Arians: Cards O-Line "getting their a-- kicked"

[AsUpRoDiGy]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...-cards-oline-getting-their-ass-kicked-of-late

"It's not anything David is doing," Arians said. "There's just not a lot of holes there and we have to do a better job. It's a tough challenge this week (against Carolina)."

Great way for Arians to motivate the offensive line, without providing bulletin board material for Carolina. Are they up to the challenge, though?

 

[crisper57]

Well it worked for Calais...

 

[BurqueCardFan]

Other than continuity, I still can't understand how Larsen keeps his job (as a starter). He always seems to be the guy standing around or whiffing on a block when a play gets blown up.

 

[TJ]

Other than continuity, I still can't understand how Larsen keeps his job (as a starter). He always seems to be the guy standing around or whiffing on a block when a play gets blown up.

Yeah, benching Cooper in favor of Larsen was one of the more regrettable moves I've seen this season by the coaching staff. Although Coop was not playing up to his draft status, he was at least serviceable and far better than Larsen.

 

[SoCal Cardfan]

Other than continuity, I still can't understand how Larsen keeps his job (as a starter). He always seems to be the guy standing around or whiffing on a block when a play gets blown up.

Massie is the guy I see facing the wrong direction more times than not.

Having Veldheer and Iupati on the same line, seems like It should net better results, I think Iupati is still hurting, the run game seems to have crapped out since his stinger.

 

[BullheadCardFan]

Oline better come ready to play if we want this win.

Figure it out guys!

 

[crisper57]

Up and Down...

According to Pro Football Focus, the Cardinals OL was 17th in the League this year. That is pretty much the definition of an average group. They go up against a Panthers front that may not have necessarily earned its fierce reputation.

The Panthers have played 17 games so far. In those games, they've faced 9 teams with an OL ranked higher than the Cardinals:

Cowboys (1): Without Romo to worry about, Panthers stacked the box, got 3 sacks and only allowed 31 rush yards.

Saints (3): In 2 meetings with a familiar divisions opponent, Panthers got 3 total sacks and surrendered 140 total rushing yards.

Falcons (4): In their embarrassing first meeting, the Falcons gave up 2 sacks and rushed for 77. In handing the Panthers their only loss, they gave up 5 sacks and only rushed for 54 yards.

Packers (7): 5 Sacks and 71 rushing yards against a battered OL.

Redskins (11): 5 Sacks and 14 rushing yards allowed.

Eagles (12): 5 Sacks, but 117 rushing yards allowed.

Colts (15): This OL was infamous for getting Luck killed, but only gave up 2 sacks against the Panthers while rushing for 136 yards.


Texans (18): 1 sack and 61 yards

Jaguars (19): 5 sacks and 96 yards

Giants (T-20): Only team not to surrender a sack. Also racked up 161 rushing yards

Buccaneers (23): First meeting - 2 sacks and 141 rush yards allowed. Second meeting - 5 sacks and 78 rush yards allowed.

Titans (29): 1 sack and 64 rush yards allowed

Seahawks (30): Seahawks gave up 9 sacks over the course of two games, while rushing for 115 yards and 78 yards, respectively.


It seems to me that there is no rhyme or reason to when their D dominates an opposing OL. They owned good squads. They were held in check against inferior squads. The team that beat them had a much worse game in victory than in defeat!

The one thing that does stand out to me is the lack of elite QB's they have faced this year to keep them honest. (Brees x2, Rodgers, Eli Manning, Russell Wilson x2) are the only QB's that could expect to keep them honest.

Furthermore, there is no definitive split in performance for the Panthers D when they play at home or away. In other words, crowd noise doesn't seem to assist them to play better than when they are playing on the road.

In all, the Panthers average 2.9 sacks per game and allow 84.3 rushing yards. If they play to this average and Carson doesn't throw any INT's, I'll take it. I think the Cardinals could probably win in that situation.

 

[DevonCardsFan]

according to pro football focus, the cardinals ol was 17th in the league this year. That is pretty much the definition of an average group. They go up against a panthers front that may not have necessarily earned its fierce reputation.

The panthers have played 17 games so far. In those games, they've faced 9 teams with an ol ranked higher than the cardinals:

cowboys (1): without romo to worry about, panthers stacked the box, got 3 sacks and only allowed 31 rush yards.

saints (3): in 2 meetings with a familiar divisions opponent, panthers got 3 total sacks and surrendered 140 total rushing yards.

falcons (4): in their embarrassing first meeting, the falcons gave up 2 sacks and rushed for 77. In handing the panthers their only loss, they gave up 5 sacks and only rushed for 54 yards.

packers (7): 5 sacks and 71 rushing yards against a battered ol.

redskins (11): 5 sacks and 14 rushing yards allowed.

eagles (12): 5 sacks, but 117 rushing yards allowed.

colts (15): this ol was infamous for getting luck killed, but only gave up 2 sacks against the panthers while rushing for 136 yards.


texans (18): 1 sack and 61 yards

jaguars (19): 5 sacks and 96 yards

giants (t-20): only team not to surrender a sack. Also racked up 161 rushing yards

buccaneers (23): first meeting - 2 sacks and 141 rush yards allowed. Second meeting - 5 sacks and 78 rush yards allowed.

titans (29): 1 sack and 64 rush yards allowed

seahawks (30): seahawks gave up 9 sacks over the course of two games, while rushing for 115 yards and 78 yards, respectively.


