TOW #15 - Bruce Arians' aggressive approach pays off; take note, Packers

Last night, Saturday, January 16^th, 2016, one of the most memorable and incredible football games of all time took place.  The Green Bay Packers traveled to Arizona to take on the Cardinals in the NFC Divisional playoff round with a berth in the NFC Championship on the line.  After a long first three quarters, two hail maries in the last minute, an coin flip that didn’t flip, and a 75 yard pass on the first pay of overtime, the Cardinals walked away victorious.  In his article commenting on the coaching styles of the two teams, Bill Barnwell uses anaphora and statistics to make a very compelling argument for aggressive coaching.

            Barnwell employs anaphora during his article in order to accentuate the amount of aggressive play calling and personnel moves that the Cardinals organization has made.  The Cards, he says, “are where they are, in part, because they have a pair of brash leaders (including general manager Steve Keim) who take risks. Who trade for Palmer when his value is lowest and draft Tyrann Mathieu. Who throw downfield and blitz more than anybody else in football. Who attack first and trust their ability to succeed. That seems noble, not naïve.”  This repeated use of “who (verb)” shows that the Cardinals have a pattern of making choices with a high risk and high reward.  The implied argument is that it works.  One need only look at the Cardinals record this season or how they beat the Packers last night.

            In addition to anaphora, Barnwell incorporates lots of statistics to prove his point.  He considers his audience, sports fan, and recognizes that many of them understand the value of statistics and would be more persuaded by statistics than a pathos-based approach.  He uses statistics of all kinds, including, “They blitz more frequently than any other team in football: 46.3 percent of opposing pass plays, since the start of the 2013 season. The average team blitzed on 31 percent of pass attempts over that same timeframe.”  These stats cement Barnwell’s argument in a logical, number-filled world.