A Full Deck of Cards

I'm bored. Comments on Scout Inc.'s new top 32

2012-02-11T23:23:00.000-08:00

Obviously they read my blog because Ingram just shot up to #7 rating at a 95 (Hello out there. Hello? Nevermind) That doesn’t mean he won’t be there at #13, but it does mean they can’t trade down and hope he’s still there in the low 20's. I love Ingram, so I was surprised to see him ranked below Upshaw for that long. Cest la vie.

Yes, Courtney Upshaw will be a solid player. But I’m wondering how good he is when he’s not playing with two other 1^st round picks. And I haven’t seen enough to keep him out of the mid 20’s of the 1^stround. #8 seems too high.

I haven’t said anything on DT Brockers because the Cards won’t take a DT this year (I should say "better not" because D. Williams and D. Carter are on the roster). But I must say this guy looks like a potential monster clogger. The Panthers are going to be happy they got this guy come January next year.

My “what the hell are you talking about” question is why is Blackmon at #12? Can you imagine if the Cards could sneak Blackmon at #13? Holy crap. Peyton Manning might play for free in Arizona next year if that happens.

DeCastro is #14. Just saying.

Janoris Jenkins leapfrogged Dre Kirkpatrick. Small school vs. Alabama (Pro team in college). Kirkpatrick doesn’t thrill me with his play as much as his potential play. Maybe people are wondering if he’ll produce.

Ryan Tannehill at #16? Wow! I guess I need to look at the tape again, because that guy look likes a project to me. (But hey, I thought that about Ponder and Locker last year… wait… those guys are projects)

Jonathin Martin at #18! Jonathin Martin at #18! Jonathin Martin at #18! Oh please, please stay around the high teens for 2 more months. And no one tell KC that they need an OT. Okay?

Kendall Wright is #20. Dangit. Stop ranking all the players I like for the Cards so high.

Quick, name the top ASU prospect in this year’s draft. If you said Burfict you obviously never watched him play. How bout Osweiller coming in at #21 and Burfict at #23? Osweiller is more interesting to me than Tannehill. He will surprise people with how athletic he is. Burfict will surprise people at how selfish he plays. Good luck Ray Lewis/T. Suggs on mentoring this guy.

Mike Adams is still rating at an 89 and lands at #27 overall. I like his base. He mauls people on the run. I think he’s a twin of Levi Brown. He’ll be great in a sensible run offense, but he’ll get burned by the speedy DEs in a heavy pass offense.

Last year the Cards had a shot at two guys with an 88 rating in the 2^nd round and landed one of ‘em in R. Williams. This year the last 88 lands at #30. What are the odds that one of those 88’s is still there in the 3^rd round this year? Yeah, the Kolb trade was a dumb-ass trade, but I won’t say I told you so. (I love saying I told you so, by saying I won’t say I told you so).

2 guys to pass on at 13

2012-01-31T21:25:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure why they are ranked so high. I mean what do people really see in Riley Reiff and Ryan Tannehill that has them currently in the top 10?

Reiff is a decent enough run blocker. He's big and agile and should fit into an offense that relies on the run. But he doesn't look good protecting the passer. I'm sorry. He just looks like he hates to pass block. I would hate to see him slip to #13 and see the Cardinals pick him. I think I'd rather have Levi Brown than this kid. Let's just hope he slips to KC and they take him as we scream with delight and grab Jonathan Martin. There is no doubt Martin fits this offense better than Reiff. Actually, I like Martin over Reiff in any offense.

Tannehill is a great athlete. He was a star WR before he switched to QB. His feet are super quick and he has decent pocket presence. But no way is he ready for the 1st round discussion. He's a project. Yes, he is fast. But really skinny. Emphasize skinny. He looks like a WR playing QB-skinny. I don't see enough out of him to project him that high. I might take a chance on him in the late 2nd. But I'm looking at Foles before I look at Tannehill. (And I'm not a big Foles fan. He's plays too nervous.)

Melvin Ingram at 13?

2012-01-28T23:13:00.000-08:00

The question is, do you believe in Acho and Schofield? Because if you do, I don't see the reason to draft Ingram with the 13th pick. He's definitely worthy of the pick, but he's only taken here if you think you can't get something better at a position you have a hole in. (say OT... both sides). I actually believe that those two are solid players, but I'm not sold that they will be ProBowl players.

As for Ingram, he'd be a perfect fit here. He's big, 6-2, 270. He's got good feet. I mean real good feet. He has an upper echelon athleticism that few have. He can engage a double team and still have his eyes on a player slipping out of the backfield to make a play. He can take three guys out of a play with just his instinct. He's got a good nose for the ball. And more importantly he can defend the pass well. With the Cards he can line up anywhere on the line and rush the passer or drop back into coverage. I see him as an elite LB in the future. However, I do see a potential problem with his draft status because of his apparent lack of speed in the 40. I don't think that'll show up on the field, but scouts might knock him back a peg if he doesn't show well at the combine. I'm not worried about it. I like him less than V. Miller last year, but I like him a heck of a lot more than Upshaw this year. He's way more versatile

O.K. so do I grab him if I had the 13 pick? Here's where I'm at now. Luck is a clearly #1. But after that its a little fuzzy to me. I think Kalil and Reiff fit more to a run offense which doesn't match the Cards (ala Levi Brown). Richardson is a stud, but are they gonna draft 3 RBs in a row? I don't touch Griffin with a 12 foot pole. I'm also not even gonna look at a D lineman. The Cards shouldn't either. So I think need-wise it goes:

1. Andrew Luck
2. Justin Blackmon
3. Morris Claiborne
4. Jonathin Martin
5. David DeCastro
6. Melvin Ingram
7. Kendall Wright

You don't have a chance at #1-3, but the latter four might be there. (And yes, they need a future HOF guard from Stanford. Leave me alone. ) I like Ingram here if they don't trade down for Wright. He's a good fit. (I should also point out that I need to see more film on Dre Kirkpatrick before I lump him in.) All seven of these guys make this team better and would start some time this season.

However the Cardinal needs by position look like:

1. Left OT
2. Right OT
3. 2nd WR
4. Left OLB
5. HOF QB (Okay, so maybe this should go #1)
6. Stanford G
7. 2nd CB

That stabilizes J. Martin at the top of the list that might be there at 13. And if they don't get those OT positions taken care of, it won't matter who's the #2 WR, because they won't be seeing the ball get out of the QBs hands. K.C. is taking a hard look at Martin, but I'm hoping they pass on account that they are stupid. I can hope can't I?

All this leaves me to believe that only DeCastro, Ingram, and Wright will be there at 13. And since you and I both know the Cards won't take a Guard at 13, DeCastro's out. Wright is a big stretch here as I've gone into detail before about. So that leaves us with Ingram. Right now CBS has him slated at the 20th spot and ESPN at the 17th. If we pretend this stays true to the draft, I'm totally fine with entertaining offers from teams in the low 20s. I feel like Ingram and Wright might be around and they could use a 2nd round pick. If those two are gone they can think about drafting the other two OTs (Zebrie Sanders or Mike Adams) or trading down into the early 30s where they are projected at going.

So here's what we've got: 1) they sit on the pick until they are on the clock 2) they entertain offers 3a) if one comes up they grab Ingram or Wright later or maybe one of the two OTs or 3b) if no good offers come, they draft Ingram. And with that pick, I think they will have upgraded the most important position in this 3-4 D.

What the Haley?

2012-01-28T19:02:00.000-08:00

Why isn't Todd Haley the Cards OC right now? Good question. First of all, its clear that Whiz doesn't want him as the OC, but rather wants him to take a position 2 rungs down from what he was this year: head coach to QB coach. Essentially he'd be going from coaching 52 players to coaching 3 players. I mean it makes perfect sense when you think about it. All Todd has done is revamp a pathetic Cards offense to go to the Superbowl, and then take a really bad KC team and make them into a monster on the run game (and a brief playoff appearance). And we all know how awesome Whiz has done with his offense in the last 2 years, finishing 31st and 19th respectively. I mean why would Whiz want to hire someone that might think for himself and take a chance on not being able to force him to do as he wants. Why would he risk losing that power? Its painfully clear that Whiz has his hand up Mike Miller' @#$ and is performing one heck of a ventriliquist act. It would be silly to get a guy in here who knows what he's doing and take more pressure off of Whiz. I don't have a clue why everyone is so upset that Todd hasn't been hired yet.

Dealing with the Colts.

2012-01-17T19:26:00.000-08:00

I've read a couple of articles out of Indi and hear the makings of a polarizing topic: trade Peyton or trade Luck. It sounds like they'll have a hard time keeping both happy and it would probably benefit them to trade one. So the argument comes down to what you want: a) be faithful to the face of the franchise and ride Peyton off into the sunset? or b) look to the future with Luck and become annihilated by the discontent of thousands of loyal fans?

So what do you do? Frankly, I don't give a rip. It's Indi. They're not my team. I just want to know if the Cards can stick their noses in and land one of the two options.

Would I trade for Peyton? Hell yeah. Would I sign him for a lot of money? Hell yeah. If he's healthy (a strong presumption in this argument). Would I give Kolb and say a 3rd round pick for him? Hell yeah.

What intrigues me more is of course the Luck argument. I've heard that you would at least need to offer two firsts and two seconds. People get all bent out of shape over that saying its too much. Publicly, I would too. So I could drive down the price. Privately, I would do it in a heart beat. And phooey to all the talk about extra picks in the late rounds. Those I'd throw in if needed. And I'd go a step further. I'd give them my next 3 first picks for Luck. Hell yeah I would. I love the draft more than the next guy, but this kind of QB only comes around once every 10 years. So I would gladly sacrifice not being able to watch the next few drafts KNOWING that I have Luck at QB. Sorry, but I think this argument is a no brainer. My only discussion with Indi would be how much do you want?

You mean to tell me that you wouldn't give Dan Williams, Beanie Wells, and DRC for Andrew Luck? That's three first picks in a row. Shoot, I'd give Williams and Beanie and the next 2 first rounders for Luck. That's four firsts. And I'd throw in Kolb for good measure.

Add one Freak to the mix.

2012-01-13T19:14:00.000-08:00

He's a bit of a tweener. I mean, he's part solid, part freak. I was shocked when I watched him, but I'm a believer in Kendall Wright out of Baylor. That tight rope act for 25 yards against K State was impressive. But what caught my eye was his fire. When he doesn't catch the ball for whatever reason, he ignites up. Like every catch is a potential TD that he lost out on. I like that fire. Of course, it's always a fine line. He could be a fiery Steve Smith and make his team better by getting in their face, or he could be a moron like T.O. and tear his team down. My gut says he's in the mold of Smith. He's little. He's fiery. He catches stuff and makes it look cool. He would be the ABSOLUTE PERFECT compliment to Fitz. He would demand the ball, but Fitz's greatness would hold him in check. It would be a similar match up that Randy Moss had with Chris Carter.

Right now, he's projected to go 15 to 30 in the first. He's only 5-10 (Steve Smith is 5-9) so teams won't want to take an early chance on him, so he might drop into the 20's. I'd also bet that teams will be more enamored with Floyd, Sanu, and Jefferey's size so that would solidify his descent into the late 20's. Plus, I think many teams are dumb enough to think RGIII was the reason he was good. Also, consider that this is a good free agent year for WRs and you have a steal in the making in the 2nd round. And if he gets drafted that late, this guy will have a chip the size of the Sears Tower on his shoulder and will be looking to make everyone eat crow that passed on him. It's official. I'm giddy.

Addendum: Freaks

2012-01-07T22:22:00.000-08:00

Luke Kuechly (top 20) Not a freak. Sorry. He's too small, too slow. If you want a guy that is a solid tackler and will 'Rudy' his way through a game than this is your guy. They say he will put on some more weight which could help. Has a great nose for the ball, both on the run and through the air. I wonder how he would project as a strong safety. He's not half as good as Darryl Washington, and a 5 shades below Paris Lenon. Plus he projects into a 4-3 better. I'd pass on him at 13th.

Levi Brown and Calais Campbell

2012-01-07T14:44:00.000-08:00

I have been one of Levi's strongest critics over the years. It started when they drafted him instead of Adrian Peterson because they couldn't get Cleveland to part with the pick that would land Joe Thomas (who just made this years 1st team All Pro at Tackle). 23 picks later the Niners grabbed Joe Staley (who just was announced to the 2nd team All Pro team at Tackle) He has been moved from RT to LT and constantly ridiculed for his poor pass protection. And 5 years after he was drafted he's about to be shown the door. (At least that seems to be the way its going.)

So I want to be the first to say, "I'm so sorry Levi." I mean it. I feel like this guy got the shaft from day one. The poor guy comes out of an offense that is predicated on the run and falls into a franchise that has failed to understand how to run the football since years before the"ultimatum". (In his rookie year, Edgerrin James runs behind him and the line for the best running back output in a LONG time, 1222 yards and 7 TDs.) He never escaped the tag that he was the guy they took over A.P. And he's thrust into the LT position in an offense that throws the ball more than Indi and N.O. I truly feel like he landed in the wrong spot. My advice to him is to have his agent call Oakland, Pittsburgh, or the Jets and get a look. He needs to go some place that values running the football. If he does I think he'll turn his career around. And heap a pile of egg on the Cardinal's faces

So I'm not educated on all the ins and outs of signing players as it relates to the salary cap. I mean I understand the basics of it, but I couldn't write a dissertation on it. As it turns out, neither can the Cardinals front office. They apparently could've signed Calais Campbell this year and placed some of that money under this years salary cap (which was $9 million below the cap). Instead they failed signing him and now will have to hurt the team next year. No, they won't let him go via free agency. He will either sign here or they will franchise tag him. But why did they wait? Unless I missed something, they blew it by not signing him this year.