It seems to me that there is no rhyme or reason to when their d dominates an opposing ol. They owned good squads. They were held in check against inferior squads. The team that beat them had a much worse game in victory than in defeat!

The one thing that does stand out to me is the lack of elite qb's they have faced this year to keep them honest. (brees x2, rodgers, eli manning, russell wilson x2) are the only qb's that could expect to keep them honest.

Furthermore, there is no definitive split in performance for the panthers d when they play at home or away. In other words, crowd noise doesn't seem to assist them to play better than when they are playing on the road.

In all, the panthers average 2.9 sacks per game and allow 84.3 rushing yards. If they play to this average and carson doesn't throw any int's, i'll take it. I think the cardinals could probably win in that situation.

great post was looking for this info,

 

[crisper57]

great post was looking for this info,

Honestly, when I started looking at their season stats, I was expected to see a very consistent, dominant group. And while they really never turned in a bad day (except for maybe the NYG game), they were far from the oppressive front that I was expecting to see. When I got into the game-by-game stats, I was shocked at the randomness of their success. Usually over the course of a season, trends start to form, and in this instance, there isn't much to go on.

Jared Allen is doubtful. That won't hurt their sack totals, but it will hurt their pressure stats.

Dwan Edwards DNP today with an unknown foot injury. He is one of the DT's in their rotation, so being another body short up front if he can't go will be a factor.

 

[AsUpRoDiGy]

According to Pro Football Focus, the Cardinals OL was 17th in the League this year. That is pretty much the definition of an average group. They go up against a Panthers front that may not have necessarily earned its fierce reputation.

The Panthers have played 17 games so far. In those games, they've faced 9 teams with an OL ranked higher than the Cardinals:

Cowboys (1): Without Romo to worry about, Panthers stacked the box, got 3 sacks and only allowed 31 rush yards.

Saints (3): In 2 meetings with a familiar divisions opponent, Panthers got 3 total sacks and surrendered 140 total rushing yards.

Falcons (4): In their embarrassing first meeting, the Falcons gave up 2 sacks and rushed for 77. In handing the Panthers their only loss, they gave up 5 sacks and only rushed for 54 yards.

Packers (7): 5 Sacks and 71 rushing yards against a battered OL.

Redskins (11): 5 Sacks and 14 rushing yards allowed.

Eagles (12): 5 Sacks, but 117 rushing yards allowed.

Colts (15): This OL was infamous for getting Luck killed, but only gave up 2 sacks against the Panthers while rushing for 136 yards.


Texans (18): 1 sack and 61 yards

Jaguars (19): 5 sacks and 96 yards

Giants (T-20): Only team not to surrender a sack. Also racked up 161 rushing yards

Buccaneers (23): First meeting - 2 sacks and 141 rush yards allowed. Second meeting - 5 sacks and 78 rush yards allowed.

Titans (29): 1 sack and 64 rush yards allowed

Seahawks (30): Seahawks gave up 9 sacks over the course of two games, while rushing for 115 yards and 78 yards, respectively.


It seems to me that there is no rhyme or reason to when their D dominates an opposing OL. They owned good squads. They were held in check against inferior squads. The team that beat them had a much worse game in victory than in defeat!

The one thing that does stand out to me is the lack of elite QB's they have faced this year to keep them honest. (Brees x2, Rodgers, Eli Manning, Russell Wilson x2) are the only QB's that could expect to keep them honest.

Furthermore, there is no definitive split in performance for the Panthers D when they play at home or away. In other words, crowd noise doesn't seem to assist them to play better than when they are playing on the road.

In all, the Panthers average 2.9 sacks per game and allow 84.3 rushing yards. If they play to this average and Carson doesn't throw any INT's, I'll take it. I think the Cardinals could probably win in that situation.

Good Post.

It would be interesting to see the OL rankings when Cooper was in, as opposed to Larsen. My guess is the group was slightly better than average with Cooper in, but his mental mistakes seem to have put him in the dog-house...even though he's a much better athlete than Larsen will ever be.

If the OL can open up some holes for DJ, even for just a half, the Panthers will have an extremely tough time stopping our offense. Anyone would, for that matter.

 

[ajcardfan]

Come on, Mitch! Call Arians out for hurting the players feelings!

