The Seahawks relinquished their NFC West Champion crown this season, and adorned it atop the heads of Kurt Warner and company.
The Cardinals turned out to be the best one-dimensional team in the league, with a high-flying air attack ranked no. 2 in passing yards. In contrast, their running game ranked WORST in the league.
Need more proof of how one-dimensional they were? They gave up an average of 26.6 points a game. That’s worse than the Seahawks, who gave up an average of 24.5 points.
It all comes down to Kurt Warner, and, perhaps more importantly, his main target: Larry Fitzgerald. We play them two times a year. In 2008, Fitzgerald amassed 281 yards and two touchdowns against Seattle’s secondary in those two painful meetings.
So, how do we contain him?
Perhaps a better question is “who can contain him?”
To Continue...
Tall Cornerbacks fair better
Fitzgerald faced off against seven cornerbacks who stood 6-0 or taller. Of those seven games, Fitzgerald averaged 66.1 yards per game and 0.6 touchdowns a game.
During the other nine games, Fitzgerald faced off against cornerbacks 5-11 or shorter, and accumulated much better stats, with an average of 107.7 receiving yards and 0.89 touchdowns a game.
Fitzgerald likes to utilize his size to beat smaller cornerbacks in jump ball situations and also has physical strength to muscle the smaller corners out of position.
Analyzing the tape: 6-0 or taller
Against the 6-0 or taller cornerbacks, Fitzgerald caught two short slants for touchdowns, one jumper and a deep ball that doesn’t really count because the 6-0 player in question dumped Fitzgerald off to the safety, who blew the coverage. 49ers CB Nate Clements gave up two of those touchdowns to Fitzgerald, one on a short cross and another on a jumper that Clements was clearly not ready for.
On the cross, the Niners were playing the run, stuffing the box with eight with a safety playing slightly toward Fitzgerald. Clements gives Fitzgerald way to much room and the safety is thinking “run” the whole time. This gives an easy touchdown to Fitzgerald who uses his body to screen out Clements.
He scored another against Rams backup CB Ronald Bartell on a five-yard slant. The fourth came during a game when Redskins CB Shawn Springs was covering him, but it wasn’t actually Springs’ fault, who let Fitzgerald off to the safety, who let Fitzgerald blow by him for a 54-yard touchdown.
For the most part, the bigger, taller guys didn’t let Fitzgerald blow up their team for multiple touchdowns and 100+ yard games. The reasons for this include Fitzgerald’s lesser ability to out-muscle the bigger guys, a lesser chance to catch the jump balls, and generally lesser speed than the CB. Fitzgerald hardly ever blows by the safety for a huge touchdown pass, he just doesn't have the top end speed to do that. However, he does have the height and athleticism to consistently beat CBs to the ball, and he knows how to use his strength and body to his advantage.
Tomorrow I'll take a look at the tape for the shorter CBs and find out what works and what does not work.
Red indicates shorter than 6-0. All 6-0 and taller CBs held Fitzgerald to less than 100 yards except for ex-Seahawk Shawn Springs. And, as I wrote earlier, the huge play for a touchdown was not his fault.Part II
