Arizona Cardinals: Numbers tell the whole story

Sometimes statistics lie but in week one for the Arizona Cardinals they told the whole story

The box score from week to week doesn’t always tell you the whole story of a game.  For the Arizona Cardinals though, the box score of their 24-6 loss to the Washington Redskins couldn’t hide how things turned out.

Now with the Los Angeles Rams on the horizon in week two, many of us are afraid we will see the same or even worse.  The Rams are a better team than the Redskins and you won’t find many arguments on it.

Third down conversions:

The Cardinals were 1-8 on third down conversions against the Redskins.  That unfortunately is a huge reason the team could not sustain any drives.  It was a constant three-and-out.

Time of possession:

The Redskins had the ball for 38:08.  The Cardinals just 21:52.  In the first half, time of possession almost matched the final score, 24-6.

Turnovers: 

After creating 17 turnovers in the preseason, the Cardinals managed just one takeaway against the Redskins.  The one turnover was at the end of a long run by running back Adrian Peterson when the game was already decided.  They lost the turnover battle 2-1.

Yards per play:

The Redskins averaged 5.7 yards per play.  The Cardinals just 4.2 yards.  It seemed like especially in the first half, the Redskins were able to run the ball at will.

Too many short passes by Cardinals quarterback Sam Bradford didn’t help.  Dropped passes and overthrows also didn’t help.  The play calling was atrocious.

Yards per pass were in favor of the Redskins as well 7.5-4.0.  You aren’t going to win many games on four-yard passes.  Running team or not, it needs to improve.

First downs:

The fact is the Redskins converted and the Cardinals didn’t.  They had 30 first downs.  The Cardinals had 14 but most of those came in the second half after the Cardinals were already down 21-0.

All of these stats are going to need to improve to even stay in the game with the Rams on Sunday in Los Angeles.  That is much easier said than done.