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Larry Fitzgerald, Jermaine Gresham and David Johnson star on offense, Calais Campbell on defense per Pro Football Focus

The advanced stats from the Arizona Cardinals big win over the Washington Redskins

NFL: Arizona Cardinals at Atlanta Falcons Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

It has been a long time coming this season, but we saw a little bit performance wise of what we expected from a number of Arizona Cardinals in their big win over the Washington Redskins on Sunday.

Let’s get started with a look at the nuggets from Pro Football Focus.

Carson Palmer’s QB rating dropped from 123.7 with no pressure to 63.3 when he was pressured. Palmer only completed 4 of 8 passes to the intermediate level (10-19 yards downfield). Palmer only completed 1 of 3 passes to the deep level (20 or more yards downfield) and that was the late touchdown to J.J. Nelson.

We have seen all season that Palmer is not the same quarterback as last year and that stems from what he is doing when under duress, but Sunday was one of the better games we saw when he was under pressure. A 63.3 quarterback rating is still not good, but it is better than previous weeks.

David Johnson rushed for 33 yards after contact and forced 1 missed tackle. In the pass game Johnson was targeted 11 times and caught 9 of the passes against 6 different coverage defenders and added 67 yards after the catch. Carson Palmer’s QB rating when targeting Johnson was 131.4.

In other words, David Johnson is ridiculously good.

Jermaine Gresham was a solid run blocker earning a 78.2 and also added 29 yards after the catch and one drop on 6 targets. Carson Palmer’s QB rating when targeting Gresham was 102.8

Speaking of good, how good has Jermaine Gresham been the second half of this season? He is finally putting it together again, like he did at times in Cincinnati, you wonder what the future holds for him if he can get healthy.

Larry Fitzgerald was targeted 12 times and caught 10 of the passes against 6 different coverage defenders and added 57 yards after the catch. Carson Palmer’s QB rating when throwing to Fitzgerald was 93.8.

Ho-hum at this point, right?

Calais Campbell was the Cardinals’ highest-graded defensive player. He provided 2 run stops but was very disruptive as a pass rusher. Campbell had the strip-sack, 4 QB hits and 1 batted pass on his 33 pass rush snaps.

Campbell has been ridiculously productive this season and with the way Rodney Gunter has seemingly regressed and no signs of Robert Nkemdiche... Yeah, maybe 2016 is not his swan song.

Patrick Peterson was thrown at 3 times and gave up one catch for 18 yards. He also added one interception and Kirk Cousins QB rating when throwing at Peterson was 15.3.

Best corner in the game right now... Not much else to say.

Quick Notes:

  • Cardinals OL surrendered two sacks, three hits and 11 hurries.
  • Markus Golden and Chandler Jones combined for nine quarterback hurries, which isn’t bad, but they need sacks. #SacksMatter.
  • Marcus Cooper is definitely playing at a replaceable rate, but was not awful, giving up five catches for 70 yards and a 90.6 QB Rating.