The Freaks

2012-01-06T19:43:00.000-08:00

There's a rule in drafting talent that goes like this, "If the guy does something athletically that causes you're jaw to drop, again, and again, and again, you draft him." I like to call them the freaks of nature. Randy Moss was the first guy I saw that made me respond like this. Yeah, he was a knucklehead, but sometimes you just have to take a chance on a guy who can catch a 50 yard pass with his armpit and a defender draped all over him.

These are the guys this year that I've seen do that or heard someone trustworthy swear by them. I know the Cardinals won't even sniff most of these guys picking at 13, but I'm holding out hope that one slips by.

Player (Expected draft #)

Andrew Luck (#1) Best QB prospect since Peyton Manning. Makes throws that only elite QBs get away with. Great arm, great legs, great brain. He makes me sorta wish the Cards sucked bad this year so they could get him. Sorta.

Matt Kalil (#3) I haven't seen enough of him to evaluate yet. I'm going purely on what everyone is saying. Cards need a LT so bad that need is going to overwhelm them this year at this position. I'll get back to ya on Kalil.

Trent Richardson (#4) I absolutely abhor taking a RB in the first 2 rounds. Reasons? They're a dime a dozen. They are 99% of the time a product of the O-line. And they don't last very long. Oh, and the Cards were dumb enough to invest in Beanie in the first and Ryan Williams in last years 2nd. So what would I do with Richardson if I had the 2nd to 4th picks and he was there? Fall over myself trying to rush to the podium to hand in his name as my draft pick. He is an absolute freak of nature. You ALWAYS draft the freaks (Randy Moss, Adrian Peterson, Calvin Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald...). He's the best RB prospect since A.P. and you remember how well that went for the Cards after they passed him up. (For the record, in the last 25 years I would have only drafted two RBs this early: Barry Sanders and Adrian Peterson)

Morris Claiborne (#5) Can you imagine the Cards pairing up the two former Tigers. Peterson and Claiborne would be dynamic. Some say Claiborne is better than Peterson. He reminds me of Cortland Finnegan: he's tough and has a nasty streak. Even though the Cards took Peterson last year they'd be nuts to pass on this guy.

Justin Blackmon (top ten) One of the more frustrating stats when evaluating a player is production. A guy can shell out a 99 and you still aren't sure what he'll do in the NFL. (Kellen Moore is the poster child for this year and I wouldn't draft him until the 7th round). Blackmon sort of has that problem. His production is ridiculous, but he doesn't have that straight away burst that you want to see. I can see the combine as a detriment to him. And yet, I haven't seen a more productive WR in football since maybe the idiot Crabtree. Just like our beloved Q, I think Justin will excel in spite of speed concerns. He's tough, strong, competitive, and hungry. He has the heart that you can't measure and, more importantly, the tools needed to be successful in the NFL

Jonathan Martin (top ten) This is one of the guys I hope slips to the Cards. While I think he's O.K. as a run blocker I also think he is the best pass blocking LT in the draft. In fact, he seems to float, like a dancer and frustrates the crap out of the DEs he faces every week. A guy that big shouldn't be that light on his feet. And since the Cards don't really want to run and would rather throw all day long, this guy fits perfect into their scheme.

David DeCastro (top 15) Mark my words: THIS GUY WILL GO INTO THE HALL OF FAME. Wow, that was bold. Maybe its because its my first time, you know... falling in love with a Guard. But he's dreamy to me. I can't help myself. Everything I see out of this guy screams DRAFT ME! I think he would be a knockout pick for the Cards. I'm hoping that tradition holds out, because Guards don't get drafted top ten usually. But I'm afraid everyone else sees what I see. Hopefully, 12 other teams are just as dumb as they usually are and this time (cross fingers) the Cards aren't.

Luke Kuechly and Courtney Upshaw (top 15) I haven't seen a single highlight of Luke yet, but I've heard enough guys talk about him to put him into the freak category. As for Courtney, for some odd reason I can't seem to stay awake long enough during Alabama games to properly evaluate him. Still, he looks to be a guy that will shoot up the charts after the "championship" game. Let's hope I can stay awake long enough to watch him.

2011 Offensive Coaching Grade

2012-01-03T14:58:00.001-08:00

As much credit as I give Whiz for what he did with his defense and special teams, I’m going to take back for what he did to his offense. They were absolutely abysmal this year. If it weren’t for late game heroics from Skelton and Fitz, this season would have looked a whole lot worse. (Which is saying a ton considering how bad they were overall)

Let’s start from the beginning.

I was worried when I heard Whiz say he was going to hand the reigns over to Mike Miller. Not because I thought Mike was bad, but because the way that Whiz stressed that he was going to give ‘some’ of the control to Mike. If you read between the lines, he was essentially saying, “My offense is awesome and you guys don’t know what you’re talking about by saying it’s bad. But because I’m getting heat from EVERYONE I’m going to ‘give control’ over to Mike on the offensive side of the ball. But really, I’m just saying that to get you off my back and Mike will just be a Yes Man for me so I can prove to everyone that this offense works no matter who I have.” Never mind that his precious offense was the worst in football in 2010. Whiz was telling everyone, with a calm demeanor, that it worked once so it should work again. Even without Kurt Warner, Todd Haley, or Q. This, of course, is asinine. And sadly he still thinks this way.

His next major blunder was to tell the front office that the reason they were so bad in 2010 was because the QBs were so bad. That’s the biggest bunch of spin I’ve ever heard. In the preseason, I likened it to asking Josh Childress to be your spot up shooter on the perimeter, and then blasting him for “not executing” when he’s not successful. Well, you’re the nitwit who put him into a position he’s not gifted to do. You bear the responsibility when you sign a player who doesn’t fit your system, or don’t design a system to better fit the player. Either way it’s a sign of awful coaching. And that’s what 2010 was all about. Derek Anderson was signed to play the exact offense that Kurt did. And when he stunk… bad… they blamed him for not executing. Never mind that he’s a gun slinger who loves to go deep and needs a solid run game to set up play action. No, no… let’s make him throw all the time, make quick reads which he can’t do, and throw touch passes which he’s awful at. Whiz failed miserably with D.A. He followed up by embarrassing himself with Max Hall. But in his defense, Max did know the offense, but wasn’t given the natural gifts to be successful in the NFL. He flopped because he isn’t Doug Flutie. Skelton really didn’t flop so much as he learned on the job. That brings us to this year. Whiz spun the media and fans so masterfully to believe that if he just got that guy, well he’d be back in the playoffs. That brought us Kevin Kolb.

I don’t think Kolb is a bust. I do think we overpaid for a guy with a concussion history and other injuries. I said all along that Orton would have been cheaper and Skelton is the future. The problem with Kolb is that he didn’t know what he was getting into. (I wonder if D.A. called him and told him what life would be like here after Kurt) He actually looked good in preseason. I started to believe. However, the hair on the back of my head stood up after that Carolina game to start the season. They just threw, threw, threw. All I saw was 2010 all over again. Whiz was going to throw Kolb under the bus for not executing. It didn’t take long for him to lose almost all confidence and get worse and worse every week. Finally, he just got beat up too much (another problem Whiz created with his offense), and got hurt and finally knocked out. He had one good half against Dallas, but was gone after that. Whiz did nothing to take the heat off of him, and just like D.A. he failed with Kolb too. I’m utterly disgusted with how Whiz has treated his QBs. From Matt Leinert to Kolb it has been a train wreck. Kurt Warner overcame it because, well, he’s Kurt Warner. But no one else has been good for him. He lucked out with Skelton’s 4^th quarter heroics. It saved the season offensively. Minus those comebacks this season is no different than 2010.

2011 Team Rushing stats:

28^th attempts

24^th yards per game

17^th average per carry

16^th TDs

2011 Team Passing stats:

15^th attempts

17^th yards per game

29^th completion percentage

13^th TDs

31^st sacks given up

As you can see, Whiz refuses to run the ball. And his excuses that they don’t execute are gone. Beanie ran the best of his career. His fumbles were down, his yardage was up, and he ran with authority. The offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage, but were hardly called on to do that much. I have to scream into a pillow every Sunday when a commentator says before the game that the key to a Cardinals win is to establish the run AND that should be no problem because Whiz loves to run the ball. WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT? Whiz NEVER likes to run and they rarely, if ever, establish the run. He’s failed miserably in the rushing department and still gets credit for being a run first coach. How stupid are these people?

This has been my gripe since day one of last year: why do the Cards throw the ball with this personnel? If you want to throw, fine. Just get guys that are accustomed to a pass offense. Levi Brown and Brandon Keith are not good pass blockers. Skelton is not a pass first QB yet. Beanie Wells is not a Marshall Faulk type to complement the passing game. In fact, the only starters that compliment a passing game are Colledge and Heap (and that’s a stretch that he’s a starter. King starts and he’s a run first guy). 9 starters are more designed to run than pass, and yet Whiz continues to throw 60% or more of the time. And people wonder why this offense doesn’t seem to work.

And yes, I realize that Fitz is on the team. That actually frustrates me more when people say we need to pass more because of him and here’s why. #1 we don’t have the QB to do it. #2 he’s the best blocking WR in the NFL. #3 I don’t see Michael Irvin complaining about his 3 Superbowl rings. This personnel is just more inclined to run (which sets up the pass).

If you want to throw then Kolb has to be your QB and hopefully he’s not damaged goods. Trade Skelton while he has value and draft Brandon Wheedon in the 3^rdto back Kolb up. Start Heap or Housler. You’ll have to dump your two OT and Beanie. Use Hyphen much more (ala Sproles in NO) and hopefully Ryan Williams. And finally get another star WR. I don’t think you’ll be very good, but you can have a better passing game than what you have right now.

OR just dump your stupid offense and create one that compliments the players you have.

Whatever Whiz decides, well, he needs to decide. He can’t stay in the middle of these two worlds and hope for success. Either get the right people or make a new offense. Right now he has a crappy offense with all the wrong people.

As for player development, I thought the line was better. Colledge fits better in this offense. Lyle and Rex are fine. I feel bad for Levi Brown. Keith wasn’t all that great before he got hurt and Bridges doesn’t fit the system either. Kolb got worse through the year. The second half of the Dallas game was a bright spot though. Skelton has IT. I wish he’d get the job, but they’re paying Kolb too much. Beanie was great all year in spite of the reoccurring injuries. Hyphen was so underused in their pathetic screen game that I want to hurl. It got better later though. Heap was fine, but still injured. King was a pleasant surprise and Housler was just O.K. He fits the offense better though. Kinda like a Jimmy Graham. Doucet was healthy for once, but looks like he’s getting worse. Roberts was about as up and down as you could get, but can we really blame him? Fitz is the best WR of all time and continues to prove it every week. He should have had 2000 yards this year if Whiz had pulled his head out. I saw little if any growth across the lineup, but then who can grow under this offensive system? I feel the same way about the offense as I do about last year’s defense; given the right coaching these players can be successful.

One quick thought on Russ Grimm for everyone that thinks he’s doing a bad job with the line. How successful should he be as a RUN first guy with RUN first players and a PASS first offense? I’m sorry, but I don’t blame him.

Overall Grade for Coaching the Offense: F

2011 Special Teams Coaching Grade

2012-01-03T12:39:00.000-08:00

Jimmy Johnson once said that in order to win football games 2 out of the 3 components to a team must play great: offense, defense, or special teams. We all saw that this year when the defense finally came to fruition midway through the season. For the last year and a half only the special teams has been playing well. When both were playing at a high level this team won 7 of 9. Even as bad as the offense was the solid D and ST overcame it. Kevin Spencer isn’t getting nearly the credit he deserves for what they’ve done this year. Heck, or for last year either for that matter.

On kickoffs Hyphen is always a danger to break one. What hurt this year was his injuries and the new kickoff rules. Jefferson filled in O.K. for him when he was out. They ended up 15^th on yards per attempt.

I now know what its like to be a Bears fan: that is, I lose my breath every time the opponent punts the ball because I’m expecting something amazing. I first noticed it when James and I went to the Rams game. Every time they punted the ball the crowd got on edge. PUNTING. I can only remember three other guys that made me feel like that: Deion, Dante Hall, and Devin Hester. Patrick Peterson played like a HOF punt returner this year. Spencer and Whiz got those players to give him a ton of room to have a chance at a return (not that he needed much). I love how they gave him the Dante Hall rules, which basically states there are no rules. Do whatever you want. That’s a lot of control to give up to a rookie, but if they hadn’t he would have never fielded that one against the Rams in OT. They finished 2^nd overall on average yards per punt return. (Behind the Bears)

On kickoff return coverage they were 23^rd with 25 yards per attempt. Not good, however they gave up no TDs and balanced that with a stellar defense.

On punt return coverage they were 25^th with 12.2 yards per attempt and 1 TD. Again not good. Both coverage teams must be addressed in the off season.

Feely was good on FGs this year. He was 22^nd of FG PCT, but he seemed to make em when it mattered. Plus Feely is a real football player. He gets in the game and it appears the players respect him. That goes a long way. Whiz was wise to get him and will be wise to keep him.

Its not his fault, but Zastudil had to punt far too often this year. That can throw punter’s numbers all off. However, he was 2^nd in returns allowed and 9^th on yards per return. Those are very bad numbers. Certainly they reflect a poor offense and bad field position. His punting AVG was 16^th which makes him exactly average. With this bad a coverage team, there should have been more punting for hang time or punts away from returners. It didn’t kill em this year, but it could in the future if left unaddressed.

I’ve never cared to even mention defense of FGs as a point of interest. But how can you avoid it after this year. They actually won about 3 games just because of this statistic. Campbell blocked 3 and Peterson 2. Those are gaudy numbers in this department. I think they actually struck fear into kickers in the NFL. That’s unheard of. The coaches have these players believing that they can block anything. I love what Spencer and Whiz have created here.

