Arizona Cardinals

There was certainly reason for optimism regarding the Arizona offensive line last season. New head coach Ken Whisenhunt arrived and brought with him line coach Russ Grimm, while the draft yielded tackle Levi Brown with the fifth overall selection. Free agent Mike Gandy took over at the opposite tackle, Al Johnson arrived from Dallas to nail down the center position, and former second-round pick Deuce Lutui moved in at right guard. The only holdover was left guard Reggie Wells. And while the results weren’t overly dramatic, they were relatively immediate. Arizona’s sack total dropped by almost a third to 24, eighth-fewest in the league, while the average yards per carry of their running backs climbed by half a yard. Heading into the second year of the Whisenhunt/Grimm administration, expectations are being recalibrated—and in a good way. After all, this marks just the second time since the franchise moved to Arizona back in 1988 that the entire offensive line returns intact. And for the first time in his five-year Arizona career Wells, the longest-tenured Cardinal of this unit with five years of service, is playing for the same line coach for a second straight season. “The communication is already light years ahead of where we were last year,” Whisenhunt said in a published report during the team’s May minicamps. “That’s the benefit of having a line that’s been together for a year. I think it will help us in meshing together in the run game, such as the combination blocks, and it really helps us in pass protection in identifying blitzers and identifying fronts.”

The Cardinals also have some depth to their line as well. Undrafted college free agent Lyle Sendlein stepped in at center for two games while Johnson was hurt and played so well he could contend for the starting job as early as this year. Elton Brown is a better fit at guard but backs up both tackle spots; he’s in the final year of his contract and might get paid elsewhere if the Cards can’t clear a starting spot for him. The Cardinals landed Brandon Keith in the seventh round of April’s draft and hope to groom him as a possible replacement for when Gandy’s contract expires following the 2009 campaign. However, the real key to continued improvement is, as Whisenhunt said, getting the same unit to play together. Despite fielding at least four regulars in every game the Cardinals could get all five on the field together for just seven full games last year. Still, even that is a big step forward for this franchise—and it showed up in the measurables. Arizona ranked among the top 10 lines in the league in adjusted sack rate—a Football Outsiders stat that takes into account down and distance as well as quality of opponent—and fared just as well in the run metrics, ranking eighth in adjusted line yards (4.34 per carry) and 10th in percent of carries for zero or negative yardage. Perhaps more telling is the Cards’ dead-dog rank of 32nd with just eight percent of their yardage coming more than 10 yards past the line of scrimmage. In other words, Arizona’s line is opening holes; Edgerrin James is taking what the line gives him but not getting much more on his own.

The Arizona line is typical in that the right side features better run blockers and the left side is more adept at pass protection; however, that may be bass-ackwards for this team because Matt Leinart, their purported quarterback of the future, is a lefty. Also, if Brown and Lutui are such a force, it’s puzzling that Arizona ran primarily behind Gandy and Wells—a league-leading 25 percent of their running plays went off left tackle last year. Keep in mind that Kurt Warner was under center most of the season, so any left-handed tendencies were likely muted. It would make sense that with Leinart in the lineup for a full slate of games—hardly a certainty, but likely what the Cards are hoping for—this team will run more to the right side. That should mean improved numbers, and as the Football Outsiders metrics suggest the line is certainly doing their job. While James or rookie understudy Tim Hightower won’t be tearing off 40-yard chunks with the frequency of, say, Adrian Peterson there should be plenty of running room at the point of attack. And as this unit gets used to each other the pass protect should improve as well. It’s worth noting that the Cards allowed multiple sacks in just one of the five games Leinart played in, while Warner and his quicker reads actually absorbed two or more sacks in five of the 10 games in which he was the primary quarterback. Regardless of which quarterback is chucking, it’s clear that the big fellas in front of them won’t cause undo duress—great news if your fantasy squad is banking on Larry Fitzgerald or Anquan Boldin making plays downfield.

RUN BLOCKING: B
PASS BLOCKING: B+
OVERALL GRADE: B, a grade that will improve as this unit jells

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