Amazingly the Cardinals are 11th in rushing YPC at 4.3 but 29th in YPG which speaks to the woes of the passing game and defense. Don't have time to look it up, but I'm pretty sure the Cardinals 3rd down efficiency is horrible, which speaks to how lousy the passing game has been this season.
People underestimate how much Kurt Warner meant to this offense and how working together with Q, Fitz, and Steve Breaston over multiple seasons gave the offense continuity. He masked a lot of deficiencies in the O-line and rushing attack IMO. It was like having a coach on the field who could identify defenses, change plays at the line of scrimmage, run the no-huddle offense, anticipate where receivers would be and hit them in stride, yadda, yadda, yadda.
Take away the dynamic offense the Cardinals have had in the past 2-3 years, and their ability to come back from any kind of serious deficit is close to zero. That puts enormous pressure on a defense that is as porous and inconsistent as ever. IMO, the Cardinals do not have anything close to the defense Whis and company had in Pittsburgh, meaning his dream of basing his offense on the running game is a pipedream. One of the primary focuses in the offseason has to be upgrading the QB position and the passing offense. Without that commitment, guys like Fitz and Breaston are going to start counting the days till they can leave IMO.
Great post. I think this defense has been bad for years, but the play of the offense put so much pressure on opposing offenses that the defense looked better.