Overall grade for Special Team coaching: B

2011 Defensive Coaching Grade

2012-01-03T11:40:00.000-08:00

I’ll give Whiz credit for one thing this year, he pursued the right coordinator for this defense. Ray Horton played a huge part in saving Whiz’s job. From the beginning, Ken wanted Ray and went hard after him. I thought it was a brilliant move, especially after hearing Troy Polamalu’s comments concerning him. If there was a mistake on defense this year it was putting too much in too fast. Everyone seemed lost, (which is to be expected after the lockout). Well… except Porter, but he’s too old and couldn’t get where he needed to. And they took entirely too long letting Acho and Schoefield onto the field.

Apart from that Ken and Ray were stellar in their development of players on the line: Campbell and Carter, the LBs: Acho, Schoefield, and Washington, and the DBs: Peterson, and even Rashaad Johnson. They got Wilson back to a pro bowl level (after I shamefully had written him off), Hagans back to be a reasonable starter, and let Dockett terrorize opponent’s offensive line. Lenon was solid again and is still the unsung hero on this team. Marshall picked up the D quick and even Mighty Mouse, aka Mike Adams, played reasonably well. Bradley seems to not get it and I’m not sure why. I’m going to be judge him more on next year’s play, because I don’t think many people can crack the Washington/Lenon combo. Only Jefferson showed signs that he was getting worse, but he wasn’t all that good to start with. They recovered nicely from losing Dan Williams, Rhodes, and Toler (a huge loss for this team after the debacle of a trade with DRC). Shoot, they even got good play from Holliday and Eason. This season was a raging success on defense.

And let’s not forget that Ray inherited this team from a pathetic coach in Bill Davis. If you’re wondering how good Horton is and how bad Davis was, you need look no further than how they played last year. Last year many said Dockett and Wilson were washed up, Campbell was bad, and this team was going nowhere with this apparent lack of talent. LISTEN UP: The talent DIDN’T change from last year, only the coaching did. So everyone can eat crow (ahem Ron Wolfley) that said the Cards had a lack of talent on defense last year. The talent was always there, they just needed someone who knew what he was doing. Great hire Ken. Great job Ray.

Overall grade on defensive coaching: A-

Add another one to the Cardinal's Worst Moments list.

2011-12-25T23:20:00.000-08:00

I'm not saying that Early's Jello legs cost them the game. That's missing the bigger picture by a long shot. I mean that offense was at its worst for 3 quarters, and they got extremely lucky to even be in the game. But still... why is it a Cardinal principle to lose in such a way that every looks around and says, "Have you ever seen that before? I think that might be the most embarassing way to lose I've ever seen."  I also wonder if their is a script writer for the Cardinals who keeps trying to one-up the last miserable finish to a game. Oh, and once again, they lose when it matters.

I don't know how that defense does it. They just seem to keep this team in games. Especially when the offense continues to put them in bad field position. This is the one positive identity of this team. Dockett is still creating havoc, Campbell does stuff that doesn't always show up in the stats, and NT keep clogging the middle like they're supposed to. Washington played great again (in spite of two highlight reels he wants no part of), Lenon is solid, Schoefield is getting better every week, and Acho is officially a 4th Round steal (yes, I know, I predicted that. But I also predicted Carter wouldn't make the team.) Peterson played well until he got hurt (sit him for the year, take no chances), Marshall and Jefferson are doing fine, it was good to see Rhodes back again (sit him for the year, take no chances), and Wilson should get comeback player of the year (I am so glad I was wrong that he was washed up). Ray Horton deserves tremendous accolades for his work on this D. Is this about the time all Cardinal fans start getting worried that their star coordinator is going to get hired by another team?

I'm officially off of Whiz's back over the defense. He let Horton do his thing and it has paid off huge. I can forgive the philosophical mistakes they made early, (by putting way too much of the playbook in and starting the old timer LBs over the kids) . I don't believe that a team has to start out the season clicking, but I do believe they have to click for more than half of it. And this defense ranks as one of the best in Az Cardinal history for its second half performance. I thought Whiz's arrogance and ineptitude was getting to Horton, but I'm glad to be wrong. Plus, it took some time to rid themselves of the stain that was Bill Davis.

Speaking of bad defensive coordinators: do you remember Clancy Pendergast? You know, the guy who loved to play defense one way for 58 minutes, shut the opponent's offense down, then change the defense to a prevent D for the last 2 minutes and then lose the game. Oh how I miss that guy. So I was thinking about Mike Miller and I thought he should really look into what got Clancy fired AFTER he took a team to the Superbowl. You see, Mike seems to have Clancy's philosophy in reverse. Stink it up for most of the game and then change the offense to a 2 minute offense to catch up. Of course, every nitwit fan with an IQ two standard deviations below the norm is wondering why they don't try the 2 minute offense from the getgo. I mean, if Whiz isn't going to do a sensible run offense, then why not just throw ALL the time. Yes, I mean ALL.   Shotgun, empty backfield, 4 wide with TE protection, and just let 'er rip. What the heck. It couldn't be worse than the dreadful offense that they sling out week after week in the first half. It makes you wonder what kind of game planning is going on for 6 days.

And its not just that Skelton isn't executing. For sure, that's a problem. But they waste time with that "running game" they have and it turns out to be useless. Their running game doesn't set up passes.  It doesn't punish defenders. It doesn't get them first downs. They only run because they feel like they have to. Not because they want to. If its one thing I've learned about Whiz, its that he hates running the football. He hasn't done it since he left the Steelers. Its like we all know that there's a running game there, but it really doesn't do anything. So why have it?

Just run from shotgun like Kurt Warner did with Marshall Faulk and the Rams.  Whiz seems to think that his QBs should play like Kurt anyway, so give Skelton the same offense. What could it hurt?

This offense reeks of having no consistant identity. I can't believe Whiz hasn't got it through his thick skull that his offensive philosophy sucks with these players. Its stunning. And this is why he got hired in the first place: he was a great offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh. How bad is it that you're specialty is offense and its your defense thats saves your butt every week?

Side thought: On the first 4 passing plays against the Bengals it went: 13 yard gain, sack, interception, sack.
The first 2 running plays went: gain of 6, gain of 4.

I want so badly to root for Ken. I really do. But without Horton this year he wins how many games? 4? 5? If he's lucky. In fact, I'd say he only wins for two reasons: because they have good talent on this team, and because of his defense and special teams. Prove to me that he's done anything good with his offense in the last 2 years.

Identities

2011-12-22T09:45:00.000-08:00

I'm torn. I can't tell whether I'm happy about the seven wins this year or pissed at how poor the offense is playing in the first half of games. First off, let's clear up that it isn't Skelton that's the problem. In the first half of the Cowboys game, Kolb was terrible. They adjusted at halftime and thereafter were stellar. Skelton of course, is gaining a reputation for that, but the pattern dictates that its a game preparation problem and not a personnel problem. The blame then falls in the lap of the coaching staff. They have not game planned well, and are paying for it for the first 30 minutes. However, they also deserve all the credit for the second half adjustments they've made. Like I said, I'm torn.

They say winning is everything. That's not true. If you win now and that develops bad habits that will cause you to lose more in the future, then winning is detrimental to your growth. My concern for this team is that the winning blinds them to their goal of domination. For example, in the Cleveland game there was no doubt that they should have ran over them. The Browns are one of the worst rush defenses in the league. And yet the Cards did very little in the run game. So they relied on the pass, against one of the best pass defenders, and were successful. A lot can be said about that, but allow me to focus on the first point; that is, why can't they run the ball on the Browns? A strong mentality is vital in the NFL. To the point, the Cards don't have one of those when it comes to running the ball. We saw it in the second half when they threw the ball on almost every play. The result was a win, yes, but at what cost? This is destroying all that they've established over the year in the running department. And that will keep them one dimensional, which only works if you have a HOF QB. As for the Browns, the Cards should have beat them by 10+ points and utterly dominated the time of possession. Instead they squeaked out a win.

I'm sure you'll call this talk negative, but isn't the goal to win a Superbowl? To win a Superbowl, you don't barely beat the Rams and Browns in overtime. You crush them. You send a message to the league that you will run them over. The Saints are doing it right now through the air, and the Packers were until they lost all of their O-line. Are the Cards really trying to be those teams? If they are, well, they might win. But will it win them a championship? I highly doubt it. Their best bet is to continue to establish the run and develop Skelton for the future. He will get more comfortable as they develop their identity.

And that's what I'm most frustrated about. The Cards are winning, but they are doing it with no identity(on offense). That is, unless you can call sucking in the first half and then recovering in the second an identity. They need to put it all together. But they aren't right now. They aren't the dominant team they should have been in week 3 or 4. Instead they are a mess that's winning. Mark my words, when Whiz finally pulls his head out and figures out what's best for this team, he'll dominate. Not just win. And I'll give him what their identity should be.

Offense: Establish the run early and commit to it for the entire game, which sets up play action pass, mix in some slants for Roberts, HB screens for Hyphen, and FIND Fitz, especially the fade to Larry in the endzone.

Defense: Stop the run, pressure the QB, and maintain a solid red zone presence (which they are doing right now).

Cards vs. Niners 12/11/11

2011-12-11T18:50:00.000-08:00

Cards 21 Niners 19

Wow! I mean wow! Where has this team been all year? It is so much more fun on Sundays when your team plays well. Hats off to Whiz for keeping this team together after such a bad start. Its true that his offense has major problems, but when your defense is playing this well, you’ll be in most games.

Speaking of the offense, that’s two weeks in a row where they have stunk it up in the first half, only to come out guns blazing in the second. A glass half empty guy might accuse Whiz of poor game planning in the first, but a glass half full guy would say he made great adjustments in the second half. I’d go with the latter position. It’s very difficult to win games against great teams, and S.F. (and this pains me to admit) is a great team. They play exceptional defense and run an effective offense. So I’m gonna give credit to the Cards for adjusting.

Normally at this time I’d be screaming that they didn’t run enough. I was thinking before kickoff that I they should actually throw more today because S.F. run defense is so stellar. I’m glad they committed to the run enough to gain some TOF, but didn’t rely on it too much.

Kolb never had a chance. My biggest concern when they traded for him is the concussion history. (Well, that and his 73.2 QB rating) Behind this line I was very concerned that he couldn’t take the inevitable beating as the starting QB. This will be an ongoing issue.

Skelton played poorly in the first half. Against this D it was to be expected. However, he lit it up in the second. What continues to impress me is his coolness in the pocket. He had guys draped all over him and he plays like they aren’t even there. Many times he inexplicably broke tackles to make a play. (Unfortunately one of which was a terrible decision to throw across his body for an INT.) He also makes big gains on the ground, without taking a big hit. Yes, he did fumble on one, but that was just a great defensive play. Today I got a major confidence boost that he can be a good QB. As I’ve screamed since day one, he needs a great run game and defense to help him, but this Cards team has the making of both.

The O line played well again, but were utterly dominated at the run game. S.F. is the number one run defense in the league so I’m not going to berate them too much. They did only gave up 2 sacks, but Skelton should be credited with avoiding 3 others. They gave John enough time to win the game so they deserve some credit. Keith got hurt again. He’s playing through some tuff stuff, but I don’t see him finishing the season. I can see the Cards taking a LT in the first round of the draft next year and moving Brown back over to the RT. Keith just can’t stay healthy and Bridges isn’t the answer either. Hadnot had a killer block today to spring the ball carrier for a big gain.

Fitz was amazing. Again. His TD catch was ho-hum for his career, which means that it was a highlight for everyone else. He just gets it. His block to free Doucet for the TD proves once again how valuable he is without the ball. Doucet played well enough, but dropped a couple of balls. Roberts disappeared for most of the game but made the game winning TD catch in the 4^th. The TE’s continue to disappear, which is frustrating after the great start they had this year. I can’t believe they aren’t used more.

Do they have a defensive coach of the year? Because if they do Horton should be up for the award. Although, I’m not surprised that this D is so good. I’ve had to endure the absolute ineptitude from Clancy Pendergast and Bill Davis for years, all the while believing that Dockett, Campbell, Wilson and co. would be great if given the right coordinator. Well, they found him.

The D line was once again amazing. They continue to put pressure on the QB and bat down passes. Campbell is going to earn big dollars this off season for all that he does to make this team better. Dockett is almost as good as he was in 2008, and he’s playing in a less glorifying position. Carter continues to make plays, even though Eason is starting. I love this line.

The LB’s are playing so much better. Only once did I see them make a huge mistake (I’m almost positive Paris Lenon overran his gap which allowed Gore to run for the TD). All three of the young ones played well.

The DB is where I’m truly shocked. They are playing so well, everyone is forgetting how bad they were to start the year. Wilson is the real gem. I know he’s a HOF safety, but he’s playing well in all positions again. I thought he was done after the start of this season, but he is playing like a HOF run stopper and a very good pass defender. PP21 shut down Crabtree, which is saying something considering the results the last time they played. Johnson is continuing to play well at free safety. He’s still not as good as Rhodes, but he’s playing like a solid backup.

Special teams didn’t do anything amazing. They were adequate enough. I think it was Rashad Johnson who stopped Ginn from getting in the end zone on the punt return. S.F. only got a FG out of it and lost 4 points. That’s big considering the Cards won by two.

I’m optimistic that Whiz has turned this around. I’m not sure what he’s going to do with Kolb and Skelton. He really has a tough decision to make. On July 28^th, after the trade I said, “My guess is that Kolb will have repeated injuries and Skelton will play well when he's out. Thus creating a QB controversy that Coach Whiz will deem "a good situation to be in".” I take that back. This isn’t a good situation to be in. If I were him, I’d probably start Kolb. Only because they paid him the money as the future of this team. But you can’t deny that Skelton is a winner. And Kurt Warner is the only other Cardinal QB that had that tag attached to him.

Cards vs. Cowboys 12/4/11

2011-12-05T21:58:00.000-08:00

Cards 19 Cowboys 13

Don't tease us Whiz. Its not fair to actually run an offense like you did in the second half and make us think that you finally get it. Running the ball and throwing to 'other' WRs as a steady diet is not like you and I'm concerned you've abandoned that stellar offense you have so carefully guarded over the last 2 years. Of course, its all too late (a standard in Cardinal philosophy: win when it doesn't matter), so I'm not too excited. However, this does bode well for their future.

