Sunday, October 30, 2011

Cards vs. Baltimore 10/30/11

Baltimore 30 Cards 27

Was anyone really surprised that Baltimore came back from a 21 point deficit?  Fitz said he was shocked.  A couple of the guys in the locker room looked shocked.  But, sadly, the rest of the Cardinal nation looked at the halftime score as another opportunity to break some records, which of course they did.  It was the largest comeback in Baltimore history.  Go Cards.

I actually liked the game plan better than in games past.  They relied heavy on the run, which kept the offense on the field.  They mixed up the run plays enough to get some yards against a difficult front seven.  They ended up splitting the time with the Ravens as far as possession, which is a major plus for this team.  And they contained the run against a shifty back; which is another weakness they’ve had this year.  The game was close because they did the right things to keep it close.  However, that doesn’t win you games. 

My last few posts have ranted about this offense, so I want to make it clear that I thought they played a lot better than people are going to remember.  Yes, they let the Ravens back in the game, but they also scored 27 points on a team that only gives up 14. (Ranked #1)  They ran on a team that doesn’t let you run. (Ranked #3)  Yes, Kolb stunk.  But I’d argue that he looked better.  I know that’s a tough argument since he threw under 50% and had a 68.2 QB rating.  But there were definite signs of growth. 

If this team had one glaring weakness it’s gotta be third down conversions.  Today they were 2-11 in that department.  This team could not get a big 3rd down conversion when they needed it.  Baltimore got two more than they did, and I think that was the difference in the game.  This team just doesn’t have that one or two plays that they can go to to get a first down.  I’m amazed that Fitz doesn’t have one for him, or that the TEs aren’t in on one.  That’s all these losses are gonna come down to: one or two important conversions.  They couldn’t buy one in the 3rd quarter.

I hate to say this, because I scream at the T.V. every time Whiz says it, but the players just weren’t executing today.  The game plan made sense.  But Kolb couldn’t complete the passes and the entire secondary couldn’t cover Q.  I give Whiz a pass on this game.  (Although he did trade one of their best secondary players for Kolb, but I’m trying to be nice)

I want to point out a couple positive and negative things about Kevin.  First the negative.  The first play of the game was a passing play.  Kolb drops back and pressure forms to his left.  He makes a stupid decision to run back to his left and takes a sack.  I watched the play like six times and the pressure to his right got pushed back behind him.  There were zero defenders in a huge hole to his front right.  Yet he ran backwards.  Why is he running away from the open gap and into the pressure?  This is a really bad sign that has sprung up a lot this season.  I don’t think Kevin has any idea what to do with pressure.  I mean he just goes brain dead when he thinks, key word: thinks, that there is pressure.  He’s actually ran away from defenders who weren’t even there.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, someone needs to hang a dress in his locker and tell him to man up in the pocket.  If this were NFL Head Coach he grades out to be a 37 on his pocket presence.  I need to say 37, because saying an F just doesn’t scream how bad this really is.
He also, still, does not understand that you have to get rid of the ball quick… hang on… let that word rest a bit… let me repeat it… quick… okay, I’m done.  I can’t believe that he truly thinks that he has all that time with THIS offensive line against THAT defense.  He took six sacks today and looked shocked that they were in his face.  Kevin Kolb holds onto the ball way too freaking long.  I’m glad he’s showing his manliness in the fire, but holy crud get rid of the ball!  More proof that he doesn’t get this offense.  AT ALL!

Some positives?  Well, even while I deservedly rip him for his happy feet, I thought his feet were less happy than in weeks past.  He seemed to step up into the pocket more and deliver some mediocre throws.  I even saw him step forward away from the pressure and throw the ball away.  James and I were so excited to see him look like a real NFL QB we actually cheered.  Also, he made a big 3rd down conversion late in the game.  The game was tied and they were deep in their own territory.  Kolb stepped up and took off for a five yard game that gave them a huge 1st down.  He took a big hit to knock him out of bounds.  Those kind of plays will win you player’s respect, the fan’s love, and sometimes games. 

Beanie played great again.  He had a couple of huge hits.  Its becoming an every week thing that he annihilates a defender.  I still think they should have ran more, but that’s just me being greedy.  Smith should have had some more carries.

