Despite not being blitzed much, the Arizona Cardinals surrender pressure at a high rate

The Arizona Cardinals are one of the worst teams in the NFL at yards after contact on runs, David Johnson needs to fix that.

Through a tough 2018 NFL season for the Arizona Cardinals, one of the biggest questions has been the offensive line.

ESPN is dumping stats at an alarming rate and the stats for the Arizona Cardinals offensive line are damning.

The first stat that shows how much the offensive line is struggling to pass protect is that Josh Rosen is the second most pressured quarterback in the NFL.

Think your QB is under pressure a lot?

These QBs are under siege the most by opposing defenses.#Texans #BeRedSeeRed #Seahawks #DallasCowboys #FinsUp #ChiefsKingdom #Jets #DUUUVAL #TitanUp #RaiderNation #HereWeGo pic.twitter.com/aSFAKJ6hbd

— NFL Matchup on ESPN (@NFLMatchup) November 14, 2018

That’s not too surprising, we watch the game on Sundays and see it is about a 1:3 shot of Rosen being pressured on any given drop back.

However, another stat to tie into this is the fact that the Cardinals are one of the teams that are blitzed the least in the NFL.

These offenses are seeing the most BLITZES by opposing defenses.#Browns #GoNiners #GoSaints #RavensFlock #InBrotherhood #TitanUp #DUUUVAL #BroncosCountry #GoBills #DallasCowboys #GoPats pic.twitter.com/yYMbfrbHxx

— NFL Matchup on ESPN (@NFLMatchup) November 15, 2018

That’s the reality of the situation more than anything else. Teams don’t even have to bring pressure via the blitz, because the Arizona Cardinals offensive line is so bad they can win just rushing four.

What that means is two-fold.

1. The Cardinals rookie quarterback is consistently having to read against defenses dropping seven men into coverage, with a bad group of receivers and tight ends running routes.
2. When the Cardinals are blitzed, its nearly always going to be successful, since they struggle to block four with five or more guys, imagine when teams bring five or more?

Now, all of this is not to excuse the poor play by Rosen at times, he has to learn to work through the trash, especially if he is playing for the Cardinals, but when you are a young quarterback getting beat up consistently, against four-man rushes... You are unlikely to be very successful.

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