The offense was a tale of two halves. The first half was abysmal. They netted 49 total yards. Kolb was sacked 4 times and all of them had a deer in the headlights quality to it. They passed almost exclusively and did it poorly. The second half success was driven by their ability to run the football. It started there and gave Kolb the security to throw under less duress. Beanie ran well, and the line looked solid on the run. Fitz was the usual, while they finally threw to someone else. Roberts had 111 yards and made some huge catches. Housler even made a guest appearance.

Kolb played terrible in the first. Kolb played terrific in the second. I'm going to give him credit for just the second because they finally gave him an offense he could be successful in. As I said from the beginning, he'll be good if he gets better play calling.

Speaking of the play calling, it seems I'm not the only one puzzled by the questionable play selection by the Cards offense. Dockett voiced his opinion and said ,"we got a running style team...we got some bulldogs up front. Run the ball." Maybe Whiz is finally listening to reason.

Oh, but I can't give him full credit for 'getting it'. Monday, on the that terrible sports show on 620 in the evening, Ken actually said the following: (paraphrased) We can run the ball better when the defense plays well, because it keeps the defense off the field. It allows us to control the game from a running stand point. And yes, I think he was serious. That of course runs contrary to the philosophy of more than 100 years of football that states: a good running game controls the game clock, which allows the defense to stay off the field, keeping them fresh. You have to appreciate the subtle difference here. The latter states that the running game helps the defense, Whiz is saying that bad defense kills the running game. I could write a dissertation on how wrong his perspective is, but I don't want to do that here. I will say what he truly means though; the reason the running game has sucked since he's been here is because his defense played so bad. Really? I wonder what Dockett would say about that?

The real player of the game was the entire defense. They are playing like one of the best D in the NFL. The Cowboys offense had been explosive before this game and the Cards shut them down to 13 points. Once again, Dockett and Campbell played amazing. The LBs locked into Murray and shut him down. And the DBs all played at a high level. Jefferson played O.K., but you can tell he isn't confident. PP21 keeps showing signs that he is going to be a top five corner soon. Horton is looking more and more like the real deal. I'm in love with this defense. If the offense can ever establish a real running game this team is going to be really really good. Really.

Cards vs. Rams 11/27/11

2011-11-27T19:32:00.000-08:00

Cards 23 Rams 20

Beanie played like a man on fire as did his offensive line. I've been begging for a running game like the one they ran against the Giants, but they've shown little interest in abiding. Today, he ran over and through the Rams. Yes the Rams run D is terrible, but Beanie only had 20 yards against them at the first meeting. So the 228 yards he got today is a marked improvement. They ran the ball 38 times vs passing it 26 times. That's what they should have been doing since Day 1. The pessimist in me says they won't do this again this year, however I'm more of an optimist these days and hope they will finally see the light.

By the way, notice how the Cards starting QB has a QB rating of 30 and they still win? When you run the football this well, QB play doesn't matter. (see Tim Tebow)

Speaking of Skelton, he still looks below average. He still has good pocket presence and places the ball well deep, but he struggles on shorter routes. He also is at 50% completion rate and a 64 QB rating. (those numbers are actually up from his career stats) So I don't see much controversy brewing when Kolb gets healthy. However, Kolb was starting to produce numbers similar to these before he got hurt. So we'll see if he's still got those accursed happy feet.

The LBs continue to improve as well as the DBs. Besides Jefferson, I've seen growth by all the players, and that includes Rashad Johnson. A.J. is getting worse. But PP21 is starting to become the complete player he looked like at LSU. This guy is the real deal. The D line used to be the only thing good about this defense, but now it looks like everyone else is catching up.

Patrick Peterson is a lock for rookie of the year, if they consider special teams. He ran his 4th punt return for a TD today which ties him for the most all time in one season. He'll break that record by two. Hyphen and PP21 are going to have a day real soon where both run one back. They are something special to watch.

Kuddos to Whiz for winning three of his last four. Winning takes a ton of the sting off, but it doesn't erase the six pitiful losses he shouldn't have (I don't blame him for the Giants one). At this point they should be
7-4. They should have beat the Skins, Hawks, and Vikings. I truly hope he has woken up from his 5 year slumber and finally runs the air out of the football like he did today. But I thought he figured it out after N.Y. and look how bad he was after that.

That being said, I predicted that this team would lose enough games to miss the playoffs and win too many to get a good draft position. And that they'd win ugly (in other words, the wins were useless at building an identity to carry them into next year). So far, minus today's game and N.Y., I was right. Let's hope I'm wrong from here on.

No depth at RB?

2011-11-23T20:10:00.000-08:00

So Bob McManaman reported this week that the Cards running woes are hurting the team. Holy *#$@ you gotta be %&*$@ kidding me! It only took 2 years for people to figure that out? (Yeah, that's right, I swore. It takes stupidity at high levels to get it out of me, which of course makes me wonder why I don't swear more on this blog sight.)

Anyway, the saddest part about the report is that the Cards still don't get it. Saying stuff like, "there is no real reliable backup behind Wells," proves it. Goodness gracious Whiz, are you really this myopic? So the problem here is that there isn't a good backup, huh?

So basically they are saying that this offense is so technical only backs named Beanie Wells can comprehend it. Which, if that were true, then they're stupid for not implementing a system that works for the players they have. But if its not true then they can't draft/scout RBs, because they haven't put anyone back there that can figure it out. So which is it? Are you stupid, or just imcompetent at scouting?

But that really doesn't even matter, because the real problem is that this offensive system is crap. And I mean the runny kind. To actually think that they don't have depth at one of the least difficult positions to fill makes me want to punch holes in my wall. You mean to tell me that Chris Ogbonnaya is a one in a million find, and the Cardinals missed out on him? Or Kevin Smith is now all the sudden good? Fred Jackson is now trying harder? Marshawn Lynch finally gets the complex offense that Seattle runs? Are you kidding me? These guys are a dime a dozen... no 11 cents a dozen. You can find them anywhere, and you don't even have to draft them. Arian Foster is a perfect example of that. He wasn't drafted and he's tearing it up. Ben Tate, his backup, is producing just as good when he's out. And if they both go down, Derrick Ward will be the next sensation in Houston. How hard is this?

IT DOESN'T FREAKIN MATTER WHO YOUR RUNNING BACK IS:
GOOD OFFENSIVE LINE + COMMITTED TO THE RUN = SUCCESSFUL RUNNING GAME.

I can think of two exceptions to that rule: Adrian Peterson and Barry Sanders. Those guys would be good anywhere. No one else fits that. NO ONE! Not LeSean McCoy, Ray Rice, Emmitt Smith, or Marshall Faulk. Running back should always be the last position you worry about. But the Cards are so flippin' dumb, they've drafted 2 backs in the first 2 rounds in the last 2 years. DUMB! And then they further expose their nit wittedness, they say crap like, "these guys just aren't picking up the system." I would hate to have to explain this to Whiz, because I'd be like Tom Hanks from League of their Own explaining how to hit the cut off man without making him cry. "Okay Ken, so you hand the ball off... to the running back... and then he runs threw the hole. Can you handle that?"

I wish we could trade Alfonso Smith to the Raiders for one game. Let him start. Then see what kind of numbers he would produce. But even if he did great and then came back here and just "couldn't get it", I'm thinking the Cards brain trust would just shake there heads with their palms up clueless as to why he can't produce here.

DUMB!

Cards vs. Baltimore 10/30/11

2011-10-30T23:11:00.000-07:00

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 3^rd 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 3^rd 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 3^rd 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 1^st 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 2^nd 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.

Clearing the air on the whole 2nd WR thing.

2011-10-27T21:41:00.000-07:00

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!

Cards vs. Pittsburgh 10/23/11

2011-10-23T19:14:00.000-07:00

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?)

Another meeting?

2011-10-18T22:30:00.000-07:00

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.

Whisenhunt accepts blame for 1-4 start

2011-10-10T20:58:00.000-07:00

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.

Cards vs. Minnesota 10/9/11

2011-10-09T14:30:00.000-07:00

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.

Running

2011-10-04T22:02:00.000-07:00

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.

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

2011-10-02T20:07:00.000-07:00

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.

Cards vs. Seattle 9/25/11

2011-09-26T00:08:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to spend much time on this blog today for two reasons; 1) I'm only going to say what I've said for 19 games in a row and 2) I'm going to vomit if I talk about this much longer. The Cardinals lost to easily the worst team in football. Yes, the Vikings and Jaguars are bad, but this Seattle team is a special kind of bad. At least the Vikings and Jags have a semblence of a running game. But this Seattle team was a special kind of useless, averaging 47 yards rushing per game. And yes, that puts them dead last. Oh but wait, here come those Cards. They give up 122 yards on 30 carries and make them look like a real NFL team. On top of that they make Tarvaris Jackson look like a D rated QB, and not the F- that he really is. They make the Seattle D look like world beaters. They deserved to lose and are a bottom five team in the NFL. Again. And Ken Whisenhunt should be firmly planted on the hot seat.

Kevin Kolb played 2 different halves. The first half he was as usual. He was very accurate and lead his team well. They ran some no huddle and had moderate success. However, his pass to Fitz in the 2nd quarter was unquestionably stupid. I know its Fitz, but he got lucky that wasn't picked off. The second half he was... well lets just say my two year old had to leave the room because Daddy was yelling at the T.V., slapping the couch, and screaming into a pillow. I don't know what happened out there today, but either the Seattle secondary played the half of their lives, the Cardinals receivers couldn't get open, or Kolb was blinded by the half shadowed field and couldn't find them. He would have made Kurt Warner cringe at how long he held the ball to find a receiver. All to often he avoided the pocket and made errant throws. He was just plain bad. He missed Doucet once and, as the announcers pointed out, no one was within 15 yards of him. He's going to try to shoulder the blame for this one, and for sure he owns a good chunk of it, but I'm done blaming the players for this train wreck.

Chester looked old. He's done. I'd cut him now and pick up a younger player out there. Alfonso Smith hit holes hard. He has great speed. He looks like a poor man's Chris Johnson. He showed O.K. hands and picked up the blitzes pretty well. As for Beanie, who was hurt... again, it's time to close the curtain on this one. He's too unreliable health wise and fumble wise.

WRs couldn't get open all day. At some point it is either personel or scheme. I'd say a little of both. The TEs were used somewhat downfield, but nothing amazing. Kolb and Fitz still have great chemistry.

The line was both good and bad. Levi Brown needs a TE pinned to his side to help. He's useless in pass protection. Although Kolb didn't help by not stepping up into the hole which has got to be frustrating for a lineman. However they did make holes for Smith and showed promise although once again the run was hardly used. Not a bad job today. Plus, with as long as Kolb held the ball int he 2nd half they were blocking the snot out of Seattle.

D line looked great again. Calais had the 2.5 sacks and Dockett was disruptive. I thought they exploded off the line better in the 2nd half as they did a much better job of blowing up the run plays. Campbell was everywhere.

I asked my friend to count this time, just to prove that I wasn't crazy, how many times LB's overran their gaps. He counted 7 in the first half, which is essentially what I got. And its the whole corps that looks bad. In the 2nd, though, they looked much better. Stewart Bradley shouldn't be playing though against the run yet. He looks lost. He's fine in coverage. In fact they should move him to safety and put A.W. at LB.

Jefferson looks better and better every week. He's really hanging with the WRs. Peterson looks O.K., but someone needs to tell me why they hang back 10 yards off of the WRs. I mean, the point of this D is to put pressure on the QB. So the logically counter attack would be to make quick throws. So don't you want the CBs bumping at the line and disrupting the play? I guess they aren't good enough yet, but they gave up a lot of first downs because they gave up so much space. I didn't see much of Rhodes today. A.W. wasn't totally terrible. That Rice catch was a freak catch. A.W. made a monster edge setter in the 1st. He needs to be closer to the line. (Is there an echo?)

Special teams was a sour topic today. Feely missed two big kicks but both were into swirling winds. I don't blame him for today. A.J. looked solid on kickoffs. He should take one to the house this year.

I know I beat this stat to death, but I think its important. The Cards threw the ball 60% of the time today, and that's misleading because Kolb scrambled 3 times (so actually its 64%) And they lost again, essentially bringing their total to 0-13 when throwing 60% or more. I'll say it again. This team has to run the ball to be consistant. They controlled the game when they ran the ball. And since they don't have Kolb up to the level of a Brady or Manning or Rodgers they need to take the pressure off him by running.

Ken Whisenhunt Report Card

2011-09-25T17:30:00.000-07:00

This pains me to admit, because I have defended him since day 1, but up to this point Ken Whisenhunt has been a bad head football coach. He has no idea how to run an offense without Bill Cowher or Kurt Warner. He makes no commitment to running the football, and when he finally does, its at the wrong time. He's never been better than 28th in rushing in the league. He forced D.A., Hall, Skelton, and Bartell on us last year and had them throw the ball more than 2/3 of the time. Matt Leinert got worse here. Outside of Kurt Warner, no QBs have ever gotten better. His offensive line never gets better. Last year experts were raving that this line was deep and going to be good. Instead they turned out to be horrible. He never used his TEs, and then when he finally does he goes and gets three of them. Sure the WR have done O.K. But Fitz is going to be great no matter what. And Q was going to be tough no matter what. And Breaston ran from here to the guy that he thought was the real reason he was successful: Todd Haley.

Apart from the magical run to the Superbowl, he can't get a team to stop the run either. He's hired lame Defensive Coordinators in Pendergast and Davis. And while I like Horton, it appears that he is also falling victim to the curse here. A.W. gets worse by the week and never sees the bench and I'm starting to see signs that Paris Lenon and Rhodes, the two guys that came outside of the organization last year, are starting to come apart. So if DRC plays undisciplined last year and you trade him, then what do you do when your entire team does?

