Arizona Cardinals: Is Bruce Arians Too Aggressive?
By David Mamola
The Arizona Cardinals are looking for the franchise’s first NFL title since 1947. Will they get it done with Bruce on the loose?
It’s been well documented over the course of the season that Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians has an aggressive coaching philosophy. His offense attacks down the field every chance they get, and his defense is blitz-happy. He is not afraid to make a gutsy play call. While that philosophy works sometimes, other times it can backfire.
Will that be the case once again this Sunday as the franchise looks to make its second Super Bowl appearance?
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There were two perfect examples of the Cardinals’ over-aggressiveness burning them that could be seen in last week’s NFC Divisional Playoffs showdown with the Green Bay Packers, a team that the Cards squashed one week earlier, 38-8.
Both of these examples took place in the fourth quarter last Saturday against the Packers and it nearly cost them a chance to advance in the playoffs.
With just 2:38 to play, Arizona had a 17-13 lead and the ball at Green Bay’s 24-yard line. The Cardinals ran the ball on first down with David Johnson and gained two yards, forcing the Packers to call their third and final timeout. At this point, there was around two-and-a-half minutes left, with the two-minute warning serving as the only way Green Bay could stop the clock.
The safe play would have been for Arizona to run the ball on second down, get it down to the two-minute warning, and run the ball again on third down, chewing-up at least forty more seconds off the clock.
However, Bruce Arians’ aggressiveness got the best of him, and on second down, the Cardinals decided to throw. Quarterback Carson Palmer threw a pass towards Larry Fitzgerald, yet it was well out-of-bounds and incomplete. The play took less than eight seconds off the clock. Arizona ran the ball on third down and Johnson gained four yards, the clock stopped at the two-minute warning, and the Cardinals then kicked a 36-yard field goal to increase their lead to seven points.
The Cardinals kicked off and after a 15-yard return by Jeff Janis, Green Bay started their drive at their own 15 yard-line with 1:50 still on the clock (instead of under 1:10 if Arizona had run on second down). After a 61-yard gain (courtesy of quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Janis) on fourth and twenty, Green Bay had five seconds left to make a miracle happen….which, as we all know, happened (a play, which again, would never had taken place if Arizona wasn’t as aggressive as they were).
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This leads us to the second too-aggressive play the Cardinals made in less than three minutes.
On the game-tying “Hail Mary,” the Cardinals blitzed, leaving their defensive backs on an island against the Packers’ receivers. With too few players in the secondary, the Cardinals were burned for a 41-yard touchdown by Janis that never should have been allowed (or taken place). Instead of winning the game comfortably, Arizona was forced to go to overtime.
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Now, the Cardinals ultimately won the game, 26-20, but they made it way too close for comfort in the end. Still, a victory is a victory.
It’s fine to be aggressive, but the Cardinals have to be smart about it. If they’re not, it could cost them a trip to Super Bowl 50 on Sunday when they face the top-seeded Carolina Panthers.