Arizona definitely falls in the fixer-upper category. It has one of the worst offensive lines ever, along with a lesser quarteracking situation.
The resulting symptoms are easy to see.
The Cardinals converted only 25 percent of their third downs last year. That's the worst by any team since the 2005 San Francisco 49ers.
Best we can say is that Arizona has hit rock bottom. It has nowhere to go but up. All of the other teams in the last 10 years that converted under 30 percent of their third downs were better the next year. Three of those teams managed to edge above 38 percent, which is the league average in that period.
WORST 3RD-DOWN RATES SINCE 2002
Pct Year Team (next year's rate)
24.0% 2005 San Francisco (34.4%)
24.0% 2002 Dallas (36.5%)
25.1% 2004 Chicago (28.8%)
25.2% 2012 Arizona
25.8% 2009 Buffalo (37.9%)
25.8% 2002 Houston (30.9%)
27.3% 2009 Kansas City (36.7%)
27.8% 2010 Arizona (32.2%)
28.1% 2011 St. Louis (32.1%)
28.5% 2008 Oakland (29.6%)
28.6% 2002 Carolina (35.6%)
28.8% 2008 Detroit (35.9%)
28.8% 2005 Chicago (36.8%)
29.1% 2004 Cleveland (33.0%)
29.3% 2010 Washington (37.0%)
29.4% 2011 San Francisco (35.1%)
29.5% 2004 NY Giants (39.6%)
29.6% 2009 Oakland (34.1%)
29.6% 2002 Detroit (35.1%)
29.6% 2012 Jacksonville
29.8% 2009 San Francisco (31.9%)
29.9% 2003 Atlanta (36.3%)
^aEUR"Ian Allan
Factoid
March 01, 2013