I was going to post something on the Cardinals and how the return of Daryl Washington from suspension has changed their pass rush last week, before the 49ers game, but a baby shower and out-of-town family visits got in the way. It’s okay, now I have another Cardinals game with Washington on the field to compare to the first four without him. Needless to say, when you add an All-Pro player back into your defense, you can expect an improvement in play. However, Daryl Washington is beyond just an All-Pro MLB for Arizona, he is whom the entire Cardinal pass rush is built around. Featuring an MLB as a top pass rusher is unique in the NFL. Usually, the job of the MLB in the NFL is to close quickly on the ball carrier, fill gaps and make tackles at or near the line of scrimmage, and rushing the QB is not one of the priorities. The average All-Pro MLB over the last five seasons has averaged three sacks per season. Daryl Washington had nine (!) sacks last season. With Washington suspended for the first four games of 2013, Arizona’s pass rush struggled mightily, mustering only three sacks. In the two games since Washington’s return, Arizona has notched nine sacks.
A typical 3-4 defense generates pass rush with its defensive line and one OLB rushing on the edge. This is the type of pass rush Arizona Defensive Coordinator was forced to use while Washington was out of the lineup and the results were not pretty. The average sack % in the NFL over the last few seasons has been about 6.2% (sacks / opponents’ pass attempts + sacks). The Cardinals tallied only seven sacks through the first four weeks of the season, yielding a 4.1% sack percentage. The overall pass rush numbers were bad, but the Cardinals blitz sack percentage was even worse, a paltry 3.8% (3/79). Adding injury to insult, Arizona lost three of its OLBs to for the season after its week 3 loss in New Orleans.
Speaking of New Orleans, let’s look at one of Arizona’s successful blitzes out of the 3-4 without Washington. Technically a 3-4, it’s more of a hybrid 3-4/4-3 with #91 Shaughnessy playing ROLB, but he's in a 4-point stance which would say DE to me. Anyways, the Cardinals are going to zone blitz both left side backers, Jasper Brinkley (#52) and Sam Acho (#94) with Shaughnessy dropping into coverage. Calais Campbell (#93) takes his rush to the LT's inside shoulder, creating a gap between his rush and Acho's outside rush for Brinkley to run up.
The Cardinals are able to create a 4-on-4 matchup on the left side of the Saints line singling up the two linebackers on a TE and RB. On the other side the RG and RT double team Dockett (#90) and Saints Center De La Puente (#60) doesn't block anyone. The end result is Acho speeds around Ben Watson (#82) to get the sack. This is how a 3-4 blitz is supposed to operate, but Arizona was unable to recreate these types of plays consistently through the first four weeks of the season.
With Daryl Washington out of the lineup the Cardinals deployed the blitz rather conservatively, rushing more than four about 47% of the time. With Washington back the last two games, Arizona has blitzed a whopping 72% of the time with all nine of its sacks coming on blitzes. The pairing of Dansby and Washington in the middle allows Bowles to mix and disguise his blitzers, causing problems for pass protectors.
Against Carolina in week 5, the Cardinals present a standard 3-4 front. Washington (#58) and John Abraham (#55) will drop into coverage at the snap, while the pressure will come from the right side. Matt Shaughnessy (#91) will start his rush outside and then bend it back in when he gets close to the RT while Dansby (#56) comes straight up the field at the snap, only to bend around outside of Shaughnessy at the last moment.
This little twist works to perfection as Tolbert (#35) sets up to block the blitzing Dansby, only to get caught up with Shaughnessy and the RT leaving Dansby free to get to Newton without being touched.
Another blitz scheme the Cardinals can employ with Washington back is to send both MLBs at once up the gut, a Double A-gap blitz. It’s 3rd& 9 and Arizona has its Nickel personnel on the field to match up with Carolina’s 3WR set. The key to this blitz is Darnell Dockett (#90) creating space for the blitz behind him. Dockett is lined up in a 3-technique (lined up on OG’s outside shoulder), but he’s going to cross the guard’s face to our right at the snap and get him to follow. Washington (#58) will rush into the gap vacated by Dockett and draw both RT (#77) and Tolbert (#35) to him.
As the Panthers’ OL works to account for Washington, Dansby rushes into the gap in the pass protection and gets to Newton untouched again.
The Cardinals sacked Cam Newton seven times in Washington's first game back in week 5. Although Arizona didn't accrue the same type of sack totals in San Francisco last week, they did blitz on 28 of 32 pass attempts by Kaepernick and bagged him twice.
The 49ers pass protection is set up to have each of the Cardinal rushers blocked, 6-on-6. However, with both Washington (#58) and Dansby (#56) rushing the same gap, the 49ers protection scheme breaks down.
Gore comes over from the left and has to decide which of the two MLBs he's going to pick up. In addition to both MLBs shooting the same gap, they also run a twist with Washington crossing behind Dansby. You can see Gore come across to block Dansby before peeling off in the last second to get Washington. It really didn't matter who Gore picked up, one of them was going to come free while Jonathan Goodwin (#59) ends up blocking air on the play.
Daryl Washington has two sacks in his first two games back from suspension. But his impact on Arizona's pass rush is greater than his personal statistics because of the opportunities his presence creates for his teammates. When the blitz is on, opposing offenses are forced to make quick pass protection decisions that often result in a Cardinal defender running free.
Washington can do more than blitz as he has shown he is a threat when the ball is in the air as well the last two weeks. Because of Washington's threat as a rusher, opposing QBs can often forget about how athletic he is in pass defense. Cam Newton and the Panthers were in the red zone trying to run a quick slant from the shotgun and Washington simply jumped up and knocked the pass out of the air for an INT that would have been to the house if not for Newton's own speed.
Last week in San Francisco, Washington nearly repeated the same great play. The 49ers are trying to run a quick slant to the right behind Washington, just like the Panthers did and Washington is right there to knock the pass down. Washington wasn't able to secure the INT, but Kaepernick and the 49ers definitely got away with one there.
For tonight's Seahawks-Cardinals matchup, I'm going to pay particular attention to the type of pass rush scheme the Cardinals employ. I fully expect them to stick with the Double A-gap blitzes they've used the last two weeks, but I'm also curious if they'll deploy their MLBs to spy Russell Wilson. Wilson is such a good scrambler that he can beat you around the edges and up the middle. Even if Arizona is able to drop OLBs and maintain edge containment, if the MLBs get tangled up in the middle, Wilson can easily do damage running up the gut.
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