Three catches for Fitz, huh?  Well, that has to be mostly attributed to the poor QB play, but you have to believe that he’s questioning signing that big contract here.  Especially after watching Q go off for the 5-2 Ravens. 

David Carter is a steal.   He’s like a bolt of energy on that line.  He’s exactly what this line needs.  But they need more of him.  Dockett and Campbell both played well again.  Campbell should be considered for the Pro Bowl. 

The LB corps played a heck of a game today.  Both rookies showed up big with sacks.  And Washington was his usual stud self.  I saw them overrun the gaps on two occasions, but for the most part they seemed to stay with Rice.  I felt like they team got away from what made them successful in the first half: which was getting to the QB.  They seemed to stay with four man rushes and it got Flacco back into the game.  It’s a shame because they really were getting to him early. 

The corners lost this game for them.  Jefferson was manhandled by Q, and Peterson didn’t fair much better.  A.W. played well again, which I’m ecstatic to see.  He had a few jarring hits that got me out of my seat.  Rashad Johnson was all over the field making tackles.  When these corners pick up their game, this team has a chance to win.  It seems the Cards can stop the run now, but haven’t been able to stop the pass all year.  Can I mention DRC again?  No?  Okay.

Special teams played awesome.  There were two monster hits to go along with PP21’s 2nd punt return for the year.  This has been a strength all year.

If they can continue to run the ball effective, provide Kolb with plays he can execute, continue to stop the run, teach the corners how to cover, and continue playing good special teams than this team can win.  But two of those five haven’t showed enough improvement for that to happen.  The Cards are officially in the Luck sweepstakes.  If they lose to the Rams next week they’ll only have to contend with Indi and Miami.  And I think both of them will win one or two games this year.  Its still early, but who knows.


Thursday, October 27, 2011

Clearing the air on the whole 2nd WR thing.

This has to be one of the dumber arguments I've heard excusing this team from their incomepetence.  And yet, numerous times I've heard local guys say that the Cards blew it when they didn't land a good 2nd WR.  Really?  That's the problem?

First off, Early Doucet looked like a budding star under Kurt Warner.  I remember we started to call him Q Part II.  Let's ignore the frequent injuries for a sec.  So what happened?  Is he all the sudden not good anymore?  To say that he's bad now just further shows the disrespect for how great Kurt Warner was.  Doucet is a good enough WR.  He could be great, but in this offense no one is going to be.  Not even Fitz.  And if you don't believe me look at his numbers this year.  They're half of his potential.  Andre Roberts is just like every other 3rd WR out there.  He's kinda quick and can work the open field, but he needs help from his QB and other WR's. 

Now let's look at some other teams.  Are you really going to tell me that Mike Wallace has a great deal of help in Pitt?  Are Brown and Sanders really that much better?  Hines Ward is one of my favorite players of all time, but he certainly isn't getting Mike open.  Well, except for the wicked screens he sets.  No one is saying boo about those dudes because the QB play is so good. 

Can you name the number two WR in New England?  Deion Branch is hardly creating space for Wes Welker.  Welker is a product of Brady reading the D and exposing holes in their coverage.  Wes and Brady are completely on the same page.  And we can mention their TEs.  Do you really think if Gronkowski and Hernandez were hear in AZ that we'd be better?

Detroit's number two is Nate Burleson.  Do you really think he's the reason Calvin Johnson is so dominant?  Please. 

Is Malcolm Flloyd, (a guy the Cards took a look at), really making a difference for the Chargers?  What is Braylon Edwards doing in S.F.?  Yeah, that's right, nothing. 

The reason the Cards WRs aren't catching balls is simply because they are in an offense that doesn't play to their player's strengths.  And its not even the WRs that have the issues.  I've seen them open on numerous occasions and Kolb just either won't look at them or completely miss-throws it.  The truth of the matter is Kolb stinks in this offense.  He can't make the reads quick enough.  He hesitates for fear of making a mistake.  His confidence is crap.  Maybe one day he can get this, but right now they're breaking him down.  They should be building him up. 