Coach Whiz has shown nothing apart from Warner. His players play undisciplined and their seems to be little or no consequence when they do. His teams are plagued with penalties and turnovers. He loses games that very few could. It was Seattle today, it was Seattle, S.F. and Carolina last year. It will continue. This team won't turn the corner. They will just keep us on edge thinking that they have only to prove the next week they really haven't.

I used to think it was both Whiz and Kurt who turned the franchise around. Instead, it appears the it was only Kurt, and he's gone now. That leaves us seeing Whiz for what he really is. A calm coach who thinks that you have to throw to win no matter who's at QB. Defense isn't all that important. And it's the players fault for not executing. Well, who put those players in that position? And the big question: why aren't your players getting better?

This franchise has had a long run at being inept. You can never tell if the coach or player is really bad untill they leave. It turns out that every head coach here died on the vine. Tobin, Buddy, and Denny never coached again. Bugel and Coach Mac coached limited roles. Head coaching here is a career killer. I truly wished that Ken Whisenhunt would escape the trap, but it doesn't look like its going to turn out that way. I've seen nothing in the last 19 games to indicate that he's going to figure it out. Going on that, he'll finish 5-11 again and get fired at the end of the year. Only to be replaced by the next guy this franchise will destroy. From 1976 to 2007 they only went to the playoffs once. (minus that strike year) Sadly we might be looking at another 30 year run.

Same old Cards

2011-09-25T17:11:00.000-07:00

They're back. That old team that made you believe they could do something only to rip defeat from the jaws of victory are alive and well. Losing to the worst team in football logically makes you the worst team. There is no explanation as to why they lost to this dreadful Seahawks team other than "they are who we thought they were."

Bracing for embarassment

2011-09-23T17:14:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but I get the sense that the Cards are ripe for a loss to the worst team in the NFL. They should beat the woeful Seahawks by 3 or 4 TD's, but when do the Cards actually do what they should do? I'm guessing that Tarvaris Jackson will look like a real NFL QB only to be abysmal for the rest of the year. Of course, he'll look good again against the Cards late in the season. If Lynch has a big game all us Cards fans should jump off the proverbial bridge. The Hawks O-line is lousy. Lynch currently has 44 rushing yards on 19 carries in 2 games. In case you suck at math, that's pretty bad.

My friend who's a huge fan of Seattle will be pissed if the Hawks win. He just ordered his Andrew Luck Seahawks jersey.

Cards vs. Washington 9/18/11

2011-09-18T22:10:00.000-07:00

I'm not one to really ever give credit to the other team. And no, I'm certainly not going to start now. The Cardinals played terrible. Shoot, this whole game was awful. The officiating was unprofessional. (how many times did they call the wrong number? And I swear I saw a ball bounce 2 feet in front of a receiver and they called it a catch) And the commentators must have been practicing with the Cards all week, because they were just as unprepared. I mean they didn't even say anything when the Cards blocked a FG. One time they actually said that "Whisenhunt likes to run the ball." What the? What team did you prepare for? This team hasn't "liked to run the ball" since Ronald Moore days.

I guess you can chalk this one up as another terrible east coast game, or another game where they threw the ball too much, or another game where the linebackers overpursued their gap and got slammed by the cutback. This game reminded me a lot of last year, minus a crappy QB. I just don't get it. When is Whisenhunt going to learn that you actually have to run the ball more than just one quarter? Wait, let me do a quick stat check... Okay they threw the ball 69% of the time. 69%! Which of course means they only ran the ball 31% of the time. Oh and they ran the ball 3 times in the first half. 3 times! Which of course lead to them getting off the field quick, which gave Washington the ball who actually ran the ball a lot and at one point had the ball for 18 minutes while the Cards had it for 2. 2! (those exclamation marks are real, I'm actually yelling).

Just to clarify, for the 20th time, the Cards suck when they throw that much. I mean they suck bad. In the last 12 games in which the Cardinals threw the ball 60% or more they are 0-12. Contrast that with that in the last 5 games in which they threw less than 60%, they are 5-0. How freaking obvious is this? (Sorry, my daughter just scolded me for saying freaking, aka the 'f''word)

Kevin Kolb played well again. He threw for just under 60% completion. This would have been higher if account for the dropped balls. He made good reads and took a monster hit to get the ball to Fitz for the 73 yard TD. One thing I did see that was troublesome. He has way too much confidence in that O-line. He held on to the ball too long some times and paid for it. I love his guts, but he has to get rid of that ball sooner. Even just to throw it away. We need him around for the long haul.

How much longer is Russ Grimm referred to as a good coach? His line has leaks everywhere. Levi Brown and Brandon Keith appear to be getting worse. I know Washington blitzed a lot, but so did we and we didn't get that kind of pressure on their QB. These are the wrong guys for this offense. If they are going to throw so much then send these guys to the Jets, Ravens, Steelers, or even Atlanta where they can do somebody some good. They just can't pass block. I wish they would actually run with them, because I think they would tear it up, but that just doesn't seem to be in the plans. Right now the Cards are in a pass oriented offense with run oriented linemen. That makes no sense. I don't blame Grimmy for the play calling. I blame Grimmy for not slapping Whiz on the back of the head and telling him to wake up.

Jeff King made another huge TD play. At this rate he'll have 16 TD's by the end of the year. The WR looked average. Fitz was a monster like usual with his 133 yards and a 73 yard TD. But the others looked lost. Roberts and Doucet missed some gimme passes with 13 targets, but only 5 receptions for exactly 10 yards per catch. Stuckey fumbled that ball at the end. I guy with that name should never fumble.

Beanie was the great again. 14 carries for 93 yards. I'm pretty sure most of it came in the 3rd Quarter when the Cards actually played real football. He ran well inside and of course ran well outside. He had good vision and some more highlight stiff-arms. But, and this is a big but... someone needs to teach that dude how to stay balanced because he falls down a lot. My buddy always texts me that the grass tripped Beanie again. He would have had way more yards if he could just keep his feet.

The D line looked good again. I like the pressure they get on the QB without the help of their LB's. Calais and Dockett had 5 QB hits together and no sacks. I wish they could get to the QB more, but I think the LB's haven't given them enough help to free them up.

All last year I was yelling at the Bill Davis through the T.V. to teach his LB's some discipline. How many times last year did the LB's run past their assigned gap because they over pursued the run only to have the RB make one cut back for a big gain? I don't know either, but it was a lot. I saw it again today in the 1st, 2nd, and 4th quarter. For some unexplained reason, they actually played well in the 3rd. Oh wait, nevermind. I know why. Because the offense actually ran the ball in the 3rd allowing the D to get rest. Which of course meant that when they were in the game they didn't feel like they needed to make a big play to get them off the field. Hightower must have been drueling when he saw them on the schedule. Cut backs galore. I thought Porter, Haggans, Lenon, and partly Bradley cost them this game with their poor play.

Well at least the good news is that the DB's played better. They actually held a QB to under 300 yards passing. And considering what's happened these first two weeks, that's an actual achievement. Look, the two rookies played O.K. PP21 still doesn't seem to trust that the D line is going to put pressure on the QB, because he gives up too much space. But all in all, they played well enough to keep them in the game. Rhodes was a man on fire... again. This guys just keeps showing up and makes big plays. I'm convinced though that A.W. should never drop back into pass coverage again. Yes, I saw the INT. But did you see him give up another big TD to Moss? He just isn't ready to be back there for whatever reason. Although I hesitate to be too critical, as the entire NFL DB's are getting torched. But I'm talking in isolation here. He just isn't playing well back there. He needs to be close to the line and getting after the QB.

Calais Campbell is tall. And has long arms. And is a freak of nature athletically. And is a monster at blocking FG's. The rest of the special teams was okie dokie. The rookie DB's put together a couple of nice run backs.

In a game where the Skins had the ball 66% of the game, this score was misleading. If Grossman didn't suck so bad, this might have been a lot worse. The Cards stunk the place up in the first half and were only down 3 points. They shouldn't have been in the game after that. I like that they were anyway. I'm glad this was close. But this one falls on coach Whiz once again for not committing to the run and leaving his D out there way too long.

Cards vs. Carolina 9/11/11

2011-09-11T19:19:00.000-07:00

What a difference a year makes. Last year at this time, the Cardinals had just barely won a game against the St. Louis Rams 17-13. Derek Anderson threw for 297 yards and 1 TD on 22/41 (54%) and a QB rating of 85.1. Many of his misses were 10 feet away from the nearest receiver. They ended up running the ball on 33% of the total plays. You left the game feeling like, "I sure hope they don't throw the ball that much every game with D.A." Ahhhh, false hopes. A Cardinal mainstay.

Warp ahead a year later and you get another Cardinal win against Carolina 28-21. Kevin Kolb throws for 309 yards and 2 TDs on 18/27 (67%) and a QB rating of 130.0. He played a very good game and made some Kurt Warner like quick reads. One to Early Doucet went 70 yards on a big play. However this time they ran the ball 46% of the total plays. There was good balance throughout the game.  Play action was far more believable and they seemed to gain some rythem from it.

There is no doubt Kolb is a gigantic upgrade from last year. He looks like he knows how to spread the ball around. He took 7 shots at Fitz, but could only connect on 3 of them as he was double teamed for most of the game. The other WR and TE seemed to pick up the slack and Kolb found them often. His 67 completion percentage is dreamy as was his no INTs. He looked lost on a couple of plays in which he prematurely jumped out of the pocket.  However he did get rid of the ball better than he did in preseason to alleviate too many needless hits. On one play he avoided the rush to find Jeff King wide open for a 48 yard TD. He is making plays with his head first and then his feet. An amazing commodity to have at QB.

(Sidenote: If Cam Newton continues to play like he did today, I'm gonna look like an idiot for saying he's "the next Vince Young only smarter". Vince Young, heck, he looked more like Steve Young.)

The RBs in last years game had 20 carries for 103 yards and 1TD, while this year they had 21 carries for 100 yards and 1TD. When looking at those numbers there seems to be little to no difference. And yet anyone that watched the game knows that wasn't the case. As I mentioned earlier this year they ran the ball 46% of the time as opposed to last year at 33%.   (Last year they only ran the ball 46% or more on three occasions: Oakland, Denver, and Dallas. All three were Cardinal wins) They had a more balanced attack and actually established the run early. Every QB wants a good run game to take off the heat on his receivers. That's just what happened. Beanie ran well, and too my utter surprise, ran the ball off center on numerous occasions. Last year he bumped too many plays outside. It was nice to see a more direct attack from the RB position to set up the play action.  I would be remiss if I didn't mention Beanie's huge fumble in the red zone. That dude has terrible ball security and refuses to fix it. I'm wondering if we'll see a good dose of Chester Taylor some time soon to send a message.

The O-Line held well. Levi Brown gave up some sacks, but for the most part they looked good. They gave Beanie a couple of huge holes to run through, especially on the goal line. That should build his confidence in them to trust running up the gut. We'll see if they stick to that. Pass protection wasn't bad.

The WR and TE did a great job today. Last year 6 receivers caught 2-4 completions and this year 6 receivers caught 2-4 completions. The major, and I stress major, difference is that there were 41 balls thrown last year as opposed to 27 this year. Also D.A. missed guys by a mile, I swear one went 10 feet above Fitz's head, leaving the whole squad with an enormous lack of confidence. Kolb place the balls well and at least a couple were catchable balls that the receivers dropped. Still, they made huge plays when needed. The stats tell the tale; Doucet with a 70 yard TD, King with a 48 yard TD, and Fitz with a big 34 yard 3rd down conversion.

Special Teams were money again. All last year they gave the Cards a chance to win some games. This year it was Patrick Peterson's 89 yard game winning TD.  The Hyphen gave them two good returns which is admireable this year with the new kickoff spot.

The D line looked great again. Again the stats: Carolina ran the ball 27 times for 74 yards for 2.7 yd/carry and a TD. The longest carry was Stewart's 13 yards scamper. That is good solid run D. They put pressure on Newton all day forcing him out of the pocket. Both Carter and Dan Williams made big plays while Dockett and Campbell made themselves known. However, this D thrives on the line getting pressure and sacks on the QB. Zero sacks isn't satisfactory and it exposed Patrick Peterson today. While I'm happy with some of it, I'm afraid I feel like it wasn't good enough.

The LB corps played very well. For being the supposed weak spot of this team they sure seemed to play unaware of that opinion. Darryl Washington was a monster with a .5 sack 7 tackles, one for a loss, a pass deflected and a big INT. He would have had to INTs but the ref saw something no one else on the planet saw when he called Marshall for a bad hit on Newton.  A few plays later the Panthers scored a TD. After the game Whiz said he was never told what the call was. It was one of those plays that the Cardinals used to fold under. This year Washington just came up with a bigger play. Porter had one dumb offsides at the end with no harm done thanks to Paris Lenon (again). The rest of the game he was his former self putting tons of pressure on Newton (1 sack and 2 QB hits) Schofield some plays. Paris Lenon, once again, quietly lead the team in tackles and had a sack and a game saving tackle. Ho - hum for the most underated LB in football.

The Defensive Backs were dreadful in this game. And trust me, I'm not saying that because I thought Cam wouldn't be very good, and instead was a nightmare. I give Cam all the credit in the world for looking like a real NFL QB. In fact, after this game, he might have won a little part of me over.(but that's no different than Vince Young) No, I mean the cornerbacks played aweful. Correction: Peterson played aweful. He was rarely within 3 yards of his receiver and gave up huge plays left and right. He must learn to stay closer or we're looking at another Antrel Rolle. That is, eventually he'll move to safety. This team needs good corners to stick with receivers. They don't have to stay long, but longer than PP21 did today. Jefferson played well enough against a scrub WR.  A.W. made a good appearance, but once again Rhodes outshone him. Yes, I know Rhodes gave up a huge TD by letting Steve Smith get by him. Although it looked like A.W. was supposed to give help over the top. Even with that he was a stud out there. 7 tackles, a sack, a QB hit and a tackle for a loss. He continues to play tough and lead this backfield.

