Arizona Cardinals Defensive Metrics - Week One

This is the first of a weekly post in which I am going to look at the performance of our defense in terms of metrics; this will encompass two key areas not fully covered by traditional stats, pressuring the QB and performance in coverage. Some of the aspects recorded are;

1.      Targets, how many times defender is thrown at by the opposition.

2.      Catches, how many catches that defender allows to be completed.

3.      Yards, how many yards those completions totalled

4.      YPA, how many yards per target does a defender allow

5.      TD's, how many Touchdowns did a defender allow

6.      INT’s, how many interceptions a defender had

7.      PD’s, how man passes a defender deflects (independent of INT’s)

8.      Hits, how many times a defender hit the opposition QB (independent of hurries and sacks)

9.      Hurries, how many times a defender forced the QB out of the pocket or to throw before he wants to (Independent of hits and sacks)

10.  Sacks , how many times a defender sacks the QB (independent of hits and hurries).

11.  Stuffs, how many times a defender stops a running play for no gain or a loss.

See how the Cardinals performed week one after the jump.

The first thing that sticks out is the veteran linebacker Clark Haggans. He took advantage of Jeff Otah when he was in the game and his backups when he was not. He was getting into the QB's face consistently, unfortunately there was no-one else who really joined him, and it hurt the Cardinals. Daryl Washington also had a very strong showing bringing the QB down twice as well as notching a QB hit and two run stuffs.

Adrian Wilson once again showed how much of a force he is when he is playing inside the box and attacking the LOS, his two run stuffs illustrate just how comfortable he is at the LOS.

The development of Dan Williams and the quick rise of David Carter have to be encouraging for Cardinals fans, both showed the ability to be a lane clogger against the run while still being able to make plays. Calais Campbell had a quiet game in terms of the pressure he was applying but he made plenty of stops against the run.

Joey Porter was once again underwhelming in his performance, and the one time he got to Newton he could not bring him down. The heat O'Brien Schofield provides should be worrying the veteran unless he can step his game up.

Again we see Daryl Washington standing out. Thrown at three times he ended up with the ball on two of those occasions, unfortunately one was bought back on a roughing the pass penalty. AJ Jefferson performed better than many would have expected he was thrown at just four times in the course of the entire game. However much of that could be due to picking on the rookie Patrick Peterson. Although there were times he provided very good coverage, there were others it was unacceptable. He was taken advantage of in the passing game. Adrian Wilson, while being great at the LOS showed how he can be a liability when he is used too deep, both the completions he allowed were for 20+ yards and one a 77 yard TD. Richard Marshall rounded a solid game with some solid coverage, the one completion he allowed was as a part of a confused defense right at the two minute warning in the fourth quarter. Reggie Walker was solid when he came in for the injured Washington and Paris Lenon had a solid performance.

Thanks for taking the time to tune in to this week one edition, albeit a bit late, look out next week for the numbers against Washington and look forward to a quarterly review of the numbers.

Note – I record in whole numbers, not half numbers, much easier to keep track of. If you think you see something terribly different, just tell me about it (Time of the game is helpful) and I can go back and look at it. If a play is completed but then negated by a penalty, I will record the metrics, players still go 100% even if there has been a flag thrown. These numbers may or may not match up with widely accepted statistical providers, most of the time they will differ; every person is likely to record a different meaning for a "hurry". A player can only record one of a "hit" "hurry" or "sack" on any single play. It is inherent in a sack that the QB was hurried and hit.