It's easy to say a team is finesse when they're as prolific in passing as we are. Look at the greatest show on turf and many of the old SF teams, they were also labeled as finesse at the time--but history and stats have proven that both of those teams were physical and had dominant lines. The same thing applies to our Cardinals.
When any team wins 12 games, or has an 8 game winning streak, as we do, you're a physical team on the lines of scrimmage. We've also only lost 1 road game. You can't play as many different types of teams as we have, at home and on the road, and only lose 2, without being physical. It's impossible. Chance and luck and scheme amongst those opponents means you should lose more than 2 if you're finesse. We beat teams down by the 4th quarter.
We still play in the most physical division in football and it's not close. The NFC West is like the old NFC East. That means we play 6 games against the most physical teams in the NFL.
I've complained about our LB's crashing the lines and looking for someone to hit, like they're looking for someone to block them, but that's a lot more physical than spin moves, loops and stunts. Maybe there's a reason we're so dominant in the 4th quarter. By the 4th quarter, that RB or TE picking up the blitz is probably thinking, "Crap, here he comes again." I'd be very interested to know our opponents record the game after they play us. Very interested.
Defensive stat of a physical team: Our Cardinals are ranked 4th in the NFL in forced fumbles at 18 (!). Carolina is 2nd at 21.
More supporting evidence: We give up yards galore, but we're #7 in scoring against us. Teams average 19 against us. We're #1 in scoring @ 31.8, NE is just behind us. Offensively, total yards isn't that close, we're #1 at 5920 on the year, a whopping 422 per game.
Offensively we're physical and that was before DJ started, though I think he elevates our whole offense. Our line is really physical, and that starts with Iupati and Veldheer. Those two are road-graders and pancakers. Before DJ's awesomeness they were physical. Our running game was top 5 with CJ before he went out. We're ranked #5 in the NFL in sacks given up. That's exceptional when you consider Palmer is #1 in yards attempted per pass. He's throwing it deeper on average, by far, than any other QB, and we're ranked 5th in sacks conceded. Exceptional.
Lastly, I'd like to point out how awesome Veldheer is. Remember who we had before him? And before that? Ad infinitum. This guy...he's so consistent, so good, that we never mention his name. Every game goes by, 500+ yards on offense, game after game, no mention. He's nails every single game and so consistent it's ridiculous. When he does make a mistake, it's usually a holding to protect his QB, it's rare, but I'm cool with that. This guy is like the rock of Gibraltar and I think it's understated what a huge difference he's made on our team. Without him there is no Palmer for MVP discussion at all. The DJ run everyone raves about (and it was awesome, let's not kid ourselves), Veldheer is the tackle coming all the way across the line, across the field, to level two guys hanging on DJ to break him free. He takes them both out as they're grasping and hanging on him. Veldheer is really, really good. You don't expect a LT to pull like that and move laterally so well, but he does it very well. He's a road grader and an exceptional pass blocker. Very under-rated IMO.