All in all, not a bad game considering the offseason. Also we should consider that this is a better Carolina team than the one that beat the Cards last year. They are showing they are not the 5-11 team last year. The Cards do need improvement in most areas, but its a far cry better than this time last year.  (Also, I am elated that they looked up the word 'balance' in the dictionary.)

Final roster

2011-09-02T20:40:00.000-07:00

My quick thoughts on the final roster cuts:

Is it just me, or does the RB group seem rediculously thin? After Beanie, you have Hyphen, who is not an every down back, and Alfonso Smith. Sherman is a great keeper for special teams and, "wink-wink", fullback. But if... err.. when Beanie goes down is Hyphen going to be the full time back? I guess when you only run the ball 15 times a game they can easily split that. I guess this actually makes sense since Whiz doesn't like to run the ball any more. I mean why stack a position that you don't use?

I've heard of overcompensation but the TE position is over the top. I mean how many TE do you need? King, Housler, and Heap make sense to keep. I'm not sure why they are so hung up on keeping Dray? His fate was decided the day they signed Heap.

I'm stunned Stuckey made the team. Yes, he played well against Denver. But c'mon, that was a preseason game against the 2nd worst team last year. And oh yeah, it was against their 2nd and 3rd and 4th string. Wait, what am I thinking. I keep forgetting that this team refuses to run the ball, so it makes perfect sense to have 6 WR when you're going to throw all the time. When Max Komar gets healthy I think Stuckey gets cut. I love the 5 others they're keeping though. Good group with a future ahead of them.

As for the rest: I'm not sad to see anyone go. Well, I would say I'm sad to see Ben Graham go, but being sad about losing a punter is like being sad that Trapper left M.A.S.H. early in the series. He just wasn't that important to the show and was easily replaceable.

The death of an all time great

2011-09-01T19:15:00.000-07:00

I remember when I heard Wallace and Ladmo was going off the air. It was like hearing the president died. All those mornings watching cartoons and skits with Pat McMahon and laughing till it hurt came rolling back. I would watch as I ate my Froot Loops and get every second of viewing time in before I had to bolt out the door and race off to school. I remember thinking that if I could just get one Ladmo Bag, I would be the coolest kid in school. I would have probably carried it like a lunch sack and when the pretty girl asked me what was I carrying, I'd nonchalantly say "Its just my lunch...huh... wait, how'd that get there? I must have switched this LADMO BAG for my lunch." I think that one usually ended with me being carried off the playground by all the kids while that kid I hated stood by himself on the black top suffering miserably at my exhaltation. Needless to say, Wallace and Ladmo was a major part of my childhood.

Warp ahead 30 years; now I'm a big kid in my truck driving home from work and laughing along as my new favorite show is entertaining me to the hilt. Except this time its on the radio. People drive by me and wonder what I'm laughing at, and sometimes I'm sure they're wondering what I'm yelling at. I park my truck on the side of my house and stay just a bit longer and eek out every second before I race off into the house to go be a dad. Gone are the cartoons, replaced by sports talk radio. Gone is Wallace and Ladmo, replaced by Gambo and Ash.

I've been following them since I don't know how long. They were on some other channels before 910, but that's where they hooked me. My friends and I would listen every day after work and then go grab a beer and go off on how stupid Gambo is, or get into a heated debate about the worst QB in Cardinals history. (that one is a sure fire fist fight starter). Everything we would talk about in the bar would have something to do with what they brought up in the show. Listening to that show was like listening to a couple of old friends talk about sports. The only difference was Gambo was the king of inside information, while Ash was the perfect calm to Gambo's storm. They were amazing at stretching a topic for hours and squeezing every bit off life out of it that they could. I sat right along with them and enjoyed every minute. They also were the best interviewers I've ever heard in sports. I'm not exaggerating. They make all the "professionals" on T.V. look like children. I remember Bob Costas praising them to the highest on their professionalism. My all time favorite interview was when the talked to Pete Rose about baseball for like an hour and not once bringing up betting on baseball. It was so refreshing. Yep, Gambo and Ash was my favorite show, not just on radio, but it beat out almost all T.V. as well.

And then they killed it.

I'm still not sure what happened. KTAR was silent on it, except for a condescending statement that "We just needed to shake things up". I'm not sure why the number one sports radio show needs shaking up, but there it was. No more show. Now I'm left with nothing else to listen to. I'm left with feeling like a kid that just lost Wallace and Ladmo.

There goes another defensive back

2011-08-29T17:56:00.000-07:00

Losing Toler hurts. I love how hard he plays the game and how much his teammates seem to respect him. The good news is that PP21, Jefferson, and Marshall are solid and should be able to handle the load.

No news yet as to whether the Cardinals have contacted Philly to see about a trade for one of their 3 pro bowl corners.

Chargers preseason game

2011-08-28T12:27:00.000-07:00

I've never put any stock in preseason performances. I mostly look for chemistry and evaluate players instinct. This time last year Daryl Washington tore up the opponents 2nd and 3rd strings. He always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. So it wasn't surprising to see him named the starter. Of course, what irritated me to no end was his lack of progression (thank you Bill Davis) through the season. There was also no chemistry last year from D.A. and anyone not named Steve Breaston. You just got that feeling that something was way off and at the time I trusted the Whiz would slap together a good run oriented offense and pound their way to a divisional championship. Little did I know that the grand scheme included D.A. and co. to throw more than any other team in the league. That worked out well.

This year I've got a total different feeling. Kolb looks sharp. He leads and others follow. You can see that the team believes in him. (and unlike Max Hall, he has actual NFL talent and size to back it up) He and Fitz have remarkable chemistry considering the shortened conditions of the preseason. Fitz looks like he's ready to explode with a monster season. The "other" receivers all look solid and ready to contribute. And even if Whiz does have them throw a lot, at least they have a QB that looks like he can handle it. (Oh please stay healthy Kevin, please) By the way, someone tell Kevin to throw the ball away and stop taking needless hits. Beanie looks good, but something still tells me that he's avoiding the holes created between the tackles. (Well at least watching the replays on slo-mo with the DVR is telling me that) The line looks good, although I think someone forgot to tell Brandon Keith that you actually have to wait for the ball to move before you're allowed to. Maybe Levi Brown can talk to him... wait... nevermind.

The defense looks hungry. I mean like they've been in the Sahara for a year and saw their first cheeseburger kinda hungry. Dockett looks Superbowl good and with Horton teaching them this new concept called 'fundamentals', they look like they are ready to rip people up. Again, I'm seeing too many linebackers overrun the gap and get killed on the cut back, but I'm hoping that's just residual from the last two years and not a reflection on the current regime.

Remember when Whiz used to pull plays out of his bag of tricks? It sure looks like he's got that back on the menu.

Maybe I've swallowed a whole keg of Cardinal Kool-Aid, but this team looks ready to compete.

I swear it wasn't on purpose.

2011-08-27T00:50:00.000-07:00

I just finished my fantasy football draft. I picked 7th out of 10. Understand, I'm a firm believer in taking the best players available, snagging people that drop too far, and my absolute lock solid rule is stay away from Cardinals players. So how'd I do? I ended up with Kolb, Fitz, Beanie, and even Q. Yes, I have to start all of them.

This is going to be a long season.

This hurts

2011-08-20T09:17:00.000-07:00

Anyone that knows me knows that I believe running backs are a dime a dozen. With rare exceptions like Barry Sanders or Walter Payton, I think this position is more of a reflection of the offensive line than their talent level. Also, you might note I was very frustrated that the Cards added Ryan Williams to an already crowded backfield. But my heart broke after seeing him tear his patella tendon and witness him realize that his year was over, possibly his career. This kid is talented. He is a strong inside runner with cuts that made my knees hurt just watching him. He has an incredible attitude and you could tell he is loved by his teammates. I fully expected him to supplant Beanie as the starter by week 3. I even had images of a 1,200 yard season and a full compliment of TD's for the guy. A Pro Bowl tag wasn't far behind. But it's not to be. This is one of those losses that takes the air out of not only the team, but an entire fan base. I hope he recovers quick and has a long healthy career, but for now I can't help but feeling like something special was just torn away from me.

The whirlwind

2011-08-01T01:45:00.000-07:00

Free agent signings galore, so what do the Cards have to show for it:

Todd Heap comes back home to combine with Max Hall for a Mountain View Alumni meeting. Couple that with Deuce, Mesa High School, coming back for an all Mesa team. Heap is a great signing. Kolb, unlike Mike Vick, loved playing with Brent Celek and used him often as a security blanket. This is a huge upgrade at the position even as old and brittle as he is. But 600 yards and 5 TD's last year is nothing to turn your nose up to. Right now he's the best TE they've had since... crap... ever? It sure wasn't Johnny McWilliams, or Leonard Pope, or Stephen Spach. Maybe Jay Novacek in '89. With depth at the position now his injuries don't become a major factor. I love this signing.

Oh do I feel bad for Deuce. It's like Oliver Miller all over again. This guy is talented and I was a bit surprised to see the Cards not sign him first. He's lost the weight before, he'll do it again. If not, he's out of work.

Timmy Hightower progressed well over his years here. When he first came into the league I was stunned at how awful his footwork was. It wasn't even good for college. But boy did he improve. The last two seasons it was hardly noticeable. But as we all know his hands are the problem. You can't play that position well and fumble that much. The coaches must share some of the blame for either not teaching him correct technique or not benching him to get the message through. If Tiki Barber can figure it out why can't Timmy. (or Beanie) This opens the door for Ryan Williams. I won't be surprised to see Williams starting by the 3rd week. Vonnie Holliday brings experience and depth to DE. Who knows, maybe he can become a solid contributor like his days with the Dolphins. Normally I wouldn't get excited about receiving a late round pick, but the way the Cardinals have drafted lately I wouldn't discount another gem.

Richard Marshall might fall into the Paris Lenon category of "not much love for a solid starter". I hope he has the year Paris did last year. This gives them much better depth with Toler, PP, and Jefferson. From what I gather, Marshall plays the game as physical as Toler with a high tackle rate. I'm always worried though when I see a CB with a lot of tackles.

He may not be the best guard out there but at least Daryn Colledge started for the best offense. For the last 5 years in Green Bay he only missed 4 starts. Again, this is a great signing for the previously weakest point on this team.

Joey Porter continues to impress me. Although I don't blame him for his lousy year last year (ahem Bill Davis), he took a pay cut to help the team because of it. Thats pretty ballsy. I look for he and Horton to have a fun year together and I think he's got way more in the tank than last year indicated.

Stewart Bradley might take Darryl Washington's starting job this year. Washington played way too undisciplined last year. While I don't totally blame him (ahem Bill Davis), I do think it will take time to route out all the bad habits he perepetuated. Bradley had a good season last year after his ACL tear. This bolsters a thin interior. Another solid signing.

Chansi Stuckey is a wasted signing. If they land Braylon Edwards or Malcolm Floyd, then that leaves Fitz, Doucet, Roberts, and Williams (with an outside chance on DeMarco Sampson) to fill out the position. They love all four of those and I don't see them keeping six like last year. Doucet can never stay healthy so maybe Stuckey fills his spot, but I'd rather see the Sampson kid get a shot than a WR from Cleveland.

O.K. this might not constitute as big news, but I was bummed they didn't land Pat Devlin out of the undrafted free agents. Pat has size and a sick completion percentage. He inexplicably fell of the charts in the draft, and I think Miami got a low risk steal here. I heard the Cards were interested though.

This team has exactly the pieces you want to make a good run. They have a nice mix of veterans and young talent. If they pick up a 2nd WR, then they are solid at every position, with the exception of RT. They nailed this season's free agency.

Moving forward

2011-07-28T23:44:00.000-07:00

I have one last thing to say on this Kolb trade (yeah right). No matter how good Kolb turns out to be this trade is still terrible for AZ. To sell DRC low and buy Kolb high is just bad trading. Then they throw in a 2nd rounder, which is absurd. Then they pay Kolb $12 million a year. Now its asenine. The Cards showed their hand when they spoke of desperation for a QB. Philly promptly drove up the price, which is smart. They should have walked away when they mentioned DRC and let Kolb ask for $12 million from some other team. Kolb is too much of an unknown commodity to be in this kind of talks. The deal should have been finalized at two second rounders (as comparable to the Matt Shaub trade) and a $10 million per year contract (the same that Matt Cassel got). The Cards couldn't have picked a worse time to buy a QB. Which is why its a bad deal. (My friend James says its like when they draft a guy in the first that they could have gotten in the third. Even if the guy turns out to be great, was it a good pick?)

With that said I hope Kevin Kolb turns out to be a perennial Pro Bowler. I like him. I love his 60% pass completion. I hear he's a gym rat. Players say they respect him. And I think he and Larry already have chemistry. Everyone says he'll fit well into this offense, but I think everyone doesn't consider that no one outside of Kurt Warner fits into this offense. I figure Coach will finally realize he has to mold his offense to his players unlike 2011. Otherwise we're in for another long year.

They need to solidify their starting line by adding a LG and resigning Deuce. I guess Hadnot, Levi, and Lyle will be retained which has me wondering. How good can Kolb be with 4/5 of last years line? If they throw the ball 65% of the time like last year, I'll bet Kolb doesn't survive the season. If they go to a more sensible 50/50 or 55/45 pass/run ratio than I think he'll be fine. That would also play more to the strengths of the OL since they fit the mold of a run first offense. But if they threw the ball so much with D.A. and the others, why would they throw less with Kolb?

Aaaargh!

2011-07-28T17:08:00.000-07:00

I sure hope Kolb proves me wrong. With this offense and with this offensive line he better be able to read defenses fast and not hesitate. My guess is he'll be labeled as that guy that "just can't seem to stay healthy".