In 2004, Big Ben threw for only 2600 yards and 17 TD's with a 66% completion percentage.  Meanwhile, they controlled the game on the ground running for 154 yards per game.  That accounts for 65% of the plays that season.  They took the pressure completely off of him for the whole season.  But what happened when the pressure came on?  He had all the confidence to go out and succeed.  That's how you build a QB, especially a young one.  Tom Brady took over an offense that realied heavy on the run too.  His numbers in 2001 were almost identical to Big Ben's: 2800 yards and 18TDs with a 64% completion percentage.  They ran about 50% of the time.   Its not rocket science.  You move the ball on the ground and let him get comfortable in the offense.  Then when he starts to show his talent you let the leash out. 

So this leads us back to the real problem:  who is calling all the pass plays that Kolb can't excecute?  And don't say Mike Miller.  He's just running the same offense Whiz tortured us with last year.  This falls completely in Whiz's lap.  He refuses to accept that his success with this offense was ONLY because of one Kurt Warner.  He's said so himself inderectly many times.  He is destroying this team and this good young QB.  And, sadly, he's flushing his career down the toilet.

Go Cards!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Cards vs. Pittsburgh 10/23/11

Pittsburgh 32 Arizona 20

Beanie Wells got hurt again.  Kevin Kolb was disappointing again.  The backfield got burnt again.  Ken Whisenhunt looked bewildered again.  The Cards lost again.  But hey, it wasn't all bad.

The defense was dominant against the run again.  Once again we see them succeed against a RB corps that are north/south runners.  They tend to get killed against one cut backs, so hopefully they won't see too many of those any more.

I saw Kolb step up into the pocket more today.  He might have been inspired by Big Ben who made him look like a Sunday school girl with how tough he is.  That dude is a genious at creating something from nothing.  But more important, he steps up into the pocket and delivers a pass with 3 guys in his face.  Big Ben is a stud.  Kolb has a ways to go. 

It was great to see the Hyphen back.  He just adds so much to this team.  I envision him being a mini Darren Sproles for this offense. 

Its that time.  The season is over.  I would scrap all the extra crap that has hurt this team and just focus on the fundamentals.  I'd sit Porter and Hagans and let the kids learn on the job.  There is no way this team will catch S.F.  Especially after they lose to the Ravens next week.  I'd simplify the O and D so that the players could see a good margin of success and build on it through the year.  They need to grab a young RB from the wire to back up Alfonso Smith.  You never know, they might find another Blount or Foster.  Its asking a lot of a stubborn man, but they have to take the reigns from Whiz and scrap this pathetic offense.  They have no idea how to be successful doing it.  They seem to run well (DUH!), so hopefully they aim for more balance. 

I'm scared this team is going to fulfill a prophesy I joked about at the beginning of the season.  You know, lose just enough games to get the 1st pick only to beat Seattle in the season finale to lose it.  They've done it twice already.  I'm not saying this team should try to lose, but they should give all the future players the present.  A.W., Porter, and Haggans should be benched.  That would be the wise thing to do.  If they play this way to the end of the year they'll beat the Rams twice and probably Cleveland or Seattle.  That means they'd go 4-12 on the season.  That should land them at the 4th draft pick or so.  There's no point in playing the vets to win 3 more games.  With the kids they might win 1 or 2 and make a strong push for the 1st pick.  That would be a mighty nice gift to give Cowher when he signs a deal here to replace the fired Whisenhunt. (A man can dream right?)

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Another meeting?

The Cards had another one of those accountability meetings.  I'm guessing that the next thing we're going to hear is a vote of confidence from the Bidwills for Whisenhunt.  Yeah, that's right, its the beginning of the end. 
But at least Coach Whiz reported that they had a good practice Monday.  Because he reported that every day last year and look how good they were. 

Dockett actually said that they were going to work 10x harder than they were before.  So let me get this straight, since you can only work at a 100% effort level, and you think you can work 10x harder, then you were only working at 10% effort level before?  That's so great to hear.  It actually looks like they were only working at about 10% last week against the Vikings, so I guess that's an accurate assessment.

