Arizona Cardinals: What we learned in 2016

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Dec 24, 2016; Seattle, WA, USA; Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer (3) celebrates after throwing an 80-yard touchdown pass against the Seattle Seahawks during the second quarter at CenturyLink Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports /

The numbers don’t lie

The Arizona Cardinals finished second in defense. They finished ninth in offense. They also finished 7-8-1. Something doesn’t make sense there.

The missing ingredient? Special teams. As alluded to earlier, if the Cardinals just convert kicks, they are looking at a playoff game this weekend. Sure, there are other underlying issues.

Some in local media said the Cardinals numbers are skewed somewhat. Yes, look at the numbers, you’d think the Cardinals were a playoff team.

The numbers don’t lie though. The numbers were accumulated. Larry Fitzgerald caught 107 passes. David Johnson did have over 2,000-yards from scrimmage. The Cardinals lead the NFL in sacks with 48.

There were good things that happened. Just go look at all of the special teams numbers and the number of injuries the Cardinals had plus the amount of sacks the offensive line gave up, plus the turnovers and you’ll see why the Cardinals finished where they did.

They scored 418 points. That is a head-scratcher given the close games they lost. They were efficient at times but were very inconsistent.

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