Factoid
The Cardinals have passed the ball a lot in recent years, but they sure don’t use their tight ends much. Instead, the balls tend to go to the wide receivers in that offense.
Look at last year. Arizona averged 263 passing yards per game, and only nine teams finished with more passing touchdowns, but the team’s tight ends caught only 23 passes – barely half as many as every other team. The Cardinals also finished with a league-low 245 yards at that position, and just 3 TDs – one more than lowest in the league.
TIGHT ENDS: TEAM PRODUCTION, 2009
No Yds TD
121 1312 10 Indianapolis
116 1251 2 Dallas
99 1198 13 San Francisco
99 1048 10 Green Bay
95 1037 6 Tampa Bay
95 982 8 Atlanta
89 954 5 New Orleans
88 1198 9 San Diego
88 832 13 Chicago
83 823 7 Pittsburgh
81 850 11 Washington
81 736 2 Tennessee
80 902 3 Oakland
80 800 5 Detroit
79 996 8 Philadelphia
73 912 6 Houston
72 688 13 Minnesota
65 856 5 Jacksonville
63 755 5 Carolina
63 699 4 St. Louis
59 705 3 Denver
56 663 5 NY Giants
56 632 6 Baltimore
55 593 7 Seattle
53 532 5 Miami
48 553 3 NY Jets
46 437 4 Kansas City
43 546 7 New England
43 410 2 Cincinnati
43 399 2 Buffalo
42 469 3 Cleveland
23 245 3 Arizona
—Ian Allan
- Comments [4]
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Posted by Duane Stay | Jun. 20 at 10:14 AM
Obviously, with Warner gone that stat will probably change, not greatly, but 10 catches 50 yds will be the norm. Maybe one td.
Posted by Brian Grzybowski | Jun. 20 at 02:06 PM
If you boil down the game logs since Whisenhunt took over that either A) feature Matt Leinhart at QB and/or B) do not involve Anquan Boldin due to injury then the numbers aren't all that atrocious. It might be reasonable to expect the TE numbers to improve considerably (which might not be saying much) with Leinhart this year. He just doesn't have Warner's cannon arm or accuracy. I bet Arizona can dink and dunk their way to a division title in the NFC West.
Posted by IAN ALLAN | Jun. 21 at 02:48 AM
Matt Leinart is going to help Arizona's tight ends? That's a new one to me. He started the one game last year. In that one, Ben Patrick caught 1 pass. And in 2006, when Leinart was the starter for most of the season, Leonard Pope led the tight ends with 16 catches. He and Adam Bergen (15 catches) combined to catch 1 TD. I will be shocked if any Arizona tight end catches 30 passes this season.
Posted by Brian Grzybowski | Jun. 21 at 05:22 AM
Yep. You're right. I was looking at the 2007 numbers and for some reason when I saw the name "Urban" I thought he was a tight end that used to play for the Steelers. I was thinking of Dan Kreider...who is a fullback, anyways. My bad.