Arizona Cardinals Fall to Jets 56-35: Charting the Passing Game

Last week we charted the Arizona Cardinals running game and I had planned to have cumulative totals for the running game this week, but since the running game was virtually non-existant we'll swith gears. I may still post the cumulative totals tomorrow, but for now I was more interested in when and where Warner was throwing the ball on Sunday. Warner's mistakes will (and should) overshadow the gaudy numbers that he was able to put up, but it's still pretty interesting to see where he went with the ball and the success of the receivers. Here is Warner's final line from Sunday's game:

Check out the complete breakdown after the jump.....

Disclaimer: Obviously most of the passing stats are skewed because they threw the ball on nearly every down the entire second half so remember that when looking at some of these numbers.

-------------Passing By Downs-------------

1st Down: 21 of 30 for 250 yards (8.33 avg), 2 INTs, 67.4 QB Rating

2nd Down: 13 of 16 for 156 yards (9.75 avg), 2 TDs, 146.9 QB Rating

3rd Down: 4 of 8 for 40 yards (5.0 avg), 1 INT, 25.0 QB Rating

4th Down: 2 of 2 for 26 yards (13.0 avg), 118.75 QB Rating

There was also an incomplete pass on a two point conversion for those scoring at home. Overall I'm not quite sure what to make of these numbers and the stats on third down were a bit surprising. We'll have to track these throughout the season to see if these numbers were just a result of an all-out passing game or they're somewhat in line with his average game.

-------------Passing By Receiver-------------

Larry Fitzgerald: 14 targets, 8 recs for 122 yds (15.3), 1 INT, 56.3 QB Rating

Anquan Boldin: 14 targets, 10 recs for 119 yds (11.9), 1 TD, 1 INT, 91.1 QB Rating

Steve Breaston: 10 targets, 9 recs for 122 yards, 117.5 QB Rating

Jerheme Urban: 7 targets, 5 recs for 50 yards, 1 TD, 130.9 QB Rating

Edgerrin James: 6 targets, 5 recs for 37 yards, 92.4 QB Rating

Ben Patrick: 2 targets, 1 rec for 11 yards, 1 INT, 27.0 QB Rating

Tim Hightower: 2 targets, 1 rec for 5 yards, 56.3 QB Rating

Terrelle Smith: 1 target, 1 rec for 6 yards, 91.7 QB Rating

Ok, so it's pretty obvious that Warner should only throw the ball to Breaston and Urban and never again try to throw in the direction of Fitz or Ben Patrick, right? Well not so much, with a small sample size like this a single bad play (INT) or good play (TD) swings the QB rating massive amounts. For example, if Urban's TD would have been a pass to the 1-yard-line instead of a TD, Warner's QB rating to Urban would have been 90.8 and if the one pass throw in Fitz's direction hadn't have been picked off, Warner's QB rating would have been 86.0. So there's not much we can conclude from one game's numbers but we'll keep an eye on them throughout the year and I'll work on some cumulative stats.

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Kurt certainly got to play the way that he loves to play during the second half and I wonder if he had flashbacks to the "Greatest Show on Turf" days. During the second half he was a blistering 31 of 43 for 373 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception (104.1 QB rating). The offense ran the ball five times in the second half (all from the 12 or closer) and didn't run the ball a single time in the fourth quarter. In case anyone is wondering if Kurt was able to get into a rhythm without the run game, he completed 13 consecutive passes (2 for touchdowns) between Hightowers' touchdown run and the final drive of the game. Unless your playing a video game it's nearly impossible to win games like this but it's not like they had much of a choice. In the end, it was a maddening but entertaining game (for the second half at least), but I hope we don't have to see another game where Kurt throws for 373 yards in the second half. Thoughts?