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The Arizona Cardinals managed 20 points on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers.
How did they do it? What formations did they use? Who got playing time?
There were 63 plays offensively, including one two-point conversion. According to the NFL, there were 66 snaps.
The entire starting offensive line and Carson Palmer naturally played every snap. They were the only ones.
After that, among the receivers, Michael Floyd led the way with 64 snaps, followed by Larry Fitzgerald with 61, Andre Roberts with 46, Brittan Golden with 16 and Jaron Brown with four.
Only two tight ends saw time on offense. Jim Dray, not Rob Housler, got the most snaps with 32. Housler had 31. Backup lineman Nate Potter came in four four snaps as an additional lineman.
Among running backs, Andre Ellington led the way with 32 snaps, which is right in line with the 30-35 plays Bruce Arians believes he should play. Rashard Mendenhall got 22, Alfonso Smith got 10 and Stepfan Taylor got seven.
Patrick Peterson saw one lone snap -- on the failed two-point conversion.
How did that playing time come?
They had 11 personnel for 33 plays and 12 personnel for only nine plays. What was more common was running four receivers and one back -- 14 plays. They had one play with no backs, two tight ends and three receivers (it was an empty backfield). They had two backs for six plays -- three with two tight ends and three with one.
They had an empty backfield 14 times.
Out of 12 personnel, they ran the ball five out of the nine plays. Out of 11 personnel, they ran the ball 10 of the 33 times. They ran the ball five of the six times they had two backs in the game.
Some observations:
Mendenhall saw less time than normal. Ellington's time was not diminished, though. Those snaps went to Smith and Taylor.
I would guess that the lack of production from Housler led to more four-wide sets.
Even though Jaron Brown is listed ahead of Golden, it was the new guy that got most of the snaps as receiver number four.
There were even plays in 11 personnel where Jim Dray was in the game instead of Housler.