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Kurt Warner lacks arm strength. The Arizona Cardinals beat opponents with a deep passing attack. How does Ken Whisenhunt balance these two conflicting facts? By working from the same principles Bill Walsh used with Joe Montana.
Envision the yellow circle as Warner's functional range. We see it's most vertical in the center. Whisenhunt uses posts (red) and crossing patterns (black) to attack vertically while keeping the ball within Warner's range. Skinny posts (blue) are run by slot receivers and tight ends. Whisenhunt also attacks horizontally to attack deep. He uses post-out combinations (red and white) to push the safeties deep and release his receivers into the middle-deep flat (white). Whiz also uses long patterns that travel vertically and horizontally, but end within Warner's range (black).
Seattle must control the deep-middle and middle and short flats. Jordan Babineaux, Deon Grant and Lofa Tatupu must execute.