing right now? exactly what Arians said it would do... not beat itself. that's impressive and all coaching.

 

[PitchShifter]

Spins me out that going into Game 5 neither Floyd or Fitz had scored a touchdown; there'd been 1 interception by a defensive back, and we had 4(?) sacks only? That doesn't sound like a winning team.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

Also we are solid in both PPG (19th) and PPG allowed (10th). Shows that when we get in scoring range we end up with points almost every time and that we have done a good job stopping the opposing team from finishing drives off with a TD. Yardage stats are overrated IMO because what matters in the end is how many points you allow the other team to put on the board.

 

[Shaggy]

Man, just think how dominate we would be if we were healthy. Crazy stats! Love it!

 

[cardpa]

Thanks for the research Darkside. It goes back to the BA mantra
"The Cardinals will not beat the Cardinals."
Denver beat us (with a bit of dirty play) and the other teams did not beat us. In none of these games did the Cardinals help the other team beat the Cardinals. Well maybe a little in Denver with the drop passes.
This may be the best coaching staff in the NFL hands down.

 

[Garthshort]

We've had devastating injuries, but Next Man Up has worked. Particularly Drew Stanton. JMO.

 

[don7031]

The stats are bad because the offensive and defensive lines are bad.

The Cardinals are winning because of the "accountability" culture of Bruce Arains and taking care of the football.

 

[DoTheDew]

We're far better in points scored/allowed than yards gained/allowed. What you do when the ball is in scoring range matters far more than yardage.

We force turnovers and penalties once teams get on our side of the field on defense, and we don't commit turnovers or penalties when we get down there on offense. We're solid on 3rd down conversion % on both sides of the ball (17th on O, 14th on D) and we're perfect on field goals.

 

[Jetstream Green]

The NFL has skewed the rules and everybody seems to dwell in the axiom that this is now a passing league. The truth is still this for the most part, if you cannot stop the run you lose... people cannot run on us and we do not turn the ball over and we win

 

[AZCrazy]

The stats are bad because the offensive and defensive lines are bad.

The Cardinals are winning because of the "accountability" culture of Bruce Arains and taking care of the football.

The O line and D line are the best performing parts of this team so far. Whatchu smokin'? The guard play is not dominant, we're down to reserves on D, but still, few sacks, good run D, time in the pocket. The lines are good.

 

[Arizona's Finest]

One word: Coaching.

 

[BigRedFan]

Some of the stats in the original post weren't accurate; they may have been based on total points/yards (Cardinals have fewer total games than other teams due to the bye week) though I agree with most of what the poster said anyway. ppg = points per game, ypg = yards per game

Offense: ppg: 19
Offense: ypg: 28
Offense: rush ypg: 30
Pass ypg: 22

Defense: ppg: 10
Defense: ypg: 25
Defense: rush ypg: 3
Defense: pass ypg:32

 

[Jim Otis]

We are winning because Bruce Arians is an expert with Smoke -- Mirrors -- Duct Tape -- and Baling Wire , he will patch something together and our team will play winning football .
Something that became ingrained in me through the decades (began watching the game with my dad in the late fifty's , by the early sixties I was addicted) is that Head Coaches are a larger factor in winning than players . When The Right HC is hired and steps into the locker room and takes charge of the team , the future looks bright for that team . I absolutely believe that we have That Right HC .

 

[Cardinals.Ken]

We are winning because Bruce Arians is an expert with Smoke -- Mirrors -- Duct Tape -- and Baling Wire , he will patch something together and our team will play winning football .
Something that became ingrained in me through the decades (began watching the game with my dad in the late fifty's , by the early sixties I was addicted) is that Head Coaches are a larger factor in winning than players . When The Right HC is hired and steps into the locker room and takes charge of the team , the future looks bright for that team . I absolutely believe that we have That Right HC .

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[Jetstream Green]

We are winning because Bruce Arians is an expert with Smoke -- Mirrors -- Duct Tape -- and Baling Wire , he will patch something together and our team will play winning football .
Something that became ingrained in me through the decades (began watching the game with my dad in the late fifty's , by the early sixties I was addicted) is that Head Coaches are a larger factor in winning than players . When The Right HC is hired and steps into the locker room and takes charge of the team , the future looks bright for that team . I absolutely believe that we have That Right HC .

This, too. Every team in the NFL is loaded with talent. Make no mistake, it is still a game of inches and even a slight athletic advantage means winning or losing but often a good coach makes the difference because they can manipulate what can be used against them and against the opponent