The Arizona Cardinals have had mixed success over the past five seasons, reaching the Super Bowl in 2008 after making the playoffs for the first time since 1998.

While the Cardinals reached the playoffs again in 2009, they have a 13-19 record over the past two seasons under Ken Whisenhunt and general manager Rod Graves following the retirement of Kurt Warner.

RealGM has been using a statistic called the Trench Counter to rank NFL teams since the 2007 season.

The Trench Counter accounts for average yards per pass, yards per carry, penalty yards, first downs and turnovers to determine how well teams control the game in the most meaningful ways.

The Cardinals rank 25th in Trench Counter from the 2007 season through 2011.

Below are Arizona's season-by-season rankings, Trench Counter totals and their actual record in parentheses.

2007: 17th, -0.2 (8-8)
2008: 17th: +1.2 (9-7)
2009: 18th: 0.0 (10-6)
2010: 31st: -7.3 (5-11)
2011: 25th, -3.3 (8-8)