Offensive line proves to be offensive for Arizona Cardinals

The Arizona Cardinals entered their Thursday night contest with St. Louis as media darlings, the little undefeated team that could. With a stingy defense and an emerging offense, they were a team that could really go somewhere.

Then people saw the offensive line, and a team that could not go anywhere because of it.

In total the Big Red Sieve surrendered nine sacks and paved the way for a measly 45 yards on the ground. While Kevin Kolb’s inaccuracy cost the team points early in the game, the front five’s inability to keep anyone in dark blue in front of them ultimately cost Arizona the game.

In fact, the line’s last two sequences of the night summed things up nicely.

4th and 1 at STL 13: (Shotgun) K.Kolb sacked at SL 20 for -7 yards (C.Finnegan).

1st and 10 at STL 45: (Shotgun) K.Kolb sacked at ARZ 48 for -7 yards (R.Quinn). FUMBLES (R.Quinn), touched at 50, RECOVERED by SL-W.Hayes at ARZ 47. W.Hayes to ARZ 47 for no gain (A.Smith).

With a slim chance to make this a game, the line allows a sack on fourth and one. With virtually no chance to make it a game, the line allows a sack on the first play.

It doesn’t get much worse than that, folks.

Granted, the line did help Kevin Kolb prove his toughness Thursday night, and the last time the Cardinals got embarrassed on Thursday Night Football they ended up reaching the Super Bowl. But other than those two notes, few positives can be taken away from this one.

Because this game was, in a word, disastrous.

Now, it would be unfair not to mention the precarious position the line has been put in, as the preseason loss of both Levi Brown and Jeremy Bridges led to Arizona being forced to start two tackles who have no business being on the field. But still, it’s not unreasonable to think that, five games into the season, things would be getting better, not worse.

Amazingly, up to this point the group’s inability to block has not been a big issue. A preseason fear that the offensive line would wreck Arizona’s entire season appears to be unfounded, as even with this loss Arizona is still 4-1 and in good shape going forward.

Still, it’s hard not to be discouraged after what we just witnessed.

After the game, Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt told the Cardinals Radio Network he couldn’t say how much of the struggles should be attributed to the line.

“It’s always easy to say ‘you had this many sacks so it was up front’ or you know, but you have to look at some of the other factors that contributed,” he said. “If we make a play or two it takes the pressure off the line, we’re able to do some different things.

“And we didn’t get that done.”

Indeed, the Big Red Turnstyle does not deserve 100 percent of the blame for the loss. Kolb missed on some would-be touchdowns with poor reads and bad throws, the team’s put too many catchable balls on the turf, and the defense did force the team to start the game in a hole.

However, the guess here is the reaction Whiz has when watching the tape will be comparable to those had by anyone unfortunate enough to see the movie Gigli: horrified, upset and angry that this ever happened.

And while it’s tough to see how it will happen, things must get better — and fast.

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