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Andre Ellington Injury puts focus on Michael Floyd

By Kevin Parvizi

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The Arizona Cardinals offense is built around aggressively getting the ball to several talented skill position players, and it’s why they are able to make do without a true franchise quarterback. But not only have the Cardinals been missing their starting quarterback, they have also been missing a legitimate running game for most of the season. Andre Ellington averaged 5.5 yards per carry as a rookie sensation, but he clearly hasn’t been himself this season with just 3.3 yards per carry. That isn’t his fault, though, because he’s dealt with some terrible blocking, particularly from normally solid veteran center Lyle Sendlein, and nagging injuries.

According to FOX Sports 910’s Mike Jurecki, the Cardinals are considering shutting down Ellington for the remainder of the season, and this would strip the team of one of it’s more important parts. Even though Ellington has struggled this season, he is one of their most explosive players and has also made an impact in the passing game with 46 receptions, which is tied with Larry Fitzgerald for the most on the team. It hasn’t been a banner year for Ellington, but his ability to take pressure off of the quarterback and force defenses to cover him would be missed. It’s unclear if the Cardinals would keep him on the roster and open the door for his return in the postseason, but it is clear that the Cardinals will have to change their approach without him.

Marion Grice and Stepfan Taylor are the next men up at the running back position, and it will be interesting to see if they can be more effective than Ellington, who had the disadvantage of being injured. I think it’s fair to expect the Cardinals to throw the ball more often as a way of compensating for Ellington’s loss, as he once had a streak of ten straight games with at least 15 carries.

Ellington and Fitzgerald are tied for the team lead in receptions, but third-year wideout Michael Floyd was supposed to be the team’s top receiver after breaking out towards the end of the 2013 season. Floyd has caught just 31 passes for 507 yards and four touchdowns this season, as he’s been a disappointment compared to the lofty heights he was supposed to achieve. That said, Floyd has been the team’s best playmaker with over 16 yards per reception, and that’s key in Bruce Arians’s vertical passing attack. But with potentially less of an opportunity to set up the pass with the run, there will be more of a focus on Floyd to make plays.

Without Ellington, it’s clear to me that the Cardinals most potent playmaker is Floyd, though John Brown can certainly help in that department. The issue with Floyd has been his lack of consistency, as his catch rate is below 45%, which is an unsightly clip, even for somebody averaging 16.5 yards per catch. Ellington caught over 70% of everything thrown at him, which made him a pretty valuable safety valve out of the backfield, and he also had the added benefit of being a home-run threat after the catch. Although he didn’t produce at the clip we expected- due to his injuries- Ellington’s versatility was a significant key for the Cardinals offense, so both the new running back and Floyd will have to step up in order to help fill in the lost production.

The Cardinals will face the Kansas City Chiefs this afternoon at 4:05 p.m. ET, and there’s no better game than this one to illustrate the importance of Floyd’s need to make plays. This is a critical game for the Cardinals against another playoff-worthy opponent, and they could find it difficult to run the ball against the Chiefs stout front seven, especially since they could easily lose the battle in the trenches. The Chiefs, however, are burn-prone, and Floyd could take advantage of their secondary. The vertical passing game and running game play off of each other, and the vertical passing game could be forced to compensate.

Floyd simply needs to be a more consistent playmaking threat, but it obviously isn’t as easy of a task as it sounds. Ellington’s combination of steady pass-catching and home-run fear factor forced defenses to account for him, but right now Floyd is living off of the fear factor element to his game; he has to turn it into more consistent production in order for the Cardinals offense to succeed. Even if Andre Ellington isn’t shut down for the rest of the season, Floyd is still a huge key to this offense.

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