The Arizona Cardinals may lean on the pass less this week (and hand the ball off more) because they be forced to start backup quarterback Clayton Tune.
The Cardinals are a big 13.5-point underdog in this week’s game, likely leading to an extreme passing game script.
This week, Trey McBride is projected by the predictive model to secure a spot in the 98th percentile among TEs with 7.2 targets.
While Trey McBride has been responsible for 13.5% of his offense’s targets in games he has played this year, our trusted projections expect him to be a more integral piece of Arizona’s passing offense in this week’s game at 22.7%.
With a stellar 34.0 adjusted yards per game through the air (80th percentile) this year, Trey McBride ranks as one of the top pass-catching TEs in the NFL.
Cons
The Arizona Cardinals feature a new play-caller this year in head coach Jonathan Gannon, and the leading projections forecast their pass/run mix to skew 6.0% more towards rushing than it did last year (context-neutralized).
Right now, the 3rd-least pass-focused offense in football (55.3% context-neutralized) according to our trusted projection set is the Arizona Cardinals.
The leading projections forecast the Cardinals to run the 6th-fewest offensive plays among all teams this week with 63.2 plays, accounting for their underlying strategic approach and game dynamics.
Opposing teams teams have been wary to rely on the passing game too much against the Browns, averaging the 2nd-fewest attempts in the NFL (just 29.0 per game) this year.
When talking about pass-blocking (and the influence it has on all pass game statistics), the O-line of the Arizona Cardinals ranks as the 7th-worst in football this year.