It’s not often you see a team overcome eight allowed sacks, a late fourth-quarter interception in the red zone, and a 13-0 halftime deficit to win a game. But that’s exactly what the Arizona Cardinals pulled off against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
Despite being outplayed at times, the Cardinals did what good teams do and rallied to move to an improbable 4-0 that nobody at PFF Towers predicted, but everyone must applaud.
Meanwhile the Dolphins took a step back in the AFC East race, letting this one slip away on the road and wasting a phenomenal defensive performance. Still, that doesn’t mean there aren’t things to be positive about.
Three Performances of Note – Miami
Best in the League
Through the first four weeks of the season Cameron Wake is building himself a case for being declared the league’s best pure pass rusher. Lofty words indeed, but he went into Sunday with a league-leading 21 hits and hurries, that should have let you know his sack drought was about to end.
End it did in a big way on Sunday with Wake sacking Kevin Kolb five times, including three in the first half as Miami jumped on Arizona early. Going against a rookie right tackle, Wake was in the backfield all game, adding seven hurries and a QB hit to his numbers as he made life extremely hard for the Arizona quaretrback. For just one example (out of many) of how dominant his defensive showing was, look no further than a big third down with 10:30 left in the second quarter when Wake exploded off the snap and was nearly past Bobbie Massie as he was getting out of his stance. It led to a grade of +11.4, one of the highest single-game grades ever given by PFF, and just reward for a superb performance.
Strong Defensive Effort
Wake may be the headliner, but he was just part of a strong overall defensive effort. In their first three outings, the Cardinals had been rushing the ball close to 30 times per game. The Dolphins’ defense quickly showed that this would have to stop as they shut down Ryan Williams and the Arizona rushing attack from the start.
The Cardinals gained just 28 yards on 15 carries overall, with a long run of 5 yards. Impressive, but an even more telling stat: all 28 yards came after contact, as the Miami front seven completely controlled the line of scrimmage, hitting Williams almost immediately whenever he carried the ball. Credit the line backing corps as Kevin Burnett, Karlos Dansby, and Koa Misi combined for 13 stops in the running game with just two missed tackles between them. The strong effort against the run forced Arizona to become one dimensional and allowed Miami to tee-off against Kolb in the passing game. This no doubt paid off, as the defense was able to pressure Kolb 19 times, earning eight sacks and forcing two picks.
Offense Comes up Short
While the defense did falter in the final minute, you can’t help but blame the offense for putting them in that position. As they always do, late turnovers changed the game as Miami turned the ball over four times in the second half and overtime. Ryan Tannehill (+2.7), who otherwise had a strong performance, was responsible for three of the four, the worst of which was a fumble with three minutes left in the fourth quarter as Miami was attempting to run out the clock.
Perhaps it was a mistake to have a rookie QB drop back 45 times, but with a running game that, outside of a 21-yard run by Reggie Bush, averaged just 2.3 yards a carry, passing certainly seemed like the better option. The lack of success running the ball was no fault of Mike Pouncey (+3.9), who had a strong game both run blocking and protecting Tannehill and moved to the top of our center rankings on the year.
Three Performances of Note – Arizona
Clutch Kolb
With what was arguably his best game as a Cardinal, Kolb (+4.2) came up huge when the game was on the line, leading two fourth-quarter touchdown drives and throwing two TD passes. The second of the two was especially impressive, as Kolb bought time with his feet and threw a strike to Andre Roberts in the front left corner of the end zone. The entire drive was what Arizona hoped to get from Kolb after spending so big on him, and if he can build on this game then who’s to say this run can’t carry on a while longer?
After getting sacked on the first two plays of the drive, Kolb was able to bounce back, making quick, decisive throws before the rush could get to him. He wasn’t without his bad plays though, as two of his passes went to Sean Smith and could have ultimately proved costly as it took points off the board. However Kolb got another chance and rebounded, and that kind of resolve and redemption is a necessity in the NFL.
Fine D-Line
Lining up at right end on all but one snap, Calais Campbell (+5.1) didn’t have his best day rushing the passer, producing no pressures (though he batted one pass). But in what is becoming a trend, he was in top form in the run game. Campbell was a force and a big reason why Miami struggled to run the ball, dominating his man and controlling the left side of the offensive line. The pass rushing from the line was left to David Carter and Vonnie Holliday who combined for four pressures as they made like hard for Tannehill. Still, no denying who the star of the show was as the evolving Campbell continues to play lights out.
Offensive OL Play
Suffice to say, Arizona’s offensive line did not have a good day at the office, led, or more fittingly, dragged down by the historically bad performance of Massie (-11.5), who, on the opposite end of the spectrum of Wake, received one of the lowest grades PFF has ever given. Whether run blocking, where they were manhandled and failed to get any movement whatsoever on the line of scrimmage, or in pass protection, where the two tackles were turnstiles, nothing went right for this unit. The poor blocking even extended to the running backs, as Williams and William Powell combined to allow four pressures.
It’s quite amazing that Arizona was able to overcome such a collectively poor performance, and has been able to overcome these deficiencies up front to start 4-0. Only the 1-3 Jaguars have a worse Pass Blocking Efficiency Rating through four weeks and it’s hard to imagine their winning streak continuing if things don’t improve up front.
Game Notes
— The Miami backs averaged five yards per carry running to the right of center, but less than one yard per carry on runs to the left side.
— Coming into Sunday, Kolb was just one of four on balls thrown over 20 yards. Against Miami Kolb doubled that output, completing two of his three deep throws.
— Brian Hartline (+4.1) exceeded his season total of 13 catches for 202 yards, by catching 12 balls for 253 yards. Almost a third of those yards came on an 80-yard TD pass that resulted from a blown coverage by Kerry Rhodes.
Game Ball
No player was more dominant than Cameron Wake, who in this season’s first four games has now earned a combined grade of +27.4 – a rating that only four players at Wake’s position surpassed for the entire 2011 season. That just outdid the late game heroics of Kevin Kolb.
Follow John Maney on Twitter @PFF_JManey
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