Arizona Cardinals advanced stats: Week five PFF stats

The Cardinals are well on pace for a rather lackluster season again. Fans are already calling for both front office and coaching changes. With the oldest roster in the NFL, the frustration from the fans is understandable.

After an absolute demolishing from the Eagles in the Cardinals week five, those voices are loud. The stats, the score, and now these Pro Football Focus numbers all confirm what was an extremely poor performance.

​​Week 5 Cardinals Offensive Stats:

• QB Carson Palmer struggled to throw the deep ball on Sunday. Palmer did not complete any of his five passes that traveled over 20 yards. Coming into the game, Palmer had the second most deep pass attempts and the ninth highest passer rating on deep passes.
• JJ Nelson proved to one of the few bright spots of the Cardinals offense against Philadelphia. Despite a fumble, Nelson caught four of six targets for 80 yards. Nelson recorded 20 yards after the catch and forced two missed tackles.
• Arizona's running game continued its lackluster production on Sunday. The Cardinals' backfield was the only backfield in the NFL to not force a single missed tackle. RB Chris Johnson is averaging two yards after contact on the season, the second-lowest total in the league.
• Tackles John Wetzel and Jared Veldheer struggled against the Eagles pass rush. Veldheer allowed one sack and four pressures 42 pass blocking snaps, while Wetzel also allowed 4 pressures on 46 pass blocking snaps.
• In his first start of the season, G Earl Watford continued the trend of struggling Arizona offensive lineman. Watford allowed four pressures, all on outside moves, on 46 pass blocking snaps.

Week 5 Cardinals Defensive Stats:

• The Cardinals struggled to get off the field on Third Downs on Sunday. Arizona allowed the Eagles to convert ten of 14 Third Down attempts or 71.4%. During the first four weeks of the season, the Cardinals have allowed 60.9 of all Third Down attempts to be converted, which ranks 17th in the NFL.
• S Tyvon Branch came into Sunday's game as PFF's highest graded safety, but he struggled in coverage against Philadelphia. Branch allowed Eagles TE Zach Ertz to catch three of five passes for 31 yards and a touchdown for a 117.5 passer rating.
• Rookie Haason Reddick was very quiet in his new outside linebacker position. Reddick did not register a pressure on 18 pass rushes from an edge position. He only recorded 2 snaps at inside linebacker.
• DT Xavier Williams was the Cardinals highest graded player as he recorded an 84.9 overall grade. Williams pressured the quarterback twice on 11 pass rushes. He also added two stops in the run game.
• The Arizona secondary struggled to defend two particular routes: slants and crossing routes. The defense allowed six of seven passes to be completed, 58 yards, one touchdown and a 140.8 passer rating on slants. On crossing routes, the Eagles completed three of five passes for 84 yards, one touchdown, and a 143.8 passer rating.

Snap Counts:

The Cardinals saw 60 offensive snap counts, with only Palmer seeing all 60. Andre Ellington paced the backfield once again with 31 snaps.

Larry Fitzgerald paced the receivers with 57 snaps, John Brown was shockingly the second most with 48.

Defensively the Defense only saw 67 snaps. Only Patrick Peterson and Deone Bucannon played all the snaps. This was the first time this season that Tyrann Mathieu and Tyvon Branch missed a defensive snap.

Chandler Jones played all but one snap. Kareem Martin played only 19 reps in the absence of Markus Golden. Haason Reddick saw 31 snaps between inside and outside linebacker.

PFF Rankings:

Carson Palmer ranks 19th on the list. He sits with a 74.8 overall grade.

Larry Fitzgerald ranks as the 16th best receiver. His 80.1 tops any offensive player on the roster. Chad Williams actually has the second highest grade among the team's receivers, but his 23 snaps leave him ineligible to among the leagues ranked receivers. Jaron Brown is the second highest graded receiver on the team with a 73.6.

Andre Ellington is unsurprisingly the teams highest graded running back. However, his 74.7 pass blocking grade tops Chris Johnson’s 36.3. Ellington is certainly going for a good payday in Free Agency.

Troy Niklas is the teams highest ranked player, but not their highest graded. That goes to Ifeanyi Momah with a 50.6. His 30 snaps again leave him ineligible to be graded. Niklas 57.1 receiving grade tops the team. Our overpaid tight end Jermaine Gresham has a 37.0 grade.

Unsurprisingly the Cardinals fail to have an average, to below average graded starters. Only DJ Humphries has a below average grade.

Patrick Peterson is the 36th ranked cornerback in the NFL. His 78.8, however, is the top grade among the team's corners. Justin Bethel is second with a 44.7 with Tyrann Mathieu rounding out the group with a 43.9.

Tyvon Branch was the leagues top graded safety, coming into this week. After a lackluster performance, Branch fell to the fourth spot. Antoine Bethea sits at 12th in the league with an 83.8.

Haason Reddick is the top inside linebacker on the team. His 75.2 run defense grade is actually surprising considering he is learning a new position. What was supposed to be his strong suit in coverage, is actually a mere 44.4.

Corey Peters 83.3 grade is 18th best among interior defenders. He has the best pass and run defense grades on the team. Xavier Williams is 35th, but fields and 80.1 grade.

Chandler Jones is the 21st graded outside defender. His 80.8 grade is the top on the team. Olsen Pierre is out now too with an ankle injury, but his 73.1 is the second best grade on the team.

It’s been a bad season thus far. There has been little reason to have any sort of confidence in this team going forward. With 11 games left in the season, the Cardinals have to find something now in order to have any hope in giving Fitzgerald his ring as a Cardinal.

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