National Football League

Cardinals' offense spreads the ball around

Published Nov. 6, 2014 9:07 p.m. ET

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TEMPE -- A diversity of weapons has turned Arizona into a defensive coordinator's nightmare this season, but it also has worked to limit the touches of wide receiver Michael Floyd after his breakout 2013 season.

Andre Ellington. Larry Fitzgerald. John Brown. Floyd. John Carlson. With that group providing offensive options for quarterback Carson Palmer, the Cardinals (7-1) have the best record in the NFL at their halfway point.

"What do you do?" said Cardinals offensive coordinator Harold Goodwin, almost sympathetically.

"If you are going play man coverage, somebody is going to win that one-on-one (matchup) -- the receiver or the back out of the backfield."

Ellington and Fitzgerald have been asked to win -- and have won -- more of those battles so far. The emergence of Ellington as a dual purpose run-catch threat, coupled with the development of Brown, a third-round draft choice, has limited others, Floyd in particular. Ellington has 32 catches this season after having 39 all of last year.

After catching 65 passes for 1,041 yards and five touchdowns last season, Floyd has 23 catches for 389 yards and two touchdowns as the Cardinals enter an NFC West game against St. Louis on Saturday.

A deeper look into those numbers reveals that Floyd is not too far off his 2013 pace, when he had 34 catches for 433 yards and two touchdowns after eight games. He has 48 targets this season, seven fewer than at this point last year.

"That's what it is this year, so many guys," Goodwin said of Palmer's choices. "It's hard to get them all the ball. Michael has a great game. Larry has a great game. 'Smoke' (Brown) catches a game-winner. It's just hard. You can't pick one guy."

Floyd, in his third season, is averaging 16.9 yards per reception, seventh among NFL regulars. He has two 100-yard games, although his output has slowed recently, with 12 catches in the last five games.

If there is a concern about Floyd, it is his four dropped passes, as calculated by STATS LLC figures. At the same time, it is a group-wide concern. The Cardinals have 19 dropped passes this season, third-most in the league.

"Spurts," Goodwin said when asked what he has seen in Floyd this season.

"Sometimes he makes the big plays, or he has a drop. He just has to lock in and focus a little more. Other than that, he should be OK. Mike is a good player, and when a play is there for the most part, he has made them. Obviously he has dropped a few. There are a lot of drops here recently that we have to eliminate."

Only the Cardinals and Miami have three players with at least four dropped passes. Ellington (five) and tight end Carlson (four) are the others.

Fitzgerald who has no drops this season and had one in 2013, leads the Cardinals with 35 catches for 513 yards and two touchdowns.

"If we execute a play call on all cylinders, we would be rolling," Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald ticked off a few other areas in which the offense could tighten up.

"So, continue to convert on third downs and be more efficient in the red zone," Fitzgerald said.

"Field goals are good, but touchdowns are obviously what you are looking for. That was a perfect example last week, a couple of instances on third down, we scored touchdowns instead of field goals last week. That could have given the Cowboys momentum to fight back, and we did a good job closing out the game the way we should have."

The Cardinals put away a 28-17 victory over Dallas last Sunday with fourth-quarter touchdowns that stretched a 14-10 lead to 28-10 before the Cowboys tacked on a meaningless score.

NOTES: Starting right tackle Bobby Massey returned to Thursday but was limited, according to the official NFL injury report. ... Ellington was limited, as usual, and backup halfback Stepfan Taylor did not practice because of a calf injury, and his status for Sunday is uncertain.

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