But even if he turns out to do well, I'm stunned at the logic of this trade on paper. The Cards give a former first rounder (16th) who made the Pro Bowl, was a top five CB in INT during his years, and suffered under a miserable defensive coordinator along with the rest of the Def. Yes, he had issues, but talented players usually do. Ray Horton would have fixed him. They also give up next years 2nd. All for a former 2nd rounder who has played in 7 games with a QB rating of 73.2 and has a history of concussions and promptly paid him $60 million. And since when do back up QB's out of Philly do anything?

Kyle Orton would have been cheaper and brought more experience. John Skelton is now... what? I guess the heir apparent to Kolb or whatever. My guess is that Kolb will have repeated injuries and Skelton will play well when he's out. Thus creating a QB controversy that Coach Whiz will deem "a good situation to be in". Skelton might eventually replace him if the Cards don't land Andrew Luck with the first pick next year.

2011-07-28T16:15:00.000-07:00

I'm gonna miss Breaston, but I feel the same way I did when they let go of Q: WR is just not that important for this team. I'm glad they didn't try to give him too much. Man I'm gonna miss him absorbing hits like Gumby. Roberts, Doucet, and the 249th pick Sampson should step up and fill his gap nicely.

I'm gonna sick up on this whole Kolb for DRC trade. I'm hearing the Cards at least have the common sense not to give next years first, but this is still lopsided in favor of Philly.

Worst moments in Az. Cardinals history?

2011-07-01T19:01:00.000-07:00

Mike Fioro of PFT was listing off each NFL team's worst moments in history. I laughed immediately because the Cardinals have that topic trumped on every level. They can beat you with a bad free agent signing, draft picks, coach picks, plays on field, off field, or yearly standings. You pretty much name the topic and the Cardinals can hang their head in shame. So he started listing off his 4, at this point any other fan would wince in preparation for the impending blow. But not Cardinal fans. No we have grown immune to being embarrassed for our football team. I have visible callouses on my heart that can be seen on a scanner that protect me from emotional turmoil from further catastrophes. He apparently wanted to only mention the last 14 years, completely ignoring the fact that the team is 113 years old.

Here's his top four:
#4 was when the team lost to Dallas in 1987 in week 15 while they were in St. Louis. I guess they missed the playoffs which is pretty big, but I don't remember because I didn't really start following them till 1992.
#3 was when they lost to the Saints in the 2009 playoffs.
#2 the Dennis Green's meltdown after the Bears game
#1 the Superbowl loss.

Really? Sadly 2 of those four stand out as the best moments in Cardinals history. I'll give you the Denny Green meltdown. That's an eternal classic. The Dallas loss does sound bad so I'll trust that it was pretty bad (even though it was when they were in St. Louis.) But N.O.? The Superbowl? The N.O. year represents the first time the Cardinals got to the divisional round of the playoffs in back to back years for over 30 years. They also won 10 games that season, a first in 30 years. They lost to the Superbowl Champs and you could tell they were grossly overmatched. While the Superbowl stands out as the single greatest moment in Cardinals history probably dating back to 1948. It certainly is the best in Az. history.

But even arguing that is insulting the sheer magnitude of the Cardinals ineptitude. Arguing what are the worst moments in Cards history is like arguing what are the best movies of all time. You can't tell me Godfather is clearly better or worse than Casablanca. They're too close to call. Plus you're forgetting the artistic elements of each. And that's just what the Cardinals ineptitude is: art. Its as if Shakespeare himself penned this tragedy and we are just watching his masterpiece unfold through the years. So without putting them in any particular order, let's reminisce shall we?

During the offseason after beating Dallas in the 1998 playoffs and turning the corner into a real NFL team, Chris Gedney, a well loved and respected player is diagnosed with cancer. Bill Bidwill promptly cuts him. The next year they go 6-10. (To be fair, they did resign him later only the damage had already been done)
In 1997, at 3-12 they beat the Falcons in the last game of the season forfeiting the #1 overall pick that would later be Petyon Manning.
In 2003, at 3-12 they beat the Vikings in the last game of the season forfeiting the #1 overall pick that would later be Eli Manning.
In 2011, at 3-12 they beat the Seahawks in the last game of the season forfeiting the #1 overall pick that would later be Andrew Luck. (Trifecta?)
The day they drafted Levi Brown over Adrian Peterson
The day they basically traded Terell Suggs for Calvin Pace and Bryant Johnson (they could have had all three if they actually knew how to draft)
The entire 2002 draft: Wendell Bryant, Levar Fisher, Josh McCown, Dennis Johnson, Nate Dwyer, Josh Scobey, and Mike Banks. McCown made an amazing 8 year career inspite of missing a brain, and Scobey was an average returner. The rest didn't do squat.
Seth Joyner looking like an imbecile as Steve Bono runs by him for a 76 yard TD
Bill Gramatica tearing his ACL while celebrating a made field goal. No it wasn't a game winner.
Buddy Ryan's infamous entrance, "You've got a winner in town."
Buddy Ryan's infamous exit, he left before the end of the game.
Buddy Ryan placing Ricky Proehl and Steve Beuerlein in the expansion draft instead of players that couldn't actually play.
The countless numbers of games the Cardinals lost in the fourth quarter based soley on using prevent defense. The most famous, blowing a 16 point lead with 7 minutes to go against San Francisco.
Simeon Rice bolting for Tampa Bay calling Arizona the "armpit of the NFL". He later won the defensive player of the year.
Thomas Jones breaking his hand while "answering a phone".
Ken Whisenhunt dumping Matt Leinert because Derek Anderson could run the team better.
I can't remember which game, but I swear the Cardinals had a game where the other team called for an instant review to assess whether the pass was a completion. The ref came out and after the review threw the flag against the Cards. He saw illegal contact while looking at the instant replay. Only the Cards.
In 1996, the Jets go 1-15. Their only win, against the Cards. Adrian Murrell runs for big yardage, so naturally the Cards traded for him the next year.
In 2010, the Panthers go 2-14. One of their wins, against the Cards.
Leonard Davis getting called for a false start on the Rams 5-yard line with 7 seconds left down 5 points. One ten second run-off later, the Cards lose.
Joe Bugel vs. the Ultimatum
The hiring of Dave McGinnis to motivate the Cards to go 19-45 during his tenure.
Give Jake Plummer more money than he actually asked for.
Taking $15 out of a players paycheck because the Cardinals used Fedex to give it to him.

That's good for now. I'll add an addendum when my buddy James calls to tell me 20 more.

They don't need a new QB.

2011-07-01T00:50:00.000-07:00

Still frustrated by all this talk about the Cardinals desperately needing a QB, I went out blogging for other guys thoughts on the situation. All the ones I read had the same phrases in them: the Cardinals need a new QB badly, QB is the top priority this offseason, the Cardinals suck, and I miss Kurt Warner. O.K., I agree with the latter two. But the very fiber of my being opposes the first two statements, which are essentially the same idea. The Cardinals absolutely do not, I repeat do not, need to go get a new QB as a top priority. I can even make an argument that they could have gone to the playoffs last year with D.A. starting every game. But let me focus in on the idea that the Cards desperately need a new QB. I'm a stats guy so let me state my position by hitting the numbers.

The 2010 Cards threw four QBs at us: Derek Anderson, Max Hall, John Skelton, and some guy that backed up Daunte Culpepper in the UFL). Since none of them really stood out that much, let's lump all their stats into one. Yes, that's one awful QB. And for discussion's sake, if I mention another team I'm going by team stats rather than one individual.

The first stat that makes me want to vomit is the total percentage of pass plays. Since there's only two types of plays on offense (pass and run), the two numbers have to equal 100%. (I'm sure someone will call me out on this, but whatever). The Cardinals threw the ball 64% of the time and ran the ball 36% of the time. Let's just focus on that 64 passing percentage. To put this in perspective the Superbowl Champs, Green Bay, threw it 56% and the Pittsburgh Steelers 50%. New England: 54% Indi: 63% New Orleans: 63% That means the Cardinals threw the ball 8% more than the pass happy Packers. If G.B. is pass happy then what does that make Indi and N.O.? And the Cards actually threw more than they did.  Also, those five teams have at least one thing in common: a really good QB. It makes sense that they'd throw as much as they do then. So maybe Big Ben doesn't belong in there. Fine. Maybe thats why the Steelers throw the ball less than the other four. Now if those teams have stars at QB and the Cards have less than squat, why do the Cards throw more than them? Wouldn't it make sense for the Cards to throw less than any of these teams? Even Pittsburgh. If they throw the ball 50% for Big Ben how much should the Cardinals throw with what they've got? Coach Whiz asked his QB's to throw like the other superstars in the league and then when they didn't he threw them under the bus saying, well they didn't execute. That's like telling Josh Childress to shoot most of the jump shots for the Suns and then reaming him because he didn't execute. Well no crap he didn't execute. He can't shoot. You're a moron for asking him to. I don't blame the Cards QB's for the rediculous percentage of pass plays. That's on coach Whiz.

Now let's compare the Cards to some other successful teams that didn't throw the ball very well. The Raiders went 8-8 last year and surprised the crud out of me. I thought for sure they were gonna win only 2. The Chiefs, another major surprise, went 10-6 and had a good sniff of the playoffs. The Jets went 11-5 and are looking like anything less then the Superbowl is a dissapointment. All these teams had one stat in common: pass completion percentage. They were all in the bottom ten: K.C at 58% ranked 24th, Oakland at 57% ranked 28th, and the Jets at 55% ranked 30th. The Cardinals were 51% and dead last in the rankings. And worse, they were a full 2% points behind Carolina (yes, that Carolina). In statistics, you might call the Cards an outlier. Kinda like the planet Pluto. All these teams had bad things happening at QB this year. K.C. and the Jets at least had the same guy look bad. Oakland was similar to Az. when they ran out Campbell, and Gratkowski. Yet this is the thing that blows me away about those three other teams. Going back to the percent of rushing plays from the second paragraph: K.C. ran the ball 54% of the time, Oakland 64%, and the Jets a whopping 65%. Compare that to the Cards 36%. You see, those teams get it. When your QB sucks, don't throw. Instead of trying to fit a bad QB into a system designed for a Hall of Famer, just hand the ball off and let your line do the work. And don't try to sell me that those three teams had studs at RB to start the season. Only Shonn Green was supposed to be good and he sucked so bad he almost single handedly destroyed my FFB season. (Ironically, Jamaal Charles and D. McFadden saved it). I love that these three teams take the ball out of the QB's hands and give it to the RB behind the O line. At worst you run the clock down and beat up their Defense while resting yours. At best you set up play action and give your bad QB a chance to throw to someone open downfield.  Coach Whiz refused to help his QB's out with run support. Instead he just tried to force his players into his offense, rather than make an offense that compliments his players. That's either stubborn or stupid. And that'll win you 5 games in the leagues worst division.

So what if you put D.A. on the Raiders.  Would they be much worse? I bet they'd be about the same. Gratkowski and Campbell probably won't be in the league much longer. Maybe the Chiefs and Jets would be worse, but I don't think by that much.

Question: who would you rather have at QB: a) Dennis Dixon and Charlie Batch, or b) Derek Anderson and Max Hall? If you answered c) Neither, then you answered correctly. However, Pittsburgh in their first four games were without Big Ben due to a suspension for being an idiot. So they ran Dixon and Batch out as fill in. Steeler fans were hoping to at least go 1-3 and then try to recover the season when Ben got back. In game one of the season they ran the ball 57% of the time against a 13-3 Atlanta team and won. The second game they ran 65% against the Titans and won. Game 3 they ran 65% against the 10-6 Bucs and won. In game 4 they ran against the staunch 12-4 Ravens 54% and they lost. (They only lost because Jeff Reed missed two 40+ FG's towards the end) With two bad QB's the Steelers game plan was to run the football behind that line and let the QB's throw some to maintain some balance. Lo and behold Batch and Dixon get the Steelers to 3-1 without Ben. Does that mean the Cardinals need to run out and get those two guys? They'd probably be dumb enough to do that.(Actually, there were rumors about getting Batch) Obviously it means that if a team like the Steelers can put the offensive game squarely on the shoulders of the RB's and the O-line then why couldn't the Cards? You might argue that they don't nearly have the talent that Pitt does. O.K. but is that because they are less talented or because they never got the opportunity to run that offense? Even if they weren't as talented as the Steelers, I bet you they're better than Oakland or K.C. At the beginning of the season everyone was raving that this offensive line is the deepest and one of the more talented ones in the league. But then they threw the ball 64% and told them to play against their strengths. (I feel bad for Alan Faneca. Man did he pick the wrong team to come to. We forced him to retire.)

So the question remains, do the Cards desperately need a new QB? If they are going to throw the ball 64% of the time then I say a resounding YES. But who's out there that can succeed throwing that much? Kolb? Bulger? Hasselbeck? Orton? Hill? (I might go for Carson Palmer, but he sure hasn't looked good for a while.) C'mon. Not even Peyton Manning or Drew Brees threw that much.  Now, let's say they wised up and modeled their team after one of the aforementioned teams and ran the ball 55% or more. Well then, and let me be bold in this statement. If they had done that in 2010 with all the same players and Derek Anderson at QB, even then I say they win the division and make a third straight playoff appearance. And I'm not saying much, because that division is considered the worst in the history of football. They only needed to win essentially 2 more games. And if they had, what would we be talking about? Here you go, we'd be saying how smart coach Whiz was to modify the system to play to the strengths of his players. Sure, we'd also be saying that they need to improve the QB position, but without the intense desperation.

