Balance is the key to our Offense

by JoeCB1991 on Nov 11, 2009 2:53 PM MST

I saw this thread on the Cardinals website's message boards, and it shows how important keeping our offense balanced is to winning games.

Thread

"So it is really frustrating being a season ticket holder and watching this team perform on the road and not at home. I thought that there must be a reason so I dove into the stats. Here is what I have found.

The problem is that we abandon the run when we are at home. When we are away we RUN THE BALL. Running = Wins, here are the stats to prove it:

Home Games:

SF: Pass 44 Run 17 RYards 40
We passed the ball 72% of the time

IND: Pass 54 Run 12 RYards 24
We passed the ball 81% of the time

Hou: Pass 38 Run 16 RYards 44
We passed the ball 70% of the time

CAR: Pass 46 Run 17 RYards 94
We passed the ball 73% of the time

Away Games:

Jac: Pass 32 Run 28 RYards 118
We passed the ball 53% of the time

SEA: Pass 43 Run 26 RYards 62
We Passed the ball 62% of the time

NY: Pass 37 Run 26 RYards 107
We passed the ball 58% of the time

CHI: Pass 33 Run 31 RYards 182
We passed the ball 51% of the time

So Basically
at home we are averaging 74% passing to 26% Running
compared to
On the road we are averaging 56% passing to 44% Running

If this doesn’t make the argument for a balanced offense I do not know what does. Whiz comes out and has said that it is because we are losing that we have to pass. However as you can see we should continue to RUN if we are losing because it puts points on the board for us. "

I think the message I quoted says it all, just look at the success we had in games like the ones against the Chicago Bears, New York Giants, and Jacksonville Jaguars.

We have Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, and Steve Breaston. But that doesn't mean that throwing the ball 70% of the time will work, especially when we have some good running backs like Tim Hightower and Beanie Wells who have been preforming very well when we actually try to run the ball.

I believe that the Cardinals offense will be very successful with Warner spreading the ball around to anyone who gets open, along with Beantower getting enough carries to keep us from being one dimensional. We are also learning to use some formations where it looks like we are going to pass but we run instead, and it is actually succeeding.

Now, the key is actually sticking to the run, and I guarantee that if we do, the Cardinals will be scoring 30 points a game like they were in the Playoffs.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Revenge of the Birds' (ROTB) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of ROTB's editors.

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Comments

So many advantages

to having a balanced offense. In addition to everything you already mentioned, two of the biggest benefits, especially for us, is it keeps the speed rushing DE’s honest so they’re not just sitting back and teeing off on our tackles. Second, it keeps the road noise down because a good running game typically prevents a lot of third and long situations (relating back to point one).

Good Post – nice to see it in black and white numbers.

by Long Beach on Nov 11, 2009 5:11 PM MST reply actions

stats misleading

Yes, we want a balanced attack, and Wells holds the potential to get us there. But in fairness to Whisenhunt’s play-calling, the main reason there was a higher percentage of runs in the games the Cardinals won is that they built a big lead early through the passing game and then, predictably, went to the run to burn the clock. Hopefully defenses are going to have to pay attention to the running game going forward, as there is no question that this will make the passing game more effective and take some pressure off Warner.

by BPaul on Nov 11, 2009 8:25 PM MST reply actions