Factoid

December 13, 2021

Run-heavy Arizona

Kingsbury's Cardinals pile up rushing touchdowns

The Rams aren’t a cupcake matchup, but I sure like James Conner a lot. He’s been playing well, and I like the way that offense operates in the red zone – year after year.

When Kliff Kingsbury was hired, I remember looking at the number of rushing touchdowns his teams scored at the college level and being surprised. He has a spread-offense background, but he likes to use the threat of the pass to set up effective runs in short-yardage and goal-line situations. With how that offense functions, they can force defenses into putting more defensive backs on the field, and there’s also the dynamic of defenses always being worried about Kyler Murray skipping outside for an easy walk-in touchdown, making it harder for them to plug things up between the tackles.

Conner has been the benefit of this recently, with 14 touchdowns this year. He’s benefited from Chase Edmonds being out with a high-ankle sprain, but even before that Edmonds injury, Conner was the back of choice in goal line situations, with more size to bang inside.

Kingsbury’s offenses scored 18 and 22 rushing touchdowns in his first two seasons, and they’re on pace for even more this year. Since he was hired, the Cardinals are one of only seven teams that has averaged more than a rushing touchdown per game three years in a row.

With 2021 not yet being completed, I’m going with per-game numbers in the chart below. Stats for the current season are built off team numbers through Week 13.

OFFENSES AVERAGING THE MOST RUSHING TOUCHDOWNS (last 3 years)
Year	Team	G	TD	Avg
2020	New Orleans	16	30	1.88
2020	Tennessee	16	26	1.63
2021	Arizona	12	19	1.58
2021	Indianapolis	13	20	1.54
2020	Baltimore	16	24	1.50
2021	Philadelphia	13	19	1.46
2019	San Francisco	16	23	1.44
2021	Tennessee	12	17	1.42
2021	Cleveland	12	17	1.42
2020	Arizona	16	22	1.38
2021	San Francisco	12	16	1.33
2019	Tennessee	16	21	1.31
2020	Cleveland	16	21	1.31
2019	Baltimore	16	21	1.31
2020	New England	16	20	1.25
2020	Minnesota	16	20	1.25
2020	Las Vegas	16	20	1.25
2019	LA Rams	16	20	1.25
2020	Indianapolis	16	20	1.25
2021	Cincinnati	12	15	1.25
2019	Carolina	16	20	1.25
2020	San Francisco	16	19	1.19
2019	Minnesota	16	19	1.19
2020	LA Rams	16	19	1.19
2020	Carolina	16	19	1.19
2021	New England	13	15	1.15
2020	Washington	16	18	1.13
2019	Green Bay	16	18	1.13
2019	Dallas	16	18	1.13
2019	Arizona	16	18	1.13
2021	Carolina	12	13	1.08
2021	Baltimore	12	13	1.08
2019	New England	16	17	1.06
2019	Indianapolis	16	17	1.06
2019	Houston	16	17	1.06
2020	Detroit	16	17	1.06

—Ian Allan

James Conner Kliff Kingsbury

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