It doesn't surprise me that the team doesn't put a ton of effort out there.  Ken is very much the coach that treats players like free men and not soldiers.  A soldier does what he is told and when he doesn't do it to the efficiency of his superior he gets verbally reamed and harshly disciplined.  The superior believes its his responsibility to get the soldier to the peek of efficiency so he's more likely to survive.  A free man, on the other hand, will only work to his own breaking point.  That is he will only put the effort level in that he feels is fine.  Rarely does a man push himself past what he thinks he can do on his own (Fitz is rare).  This is Ken's greatest strength and greatest weakness.  Men love to play for him because he places his trust them, but men also tend to lax when they feel they can get away with it. 

The comments from the media this week were interesting.  Many people heralded Coach Whiz for how he doesn't take things to the media.  In other words, he doesn't blast players publicly for failure.  I totally respect that, but it doesn't always yield results.  Remember Terry Glenn?  No single coach got more out of that guy than Bill Parcells.  And yet, while Terry and Bill were in New England together a reporter asked how Terry was recovering from his injuries.  Bill calmly looked at the reporter and said, "She's doing fine."  Most people think he went too far.  Maybe.  But when Bill went to Dallas, Terry immediately followed him.  I find it interesting that he was publicly humiliated by this man, and yet he wouldn't play under anyone else if given the choice.  The reason?  I think Terry knew Bill was right.  He was being a woman.

I'm not saying Coach Whiz should break character and behave like Bill Parcells.  He does need to stay true to who he is.  However, in all of professional sports men need to be held accountable.  So however he needs to do it (bench, berate, sick Dockett on him, whatever) he needs to get their attention.  Weekly. 

I heard Fitz say this week that we shouldn't be on Whiz over this, after all he he's not throwing balls, blocking, or whatever.  I hate when people say that.  If that's true then what the heck is the point of having a coach?  A coach's responsibility is to get the best out of his players.   He needs to push that player to the top.  And that usually means the player despises him for it.  No one likes discipline at the time, but afterwards it yields tremendous amounts of success.  (yes, I stole that line from the Bible)  I don't give a crap if he isn't blocking or tackling.  I want him grabbing a player by the face mask and spraying spittle in his face while chewing him out for missing a block.  I want a coach who's disappointed in a A.  I want a coach who wants an A+.  From every player.  I want a coach who cuts the scrub at halftime to send the message to his players that he won't tolerate failure.  Yeah, I know that very behavior drove Jimmie Johnson and Bill Cowher out of the game.  But they are going to go down as two of the best coaches to ever coach in the NFL.  That's what it takes to win. 

Monday, October 10, 2011

Whisenhunt accepts blame for 1-4 start

Look, I know I recently said that I thought Coach Whiz isn't a good head football coach.  But you have to believe I want him to be.  He has such a cool demeanor, and he obviously has the respect of the players.  He has a lot of things to like. Except one glaring deficiency: he's blindly stubborn.  And that's what's killing this team right now.


I have to laugh when I hear countless media members say that Kolb just hasn't picked up the system fast enough.  Really?  You think?  The sad part is that they really think its Kolb that has the problem.  I haven't heard one media person question Whiz's offensive playbook.  Has it ever worked?  I mean apart from Warner?  This offensive playbook is 6-15 without Warner.  He has thrown Leinert, Anderson, Hall, Skelton, Bartell, and Kolb into the fire since then, only to see all of them fail miserably.  But not once has the media come out and said that this playbook is too complicated for any Card QB to master.  Wait, forget master, how bout just being average at it?


According to the Republic, today he said,
"But I know what I believe in, what we believe in, works. And I know you stick to it. I remember probably four years ago, a lot of people banging on us, saying we weren't a very good team, and we went to the Super Bowl. I believe in sticking with what we know works . . . We're going to continue to work the way that we know can be successful for us and at some point, it will start working."

Does anyone else see what I'm talking about?  He says that it worked 4 years ago (it was actually three) so it should work now.  In other words, Warner wasn't all that important to the success of that team and any other QB can just step in and should be successful.  That's stupid.  That's like saying Pete Myers should be able to fill Michael Jordan's shoes easy enough.  This is laughable stubborness.  Its not even the kind of stubborness that you admire.  Its the type that gets you fired and then ten years down the road you wonder why you didn't just change.