 

[Mitch]

Come on, Mitch! Call Arians out for hurting the players feelings!

I guess it took BA this long to get his knee out of you know where!

 

[Cardiac]

I guess it took BA this long to get his knee out of you know where!

 

[Jetstream Green]

Star Lotulelei vs. Lyle Sendlein sums up this match up and Lyle will get beat from time to time no matter how prepared he is because Lotulelei is stronger... we have to survive and make plays when we can

 

[Paso Fino]

There was a recent SK interview where he was asked about his priorities. He mentioned both lines and said he thought progress had been made with both but that more was needed with the offensive line. He is right.

 

[pemory09]

Fantastic thread and discussion! Many thx for the interesting info. and good follow-up. The Panthers have really not faced a lot of good teams this year. Give them credit for all those wins, but the competition hasn't exactly been fierce, so it'll be interesting to see how they respond against a quality opponent in back-to-back weeks.

 

[oaken1]

just watched a video on the Cards site.....they are saying practice so far is way more relaxed than last week...

that has to be a good thing.

 

[crisper57]

One update to my long post, the Panthers did face Romo for a good chunk of the game. I thought I remembered him getting hurt again much earlier. Still, I think it was his first game back and he was awful for the time he was in. Hardly elite. My bad.

 

[ajcardfan]

I guess it took BA this long to get his knee out of you know where!

Good for you Mitch!

 

[AsUpRoDiGy]

One update to my long post, the Panthers did face Romo for a good chunk of the game. I thought I remembered him getting hurt again much earlier. Still, I think it was his first game back and he was awful for the time he was in. Hardly elite. My bad.

For the most part they played a pretty cup-cake schedule. Short and Lotulelei are going to be a handful for our interior OL. If the OL can play like they did against St Louis and their D-Line...should be a good amount of points put up on Carolina's suspect secondary

 

[crisper57]

DL Needs to Do the Kicking in this Game

For Comparison's Sake, I Went Ahead and Did Same Analysis for the OL's the Cardinals have faced.

The Panthers are the #2 PFF Ranked OL in the NFL. The Cardinals D has not faced a unit that is better than them, obviously, since there is only 1 (Dallas). How did our front 7 do in getting to the QB and stopping the run?

Well, to be honest, the Cardinals probably have to have a better-than-average game on D to win this game. On average, they only got 2.2 sacks per game (1.8 if you toss out the 9-sack GB game). They also surrender 93.8 yards per game (though if you throw out the Gurley dominant 4th qtr in the first Rams game, that average comes down to 88 rushing yards per game).

Here is how we looked in each game:

Saints (3): 2 sacks and 54 rushing yards allowed.

@Browns (5): 1 sack and 39 rushing yards allowed.

Packers (7): 10 sacks and 236 rushing yards allowed in 2 games

Bengals (8): 4 sacks and 99 rush yards allowed.

@Steelers (10): 1 sack, but allowed 141 rushing yards

@Eagles (12): 2 sacks and 74 rushing yards allowed

Ravens (13): 3 sacks and 55 rushing yards allowed

Vikings (14): 3 sacks and 72 rushing yards allowed

@Bears (16): 2 sacks and 109 rushing yards allowed (though Cutler's injury changed the tone of that game. He was 8-9 passing before he went down)

@Lions (24): 1 sack and 56 rushing yards. Cards had such a large early lead that it is not surprising about the rushing totals, but having only 1 sack on a team passing all game is worrisome.

49ers (27): In two games the Cardinals had 4 sacks and allowed 170 rushing yards.

Rams (28): In two games, the Cardinals only had 1 sack and allowed 230 rushing yards.

Seahawks (30): In to games, the Cardinals had 3 sacks and gave up 260 rushing yards.

So what to take from this? Well, our division opponents fielded some of the worst offensive lines in the League. We got to play them each twice this year. And we were unable to get fat on their ineptitude. 8 sacks in 6 games against bottom-dwelling OL's. And we gave up 100 yards in rushing in 4 of those 6 games! Chalk that up to divisional opponent weirdness, I guess?

If you look at the top OL's we faced, our D really dug in. Against Top 10 OL's, our front 7 generated 18 sacks in 6 games (though 9 of those came in 1 game). They also held opponents to under 95 rushing yards per game in those 6 games (compared to 110 against our lowly divisional competition).

In truth, this offense we are facing makes life easy for their OL. They don't commit holding penalties because Cam isn't running all over the field to improvise, a la Russell Wilson. His runs are straight ahead, or a read. They are designed.

They also don't have a ton of weapons on the outside, so he doesn't have a lot of progressions to go through. Olsen for the 1st down, Ginn over the top; that's about it. Easy to hold up.

Calais, Frostee, Gunter, Minter, and Freeney need to bring pressure and be disciplined in their gaps. Let the back end take care of itself. They need to keep the Panthers in long down situations. Easier said than done.