Arizona Cardinals Overcoming the Carolina Panthers Linebackers

The Arizona Cardinals face off against the Carolina Panthers for the NFC crown. The winner will go on to the Super Bowl to face, more than likely, the New England Patriots. Of course, stakes are high. Both teams are set up on offense to create explosive plays, as well as force turnovers on defense. The Cardinals, facing the better of the two defenses, is going to need to win in the short game in order to set up their explosive plays- and Bruce Arians knows just how to do it.

As a unit, the Panthers defense is strong. There are Pro Bowl players at all three layers of the defense. The linebacking corps is the heart of the defense, though. Luke Kuechly and Thomas Davis are unbelievable players, both athletically and mentally. In addition, AJ Klein and rookie Shaq Thompson have played rather well when being a third linebacker in base sets or a rotational player in nickel. The Panthers almost never have a sub-par linebacker on the field. On top of that, the Panthers like moving a safety down into the box rather often, as is typical of predominantly Cover 3 defenses. This ‘extra linebacker’ often covers area of the field in which a linebacker would, but, theoretically, with more athleticism to do so. With as strong as this layer of the defense is for the Panthers, it becomes necessary to manipulate them well when attacking them.

This formation is a tight trips bunch out of ’12’ personnel (1 back, 2 tight ends). The Seattle Seahawks are in a 4-3 Under set (linemen shift over to their left; strong side linebacker rolls down into an edge position). With two extra big bodies and the ever-dangerous Larry Fitzgerald on one side, there is a lot the Cardinals could do. In fact, they liked running to the strong side of this formation often versus the Seahawks. Though, on this play, the Cardinals opt to throw. With two defenders line up directly over the bunch set, the key is to force one of them into hesitating when figuring out who to cover in their zone coverage.

The tight end lined up off the line and closer to the formation runs a short, soft out route along with Larry Fitzgerald. The outer tight end, the spearhead of the bunch, moves on an inside route. This outer tight end is lined up close enough to the defensive end on his side that he is able to get a strong chip-block on him before releasing into his route. Not only does this chip buy time for the right tackle and quarterback, but it gives the linebacker the illusion that the tight end might be staying to block.

With two out routes to one direction and a feaux blocking tight end, both defenders near the play struggle to make a confident decision. The safety and ‘flat’ defender, Kam Chancellor, takes too long to read and react to what Fitzgerald is doing, while the linebacker, KJ Wright, is trying to redirect himself to turn and cover the tight end he thought was going to be blocking. Now, Carson Palmer has two places he can cleanly go with the football.

Ultimately, Palmer decides to target Fitzgerald near the boundary for a seven yard gain. Why Palmer does not go for the seemingly wide-open inside route by the tight end is tough to say for sure, but it could have been him being weary of the rusher who backs off the line of scrimmage in a delayed stunt. Regardless of which target Palmer chose, there was plenty of room to complete a throw and he did.

The Arizona Cardinals are going to need this sort of confusion to help nullify the effects of the Carolina Panthers linebacking corps. Forcing those linebackers to think instead of immediately react is going to be key. Once these Panthers linebackers sniff out a play, they absolutely fly to the ball. Delaying their reaction time is a must if the Cardinals want to get the cheaper yards to set up their expensive shots down field. The Panthers linebackers are damn good, but the Cardinals just may be able to get around them.