Arizona Cardinals Offensive Line Shows Great Improvement

Sep 21, 2014; Glendale, AZ, USA; Arizona Cardinals quarterback Drew Stanton (5) calls plays against the San Francisco 49ers during the first half at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Do you remember 2012?  Do you remember the Arizona Cardinals starting 4-0 and then having to go to St. Louis on Thursday Night Football and going in and watching the offensive line just get blown up by the Rams to the tune of nine sacks of quarterback Kevin Kolb?  Such a distant memory at this point.

Through three weeks this season the Cards offensive line has only given up six sacks.  That’s right, just six over three games.  Quarterback Drew Stanton wasn’t sacked at all this last Sunday in the 23-14 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.

Sure, Stanton was hurried several times but the fact is the Cards have gotten much better on the offensive line.  Bobby Massie has vastly improved and has backed up everything he said in training camp leading up to the season.  The Cards got so much better on the blind side with Jared Veldheer, who next to tight end John Carlson, has been the most important acquisition the Cards made in the off-season.

The only shaky part of the line right now would be Ted Larsen at guard.  He’s had a couple of bad penalties go against him. Let’s remember though, he had to slid over into that position to start in front of Jonathan Cooper who fans are all waiting on to take back that starting job.  Cooper of course broke his leg in the 2013 preseason.  He recovered from that but then suffered a toe injury and hasn’t been effective at all.  I expect that to change for the better as the season continues on though.