Let me comment on three years ago, by the way.  If I remember right, the Cards were one of the worst teams I've ever seen make the playoffs.  There division was bad and they were barely an average team.  The two things they had going for them was the Kurt/Fitz/Q/Breaston offense and that amazing run defense that showed up strongest at the end of the year.  They had little to no run game and were poor against the pass.  However DRC had just shown up and was starting to turn heads.  They go into the playoffs as a running joke and then do the unthinkable: they win.  I don't know what kind of magic Kurt had going, but he was unbelievable in those 4 games.  Larry was unguardable.  And they stuffed 3 of the top run teams in the NFL. 

But here's the problem: Whiz thought it was his system that won it.  Really?  First of all, it was Tod Haley's system.  And secondly, it only works with Kurt.  Whiz got high off of that offense and never came down to reality.  My buddy James had a great analogy for this.  Have you ever played a pick up basketball game with a guy that really sucks?  Then on his first 3 point attempt he gets lucky and makes it and stares everybody down like he's a good player.  Only to see him gain some misguided confidence and then miss his next 13 shots... badly.  James and I would always look at each other with pained expressions when that guy would hit his first shot, because we knew the rest of the game he was under the impression that he should keep going with what worked.  That's Whiz right now.  He got lucky.  ONCE.  He had a good one year run (literally, from the playoffs of 08 to the playoffs of 09.  There's no way you can argue they had a good regular season in 08.  In week 15 of 08 they got beat 35 to 14 by the Vikings, then in week 16 they got beat 47 to 7 by the Patriots)  After an amazing Superbowl run, he gained some misguided confidence in his system.  He arrogantly thought he could hand it over to Matt Leneirt only to shamefully mishandle him.  He then thought he could get D.A. to do it.  Only to become the laughing stock of the NFL.  This system isn't built for anyone but Warner, but Whiz is too stubborn/arrogant to modify to a new QB. 
Again, I truly hope that Whiz humbles himself enough to hire a real O.C. that can come in and mold an offense around this team (Jim Fassell?)  But I don't see him doing it.  Sadly, he's going to get fired.  And the worst part about it is the Bidwell's will go right back to the way they use to be and hire some nitwit that will get fired at the end of his contract.  And then we'll all be truly back to the same old Cards.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Cards vs. Minnesota 10/9/11

Minnesota 34  Arizona 10

The kind of progress that Kevin Kolb is making this year makes you wonder if Derek Anderson was really all that bad last year.  I mean there is no question that D.A. got worse and worse as the season progressed, but there is also no question that Kolb is getting worse.  I just wonder if D.A.s outcome might have been different under a coach who knew how to get a lot out of a QB.  And as it comes down to how to handle and new QB, Ken Whisenhunt has shown zero competency in that department. 

I've been teaching math for about 7 years to the non-accelerated students.  That is to say, your above average to lowest students. When working with students who don't easily grasp new concepts you have to simplify the content early.  The reason for this is that when a struggling student handles concepts that they hadn't previously been able to grasp, the class starts to slow down for them.  As they see success build over time they start to gain confidence.  Some students even can go from being mainstream to honors if they are truly gifted in the area.  However, if they feel like the class is going too fast and they don't understand the material, their minds jump ship.  You have to hit the breaks quick and restart from day 1 if you want to recapture them, but you'll be fighting a new issue.  They already feel like they suck, but now they start to lose hope for success.  Once that sets in, you've lost them. 

That's where Kolb is right now. (And similarly, D.A. was last year at this point)  Ken Whisenhunt has shoved so much material down his throat that he can't function normally.  The game starts to speed up.  He starts to question himself.  He loses confidence.  And one bad throw makes him wonder if he's really cut out for this.  Coach lost him.  Now, you can of course get him back, but to do it you'll have to go back to Day 1 and start witht the basic stuff.  Aka fundamentals.  Like handing the ball off.  A proper 3 step drop or a 5 step drop followed by STEPPING UP INTO THE POCKET!  Good selling of play action.  Progressing through reads.  And while working on that, relying heavily on a run offense that takes tons of pressure off him.  This should allow for the game to slow down and allow his confidence to increase.  Now it is possible that he may just have average gifts at the QB position so you might expect him to only become and average QB.  But at least he'll be reaching his potential.  There's not a professional out there worth a lick that says that Kolb is playing up to his potential right now.  I would even rate him as one of the three worst QB in the league right now.  Right there with McNabb, Gabbert, or even Cassell.  The question then remains; who has failed to put Kolb into a position of success?  Well, the head coach always deserves the blame for that. 

