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KC Chiefs vs Cardinals: Analyzing Arizona's Football Tendencies

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The Kansas City Chiefs take on the Arizona Cardinals at Arrowhead this Sunday. Both teams have a losing streak they would like to end: A 2 game losing streak for KC and a 4 game down turn for Arizona.

Charlie Weis is now on the clock to try and get the Chiefs back on track after seeing lower rushing outputs in the Oakland Raiders and Denver Broncos games.

Every team in the NFL has strengths and weaknesses, tendencies, and go-to guys. They have plays they like to call during tight situations or directions they like to run when in the middle of the football field.

Let's check out those tendencies.

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Please refer to the Bewsaf Past Posts bar at the bottom of this article for any inquiries into other articles written this week.

Cardinals Rushing Offense

Left End Left Tackle Left Guard Up the Middle Right Guard Right Tackle Right End
Plays: 23 Plays: 37 Plays: 8 Plays: 50 Plays: 6 Plays: 33 Plays: 19
NFL Rank: 24 NFL Rank: 10 NFL Rank: 31 NFL Rank: 21 NFL Rank: 32 NFL Rank: 13 NFL Rank: 23
Avg Gain: 5.30 Avg Gain: 2.27 Avg Gain: 5.63 Avg Gain: 2.20 Avg Gain: 4.67 Avg Gain: 4.24 Avg Gain: 8.21
NFL Rank: 12 NFL Rank: 31 NFL Rank: 5 NFL Rank: 32 NFL Rank: 8 NFL Rank: 14 NFL Rank: 2

Cardinals Rushing Notes:

  • The Arizona Cardinals are dead last in number of rushing attempts (not shown in graph). That means the Chiefs will be looking to stop the Cardinal passing game first. Last week, against the Broncos, the Chiefs had a hard time stopping Denver's running game despite any previous problems the Broncos had. Look for the Chiefs to solve the running problem.
  • Being last in the NFL in rushing attempts means you don't run the ball to well. If Arizona has any running tendencies it would be off the left and right tackle: They rank 10th and 13th in attempts, respectively.
  • As a relative tendency, the Cardinals have rushed at the center 50 times. Since opponents have rushed at KC 147 times...expect the Cardinals to test the middle.

Cardinals Rushing Yards Per Team vs Defensive Rushing Rank

Week Team D.Rank yds
1
Saint Louis
6th 112
2. Atlanta 7th 118
3. Oakland 24th 119
4 San Diego
4th 47
5. Bye
--- ---
6 New Orleans 17th 41
7. Seattle 14th 113
8. Tampa Bay 31st 100
9. Minnesota 9th
53
10. Seattle 14th
41


  • The last time the Cardinals passed for 100 yards is two games ago against Tampa Bay.
  • To give a comparison between the Cardinal rushing attack and the Chiefs. KC rushed for 112 yards against Oakland and 109 yards against San Diego.

Cardinals Passing Offense

LEFT DEEP

MIDDLE DEEP

RIGHT DEEP

Plays: 32

Avg Gain: 7.8

NFL Rank: 2nd

Plays: 10

Avg Gain: 13.3

NFL Rank: 29th

Plays: 27

Avg Gain: 11.7

NFL Rank: 7th
LEFT SHORT

MIDDLE SHORT
RIGHT SHORT

Plays: 88

Avg Gain: 4.9

NFL Rank: 14th

Plays: 36

Avg Gain: 5.6

NFL Rank: 30th

Plays: 110

Avg Gain: 5.2

NFL Rank: 11th


Cardinals Passing Zone Frequency Chart


Cardinals Passing Notes:

  • Arizona likes to throw the ball to the left and right, not much down the middle. That tells me they don't have a top flight tight end.
  • When they throw it short left and right...they appear to not get a lot of catch-and-run. The Cardinals average 4.9 and 5.2 going short left and short right, that's ranked 31st and 25th in the NFL, respectively. That means they either like a lot of comeback or short out routes or their slants and drag routes aren't getting much production.
  • The Cardinals do like to throw the ball deep. They are ranked 2nd when throwing deep left and 7th when throwing deep right.

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/486545/AP-BewsafDirectionFieldCardinals.bmp

  • Above is the new passing game comparison chart. The top chart is where the offense likes to go with the ball (by attempts) and the bottom chart is the Chiefs defensive rank in how many yards per catch are surrendered. Let me know if this new chart is useful.
  • According to the chart, looks like the big match-up is going to be the Cardinals tendency to want to pass deep right (ranked 7th in attempts) and the Chiefs stingy defense when teams go deep right (ranked 6th in average yards per reception).
  • The Cardinals haven't like throwing the ball down the deep middle of the field. But after watching the Broncos game against the Chiefs...they might reconsider. Hear is hoping that KC gets at least one of the two safeties back from injury.

Other Interesting Stats:


Efficiency
Red 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 00%
Zone



55%






Efficiency
Goal 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 00%
to G






75%




Efficiency
3rd
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 00%
Down
29%








Stats Observations:

  • Arizona is around the NFL average in red zone scoring (average 51%).
  • When it comes to scoring when it is goal-to-go, look for the Cardinals to get the score. They get the ball into the end zone 75% of the time. The NFL average is 68% so far this year.
  • Currently the Cardinals are below the NFL average (NFL 38%) in 3rd down conversions.




No Yds Avg Long TD
RECEIVING 1. Fitzgerald, Larry 49 601 12.3 33 4

2. Breaston, Steve 29 456 15.7 37 1

3. Doucet, Early 15 182 12.1 36 1

4. Patrick, Ben 12 99 8.3 21 0

5. Roberts, Andre 6 96 16.0 30 1

6. Hightower, Tim 11 87 7.9 20 0

7. Stephens-Howling, LaRod 11 85 7.7 13 0

8. Williams, Stephen 7 75 10.7 17 0

9. Komar, Max 6 60 10.0 20 0

10. Dray, Jim 2 41 20.5 24 0

11. Wright, Jason 4 27 6.8 9 0

12. Wells, Chris 3 25 8.3 14 0

13. Spach, Stephen 5 24 4.8 14 0

14. Johnson, Jerome 0 0 0.0 0 0

14. Maui'a, Reagan 0 0 0.0 0 0


Total 160 1858 11.6 37 7


Opponents 210 2563 12.2 70 14

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Click On " Bewsaf Past Posts " for more past articles

*What Is Wrong With The Kansas City Running Game? *Chiefs vs Broncos: Breaking Down The O-Line Tape

*The Next Hurdle For A Young KC Chiefs Team: Fortitude

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