Filed under: AZ Cardinals, Falcons, NFL Playoffs
Every week during the season we take a look at some aspect of line play with Between The Lines.
Give Cardinals head coach/offensive whiz Ken Whisenhunt credit. The Cardinals’ offense took conventional wisdom and managed to tweak it to its own advantage to beat the Falcons.
The Cardinals only ran the ball on 34 percent of their offensive plays during the regular season, and they have one of the best passing offenses in the league. The Cards had struggled to run the ball all season, but with the exception of some occasional pass-protection breakdowns, the passing game has been one of the league’s best.
So what did the Cardinals do on their second possession of the game? They hand the ball to Edgerrin James on three straight plays, setting up a flea-flicker touchdown. And it wasn’t a one-drive ruse. The Cardinals ran the ball on 28 of their 60 snaps. And they ran effectively, despite the fact that their longest run of the game was 10 yards.
But the most important aspect offensively was the Cardinals ability to slow down the Falcons’ pass rush. Coming into the game, I thought that Abraham would turn right tackle Levi Brown into a doorman on his way to Kurt Warner. Instead, Abraham finished the game with two tackles, two quarterback pressures and no sacks. Warner was never sacked by any Falcon, and he was rarely pressured.
So how did they do it? In going back and rewatching the tape, there’s a lot of credit to be shared. Whisenhunt’s play calling and use of formations played a part, while Brown and left tackle Mike Gandy did an excellent job. And Warner’s tendency to get rid of the ball quickly made the offensive line’s job much easier.
Abraham was questionable with a shoulder and thigh injury coming into the game. It’s easy to blame the problem on the injuries, but Abraham’s shoulder didn’t seem to bother him, as his bull rush was his best move–he once bowled over Gandy and would have gotten to Warner if not for a quick release.
There is a chance that Abraham’s thigh injury robbed him of some of his explosiveness. Abraham had success with bull rushes, but he never beat Brown or Gandy around the corner on a speed rush, which is surprising considering that Abraham is one of the fastest defensive ends in the league. He actually only tried to turn on the jets on four pass plays all night, which is a sign that he didn’t have his normal speed.
But a lot of it had nothing to do with Abraham’s health. Coming into the game, I wondered if Whisenhunt would go away from his normal practice of leaving his tackles alone on islands to block opposing defensive ends with no help. Whisenhunt generally stuck to his philosophy, but he did mix in a couple of double team blocks that helped slow down Abraham.
The nastiest attempt to slow down Abraham came in the second quarter. The Cardinals sent fullback Terrelle Smith out wide, like a wide receiver, then brought him back to the line in motion. He was still moving toward the line at the snap and he continued like a heat-seeking missle at Abraham’s legs. Although Smith got a great blind-side shot at Abraham (that was completely legal by the way), Abraham recovered hopped up and chased after the play. The Cardinals also brought a tight end over to help Gandy on the flea-flicker touchdown to Larry Fitzgerald in the first quarter. Since it was a slow-developing play, Whisenhunt was smart to give Gandy some help to ensure Abraham was taken care of.
But generally, the Cardinals let Gandy and Brown handle the Falcons’ best pass rusher. They slowed him down with some formation help by positioning a wide receiver or tight end just off the tackle’s shoulder on some plays, and they also had running backs cut just off the tackle’s outside shoulder on their way into the pattern. They weren’t chip blocks, as most times the backs or wide receivers never even touched Abraham, but if Abraham had tried a pure speed outside rush, they would be in his way.
It worked. Warner threw 32 passes, Abraham was on the field for 23 of them. Of those 23 passes, he lined up 14 times against Gandy and nine times against Brown. He dropped into coverage on three different pass plays, and was double-teamed on four plays. He got close to Warner only three times. Once he flushed the quarterback and helped force him to throw the ball away, once he got a hand on Warner to help pressure him into an incomplete pass and once he got in Warner’s face, but Warner still completed a pass to Fitzgerald for 15 yards.
It was a great effort by Gandy and Brown. They get another test this weekend when they faced Julius Peppers and the Panthers. While Gandy handled Peppers pretty well in their first meeting, little-noticed end Charles Johnson beat Brown for a pair of sacks. After shutting down Abraham, Brown should have a little more confidence for the rematch.
Between The Lines: How the Cards Stopped Abraham originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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