Between The Lines: John Abraham Should Be Cardinals' Worst Nightmare

In doing these Between The Lines posts, it's always interesting to see if mismatches jump out, or if there is a player that seems either underrated or overrated.

Normally it doesn't happen. The conventional wisdom on most teams is pretty accurate, and it's really hard to find a stud on the offensive or defensive line that hasn't been noticed at all. But as the Falcons get ready to play the Cardinals this weekend, there is a mismatch that jumps out from paying attention to the two team's lines: if the Falcons are wise with where they line up John Abraham, he could dominate this game.

There are a lot of factors to consider in Saturday's game: how will Matt Ryan react to his first playoff start, can the Cardinals slow down Michael Turner and is the Cardinals' triple-threat at receiver too much for the Falcons secondary, but as I see it, this game will first be decided by whether the Cardinals can block Abraham.
Abraham is one of the best defensive ends in the game. While he's not the three-down terror that Jared Allen or Justin Tuck is, he is every bit their equal when it comes to rushing the quarterback as he showed by picking up 16.5 sacks this season. He's blazingly quick off the edge, and now that the Falcons have started spotting him, playing him less on running downs to ensure he's fresh on passing downs, he's even tougher to block.

And this week, he'll be facing one of the worst starting tackles in the league in Cardinals right tackle Levi Brown. Now Abraham normally lines up at right end, which means he faces the opposing team's left tackle. But the Falcons have moved him around in the past, and this week would seem to be the perfect time to have Abraham and fellow end Jamaal Anderson switch sides. Cardinals left tackle Mike Gandy is an adequate left tackle who can be counted on to win a decent number of one-on-one battles. Brown has shown no such ability.

I mentioned Brown's pass-blocking troubles in a regular season Between The Lines. Now that NFL.com has introduced its Game Rewind feature, I was able to put together a more complete look at whether Brown is a potential pass protection problem.

Yep, he is. In going back and re-watching every sack that the Cardinals allowed (with the exception of one lost to the ether because of a glitch in Game Rewind), Brown consistently showed slow feet and a tendency to set a soft corner, which allowed defensive ends to beat him to the outside. Brown gave up 11 1/2 of the Cardinals 28 sacks, and all but two of them came because defensive ends beat him on speed rushes. The other two came on plays where quarterback Kurt Warner held the ball too long. Warner gets some of the blame, but on both of those sacks, Brown stopped his feet and stood motionless as defensive ends cut inside of him for easy sacks.

Not once was Brown beaten because he was confused by a stunt or a hidden blitz. Every one of his sacks came because he was physically beaten. Brown had one Hall of Shame game -- a four-sack debacle against the Jets, but he was also consistent in his ineptitude. He gave up at least half a sack in eight different games, and was also flagged for six false starts (probably because of concerns about being beaten to the outside) and one holding penalty.

CARDINALS' SACKS ALLOWED
Levi Brown	11 1/2
Mike Gandy	6
Deuce Lutui	2
Lyle Sendlein	1 1/2
Tim Hightower	1
Reggie Wells	1
Elton Brown	1
Matt Leinart	1
Tim Hightower	1
Poor Play Call	1
Leonard Pope	1/2

Gandy, the Cardinals' other offensive tackle, isn't a Pro Bowler, but he is good enough that the Falcons should consider getting Abraham matched up on Brown. Gandy had one disastrous game himself -- Vikings defensive end Jared Allen beat him repeatedly, including a pair of sacks and multiple pressures, but he generally held his own. The interior of the Cardinals' offensive line, especially guard Reggie Wells, are solid pass blockers, although none are particularly stout run blockers.

Abraham's array of moves should allow him to have some success against Gandy, but it's hard to see how the Cardinals could keep Abraham from terrorizing Warner if they lined him up over Brown in passing situations. This is just the kind of scenario that Abraham takes great advantage of -- he recorded 11 of his 16.5 sacks in just four games. When Abraham found a tackle he could consistently beat, he would rack up multi-sack games -- he recorded three different three-sack games this season.

And if Abraham can get to Warner, he's very likely to force a potentially game-changing fumble. Abraham ranked in the top 10 in the league with four forced fumbles. Warner has been one of the league's worst at holding onto the football for years, and he proved it again in 2008, as he fumbled 11 times on sacks. His seven fumbles lost is tied for the league lead.

I haven't mentioned any other Falcons pass rushers because of the simple fact that no other Atlanta pass rusher has gotten consistent pressure this year. Abraham has nearly half of the team's 34 sacks, and no other Falcon has more than four. The Cardinals have shown no desire to help their tackles out with double-team help from running backs or tight ends, but this may be the week to start.

Unless the Cardinals change things up, Abraham will also know that he'll get to battle the Cardinals' tackles one-on-one. Arizona didn't give Brown or Gandy much help all year. Nearly 59 percent of the Cardinals' pass attempts came out of no tight end formations, and the Cardinals didn't use their backs much for chipping pass rushers either; they preferred to get them out into the pass patterns quickly.

Part of that comes from the fact that teams have learned that it's risky to blitz Warner. While he is fumble-prone, he's also generally quick to make decisions and get rid of the ball. When blitzed, Warner's quarterback rating improved, and he threw 14 touchdowns, four interceptions and was sacked only six times when teams sent five or more rushers (an average of one sack per every 32.8 attempts). When teams sent four rushers or less, Warner threw 16 touchdowns, 14 interceptions and was sacked 20 times (an average of a sack per every 20 attempts). So it makes no sense to send more than four, especially if you're the Falcons.

But if Abraham gets consistent pressure, the Falcons won't need to blitz. Keep an eye on this battle inside the game. If the Cardinals can keep Abraham out of the backfield, Warner should pick apart the Falcons' secondary. But if Abraham gets an early sack or two, it will be interesting to see if Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt goes against his regular-season strategy and starts to try to give his tackles some help.