Hope and confidence are two very different things.  Hope is something that can exist in spite of the circumstances.  So I have 'hope' that Coach Whiz can right this ship and turn this season around.  Confidence, on the other hand, is something based off of prior experience.  So my 'confidence' is extremely low that Coach Whiz will turn this around.  He doesn't show any signs of changing his precious offense that has done nothing in a Kurt Warnerless state.  He pushes it down every new QB's throat and then hangs them out to dry.  May the roast for Kevin Kolb soon begin. 

I for one feel that Kolb should be an above average QB.  When given the right guidance he could be a potential star.  But that will never happen at this rate, and he might fall into the trap of what happened to other potential star QB's that had coaches destroy them.  To name a few: David Carr, Alex Smith, and saddest of all for me, Jake Plummer.

To talk about the rest of this team right now is a waste of time.  Ken Whisenhunt put his job on the line when he overpaid for Kolb.  Right now it looks like its going to cost him that very thing.

Two other thoughts:

Favorite quote of the day: (slightly paraphrased cuz I'm going on memory)
"I guarantee Kevin Kolb's package is 5 times bigger than Cam Newton's." 
-Tim Ryan

Favorite hit of the day:  Beanie bounced a run outside (shocker) and hit a Viking player so hard that his helmet exploded off of his head.  They replayed it like 3 times and each time everyone lost there breath at how ferocious the impact was.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Running

I just read this and thought it was interesting.  The Cards are currently 15th in rushing yards.  They are also 15th in rushing defense.  Better than half after just one good week.  It makes me wonder where they would have been if they had played like this from day one in training camp.  (By 'playing like this', I mean doing well in the running department for O and D.  I'm not referring to how they hand games away in the 4th quarter.)

I should also clarify that even though this lost this last game, I'm not terribly disappointed.  I was disappointed after the Washington and Seattle losses.  Heck I was disgusted after the win against Carolina.  This is the first week I'm not embarassed to be a Cards fan in a long long time.  Yes the loss hurt, but we ran the football.  And I mean we ran it like a real football team.  Its probably the best running performance by a Cards RB and O-line since Edgerrin James ran for 128 in Sept. 2007 against the Seahawks.  Timmy's 140+ against the pathetic Broncos last year wasn't even close to this one.  I truly hope that Whiz has woken up from his slumber since being the OC in Pittsburgh and will finally run the football.  (However, Minnesota is 5th against the rush, so I'm going to temper my expectations.  Wait, I'm a Cardinal fan.  That's like saying I need to remember to breathe.)

By the way, even though I thought they might lose to both Seattle and N.Y., I think they will throttle Minnesota.  I've got that feeling you get when you see the big quiet kid getting ready to take out a few years of frustration on the next person that gets in his way.  Let's hope he stays frustrated till February.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Cards vs. N.Y Giants 10/2/11

Giants 31  Cardinals 27

I should start off by saying I actually like Kevin Kolb.  I think he's going to be good.  He has great leadership tendencies and has a rocket launcher type arm.  So I just want to be clear, I like him.  Okay?  Okay.  Now that we have that clear; he sucks.  Bad.  Right now, he is absolutely losing the games for the Cards.  I am stunned that he hasn't been pulled to the sidelines and ripped an new exit hole for how bad he's playing.  In the preseason I was very concerned at how long he tended to hold on to the ball.  He seemed to be waiting for the perfect play to open up.  I initially wanted him to get rid of the ball quickly because I thought this line was going to get him killed.  Well, I was wrong.  This line is keeping him alive in spite of him.  Now I want him to throw the ball because receivers are open.

There are two things glaringly wrong with him right now.  1) His pocket presense and 2) his reads.  Too many times in the last few games he has refused to step into the pocket and would instead flush himself out to throw the ball away.  He gets intentional groundings weekly now.  It was so bad today that even Goose and Moose were ripping him nationally for abandoning his line.  He's got happy feet.  He's playing like a wuss.  And its killing this team.  Kevin: Step up into the pocket and make a completion.

His second problem is that he isn't firing the ball in there.  I really have no idea why.  It could be because he's nervous of a pick, but I refuse to believe its his receivers anymore.  They are wide open sometimes and he doesn't even see them.  He's staring down his receivers and DB's are starting to pick up on it.  Wait, no, they totally are locked into him from week 2 on.  Kolb is terrible right now.  He is the partial reason this team lost last week and he is the main reason they lost this week.  Yes, he has to learn the offense, but Tarvaris Jackson looks better than him right now.  Cam Newton looks better than him right now.  Freaking Andy Daulton looks better than him right now.  None of those guys were with their teams before this year either.  Let's face it.  Right now Kevin Kolb is one of the worst starting QB's out there. 

That being said I wouldn't trade him for any of those guys.  Whisenhunt just needs to get his attention.  Whether that be a butt kicking, or a benching I don't know.  But this can't continue.  However this game had a different component for a Cardinals loss.

I am very much the type of person that would rather ridicule my own team than give credit to the other team.  I also don't like to spend much time on bad officiating because it usually balances out for both teams.  That being said the refs handed the game to the Giants in the 4th quarter.  Victor Cruz makes a reception with about 2 and half minutes on the clock.  They have no time outs and they were down 3 points.  During the run he stumbles to the ground.  No Cardinal player touches him.  Thinking that he is down he drops the ball and walks away.  The Cards defenders realize the ball is live and pounce on it.  No one touched him.  The officials say he was down even though no one touched him.  Coach Whiz throws the challenge flag.  The officials say that because Cruz had 'given himself up' the play couldn't be reviewed.  The league official that commentates on live games came on with Moose and Goose and said the officials completely blew the call.  That should have been Cardinal ball.  Game over.  He said it was a no brainer.  Later this week the NFL offices will officially release a statement: "Oops, sorry about that."  Sigh.  Only the Cards.

Apart from all the above, the Cards played a hell of a game today.  Beanie and the offensive line were monsters today.  Beanie gained 138 yards on 32 carries with 3 TDs.  Absolutely amazing football.  Levi Brown and D. Colledge ran over them for most of the game.  Even Fitz was blocking the snot out of guys.  They owned the Giants defensive line.  They still stink on big conversion downs.  But I mostly attribute that to shoddy play calling and poor QB play. 

The defense kicked the crap out of the Giants rushing offense.  Campbell, Carter, Williams, and Dockett just owned them.  They held the Giants to 54 yards rushing on 24 plays.  I noticed the LB's don't seem to have a problem playing run defense against an offense that doesn't rely on a one cut back.  Teams should note that and take advantage of the Cards undiscipline.  But the Giants didn't.  The Cards rush defense was absolutely stellar today.  Pass defensewise... not so much.  They only got one sack, and had very little pressure  The biggest problem was when the Cards needed a big defensive play in the 4th and they got zero pressure on Eli.  He responded by ripping them to shreds.  He threw for 321 yards, but I didn't see the DB's get beat much at all.  It just seemed the Giants WRs made great plays.  PP21 and A.J. played much tighter D than the last 3 weeks.  As the season progresses, I see them both becoming lock down corners.  Even A.W. played great today. 

Whiz has a bigger problem on his hands.  He's about to lose his job.  This team is 1-3 and should be 3-1.  He sold the Cardinals brass that Kolb would solve the problems from last year.  Instead, this year looks eerily similar to last year.  Bad QB play.  Plus Kolb is getting worse.  That stinks of bad coaching.  Do I think he will get fired this year?  No.  He gets to ride the wave of 2 playoff appearances and a Superbowl appearance.  But how long did Bob Brenly get to ride a World Series victory before he was let go?   It won't be long till the national media picks up on that and he's in the hot seat.  Then its all over.  Only Tom Coughlin and Norv Turner seemed to escape that seat in recent years.  And they were going to the playoffs.  My only light of hope in all this is the Cards actually ran the ball well today.  If that becomes a trend, then this team will turn it around.  If they go back to throwing 60% of the time then they will lose.  Its just, they won't lose enough to get Luck.