So what should the Cards do? Simple. Coach Whiz needs to change his offensive philosophy to a more conventional run oriented one. (that he ironically ran before Kurt Warner) He needs to build an offensive line that fits that run orientation. (4 out of the 5 starters last year would be considered a more run oriented type of lineman anyway) Then go lowball one of those veteran QB's and start him till they think Skelton is ready. While running the ball this takes the pressure away from that position and gives Skelton a chance to ease into the role.  They certainly don't need to fret so much if Larry Fitzgerald doesn't get a ton of catches. I don't see Hines Ward complaining about his Hall of Fame career in Pittsburgh. Now that they've committed to Ryan Williams they need to run him between the tackles and hope he hangs on to the football. (ahem Timmy and Beanie)   And this hopefully rests the defense and gives them new life after the dreadful year they had last year. (in which I fully blame Bill Davis) Will they then be an amazing football team? No. Well, maybe no. At best they have a chance to be like the Chiefs or Jets, which is pretty darn good.   But it would be a far cry better than what they did last year. And it won't take a drastic change at QB. But it will take a drastic change from a very good head coach.

*A couple of other interesting stats I found:

The Cards four highest percentage of run plays were 50% against the Raiders, 47% against Denver, 46% against Dallas, and 45% against the Saints. All four games the Cardinals won. Their only other win was against the Rams; they ran 33% of the time. In that game Derek Anderson played well and Sam Bradford played like it was his first start ever. (It was).

They went 3-2 in games when the QB threw no interceptions.

2011 Draft grades

2011-06-29T13:39:00.000-07:00

5th pick - Patrick Peterson CB. Only three times have the Cardinals picked who I wanted in the first round. The first time was Antrel Rolle. The second, Matt Leinert. I'm not sure if I'm happy about that or not, but there it is. The third time was Patrick Peterson. Landing the best player in the draft at the 5th spot is unlike the Cardinals. Usually they land the 63rd ranked player around the 5th spot.(Wendell Bryant anyone?) Peterson is one of the rare freaks in sports that should change the way the position is played. He's big and physical and athletic. Some say he'll end up being a safety like Rolle.  For now he's the perfect compliment to DRC. Where DRC can guard the speed WR, Peterson can guard the physical one. I love this pick. Grade: A+.

38th pick - Ryan Williams RB. I'm a little kid when it comes to drafts. I was working during the second round of this one and on a break had my friend read the 2nd round picks in order so I could predict and grade them as he read each.  I couldn't believe Akeem Ayers was still on the board when he got to the Cards. (I'm still smarting from when they drafted Beanie Wells over Rey Maualuga in 2009.) So I was excited to hear the Cardinals could actually address a glaring need with a guy who fell almost 20 spots to them. He was an easy steal. And then they turned back into my Cardinals. Explain this to me. They already only run the ball 36% of the time with Timmy and Beanie, who share the load. Throw in The Hyphen and you have a crowded backfield. So their brilliant plan is to draft another one?  Each of them will get, what, 5 carries per game? What the heck? And even on top of that, when are they going to learn the RB are a dime a dozen. You don't even have to draft them. (See Legarrette Blount and Arian Foster for further details) Oh, and RB's only last like 3 years anyway. I hate drafting RB's this early. In spite of all that, I actually like this Ryan kid. He's determined and tuff, if not small. He also doesn't fit this "running system" as he's more between the tackles. The Cards seemed to like to run outside last year. He actually did grade out well(88), so this is a high grade pick. But they absolutely ignored need. That's myopic. Grade: D

69th pick - Rob Housler TE. After passing on a quality LB in the 2nd, I was sure that they wouldn't do it again in the 3rd. Especially with Justin Houston on the board, (a projected 2nd rounder, top 50 player). Why do I always underestimate the Cardinals? Of course they pick the TE a round too early that can't block or catch with his hands. Housler is a major athlete, and when he gets the ball he will leave most LB's in the dust. But he can't block the run. Another indication that Coach Whiz is being stubborn and gonna throw, throw, throw. Even though they currently don't have anyone to throw the ball. If he can learn to block, (his strength grade indicates he can) he will be a quality tight end. Right now he's a tall WR who lines up at TE. He will be a poor man's Vernon Davis. Grade: C-

103rd pick - Sam Acho DE. I love this pick. As far as the draft is concerned, he's a steal. He was projected to go in the 3rd or even late 2nd.  He both fills a need and he grades out high. A high quality pick. As far as his play, he's actually not great at any one thing. He is that consistant guy who seems to be in the right place at the right time. He won't blow by many lineman, but he will take the correct angles in pursuit and will bring stability at his position. He reminds me of Michael Bankston. Not sexy, but consistant. His greatest asset is off the field. He is a respected and loved leader on his team and is a servant to communities both in and out of America. This is a high quality guy. Great pick. Grade: A

136th pick - Anthony Sherman FB. Drafting a FB not named Mike Alstott is never interesting. This guy is a solid, yet exclusive blocker in a system that doesn't really use one very well. However he looks to be a special teams dynamo which I'm all for. Those guys are always underrated. Grade: C

171st pick -Quan Sturdivant ILB.  Somewhere out there Rod Tidwell is screaming, "That's my word!" At least he's staying in the Cardinal family. This guy is more than a name though. Projected to go 2 rounds earlier he falls into the Cards lap in the 6th. He is heady and tuff. He isn't quick or even extremely athletic. But he will beat you to the spot with smarts. Normally, you question whether a 6th rounder will make the team. This guy might start at some point this year. Grade: A

184th pick - David Carter DT. Not a bad backup. Although I see them sticking with veteran to back up Dan Williams, so I'm not sure if this guy makes the team. Grade: D

249th pick - DeMarco Sampson WR. Sometimes I think the Cards should trade their 1st three picks for a plethora of late rounders. They seem to draft better in the late rounds. DeMarco is a solid pick. He's a good guy with good athletic ability and loaded with confidence. He was the 2nd in a tandem at SDSU with Vincent Brown, so its possible we haven't seen all from him yet. This guy has some good upside. He will have a fight on his hands to crack this WR roster though. I hope he makes it. Grade: B

Kolb for DRC is asenine

2011-06-28T22:18:00.000-07:00

This whole talk of Kolb at QB has got me yelling at the radio in my truck. There are just too many reasons its a bad move. But throwing in DRC is over the edge. Let me explain.

First off, the 2010 debacle on offense is Whisenhunt's fault alone. I'm fully convinced. End of story. And no, I don't believe they were bad because of the lack of talent at QB. Yes, I believe that to be great you have to have a stud QB. But when you don't have one, you have no option but to run the air out of the football. The great recent examples are KC with Cassel, Chicago with Grossman, and the Ravens with Dilfer. (If Chicago can win with Rex Grossman than the Cards can win with my grandma at QB) Coach Whiz ran this offense like Kurt Warner was still back there and not DA, Hall, and Skelton. No one bears the blame on this offense but the head coach. Why didn't the players execute? Because they weren't put in positions to be successful. Think about this, with D.A. struggling the Cardinals threw the ball 64% of the time. 64%! Who's genius idea was that? The best friend of a struggling QB is supposed to be a good run game. Instead they just had him throw more. And remember, this run offense posted a top 10 yards per carry average in the league(4.3). A coach should know what he has and should do anything to make it work. He tried to pound these guys into being Kurt Warner, and I'm sorry, only 3 guys I can think of can do what he does, and they are under contract in Indi, N.O. and N.E. My point, QB wasn't the problem with the 2010 Cards, it was philosophy. Sadly, the former OC in Pittsburgh didn't know how to change from a hall of fame QB system to an average QB system. Plain and simple.

Now about this trade. Kolb is obviously unproven. In 2009, Kolb had his best season; he played two and a half games and had an 88.9 QB rating. He posted a very respectable 64.6 completion percentage and looked amazing against a very bad KC team. But he was very average against the Super Bowl Champion Saints team. That's it. Two games. In 2010 he gets his first real look as starter and his horribly average; starting 5 games with a 76.1 QB rating 7TD's 7 INT, and gets a concussion. He still posts a very good completion percentage(60.8%), which is a major plus for me. But it isn't enough. This is an uproven player with concussions in his history.

Also, any stock broker worth a lick knows to sell high and buy low. Well, Kolb's stock is skyrocketing. Not because he did anything, but because everyone's desperate for a QB and they keep outbidding each other. This reminds me of the fantasy football draft when I see guys go "all in" for Chris Johnson while I relax and grab Andre Johnson, Reggie Wayne and Arian Foster for the same price. The worst thing you can do is panic and sacrifice your future for a questionable commodity now. This is the worst time to buy Kolb. What about DRC? Well, he's coming off easily his worst season. So his stock is way low. Absolutely the worst time to sell.

Mark my words: DRC will be a probowler in 2011 if he's in AZ. Ray Horton is the new DC and he will light a Herculean torch under DRC's butt. No one knows how to get more out of a DB than Horton. This guy made Brian McFadden look good. And if DRC doesn't perform well, then Ray'll do what the useless DC refused to do in 2010 and sit his butt on the bench. I am salivating at the thought of Ray Horton leading Adrian Wilson, Kerry Rhodes, Patrick Peterson, Greg Toler, and DRC in the backfield next year. It could be the makings of greatness.

I don't know about you but I thought John Skelton looked good. Not great, mind you. Just good. The thing that stood out in my mind is his poise under pressure. He reminded me of Big Ben. I don't know if he's gonna be that good, but he has definite similarites that helps teams win. That is, if they know how to run the football. And I see his stock rising. There is ample potential there to be cultivated. No matter what veteran they get this year, John will push for the starting spot. With that in mind, should the Cardinals give up a lot to get Kolb who "might" be the future or just roll with an average veteran and coach Skelton up? I'm going with the latter.

As for picking up a veteran, there a plenty of serviceable QB's out there at a low cost. For one year I could see Hasselbeck, Orton, or even Bulger coming in. Only Orton might give you more than a year, but Skelton should overtake all of them before 2012. Hasselbeck seems like the natural fit, but I don't know if he'll have the fire that Orton will have. Orton wants to earn a job somewhere in this league while Matt just wants to finish another season safely. If Orton doesn't cost much (3rd rounder or later), I'd nab him.

One last thing on Kevin Kolb: he wants big money. I hear he wants to be paid like the big boys and that has me petrified. This guy has done NOTHING. NOTHING! You're putting all your chips on a guy that has a lifetime QB rating of 73.2. That's nuts.

I'm actually not against getting Kolb. But it has to be the right price. I think I'd give up a 2nd rounder for him if he'd listen to reason and take a moderate contract. But I'm not breaking the bank for him. And I'm certainly not giving up a 1st rounder (which will end up being a good player) or DRC (who will be a star). This trade wreaks of needless desperation.

2010 DT

2010-12-22T19:26:00.000-08:00

*Originally posted on Facebook on April 18th 2010

Name (projected draft #)

1) Gerald McCoy(#3)- I know, I know, Suh is the best ever. Hear me out. McCoy is extremely athletic and his motor doesn't seem to stop. He can play end and I'll bet can even drop back into coverage. His agility and balance are exceptional. His versatility at the positions give him more opportunity to be successful at the next level. I don't see him as the typical NT. He's more like Dockett than Gabe Watson/Branch. He gets the nod over Suh, because Suh will mostly play the DT, while McCoy will move all over the line. Also, I like being controversial.

2) Ndamukong Suh(#1) - Extremely cerebral and excellent bull rush, this guy is dominant. He has perfect balance and reads his blockers flawlessly. His hands are always ready to knock the ball down. However, he has only one move, bull rush. He seems to just wait for his blocker to get off balanced and then takes advantage. While he is amazing at it, less centers/guards in the NFL will make those mistakes and he can't always bull rush. He has to mix up his attack to be consistant. Still though, he's a can't miss stud.

3) Brian Price(#34) - Underated. Explosive and balanced, this guy can get to the QB. His motor is always going. He stays low and gets under his blockers throwing them off balanced. He looks like he knows he's shorter than all the other DT's and has short mans disease. I like what I saw from this guy and could be a great steal in the second round.

4) Dan Williams(#13)- Teddy Bear like. Not what you might want to see at DT. He seems to get pushed around a little and may be hit or miss on plays. I like his character. He's nice. But who wants nice at DT (see Dockett and Sapp) Williams can rush and will be a player. He is one of the top athletes at his position and he will be good, but he has to lose some baby fat first. I want him on my team, but I don't want him this early in the draft.

5) Terrence Cody(#44)- This guy ate Oliver Miller. Holy Cannoli this guy is big. Last I saw he was 370 but he seems like he just wants to break weight records. He's really strong and fills the holes. He's the unsexy player who makes other teams run around him, decreasing rushing yards against by 10-15 yards. If you like the brick wall over center than this is the guy. But don't the Cards already have Branch/Watson?

6) Lamarr Houston(#52) - I like his instincts. He seems to anticipate the play well. Could be just good coaching but he seems to read RB' well. Pushes his blocker into plays. He might be a half step behind other DT (like Rodrick) but if his instincts are truly his, he'll be in a ton more plays. I don't see him as a 2nd rounder like most projetions, but I wouldn't be sad if the Cards reached for him there. (Depends of course on who else is there.)

7) Jared Odrick(#28) - I don't like him. He's athletic, but he looks lost sometimes. He has character issues, some say. He plays upright, and at 6-5 thats way up there. He looks like he should've played TE, but I'll bet he has bricks for hands. Still though, he is athletic and that makes him versatile, but I just don't see it in the 2nd round.

8) Torrell Troup(#64) - Couldn't find much film on him, but what I did I really liked. He just recently shed weight which was limiting his explosiveness. Knows the NT position and is solid against the run. Looks like a leader with some fire. Good guy too. Won't get many sacks early. He has to commit to developing quickness and stamina. I kinda think this is one of those guys that will pay off later under good coaching. A good prospect in the early 3rd round.

9) Linval Joseph(#60) - Nope. Can't tackle laterally. RB's better run into him. Don't see the fire in him. Certainly not a late 2nd rounder. Needs a good coach to groom him.

10) Cam Thomas (#67) - One dimensional run stopper. Bull rushes exclusively. He's big and strong and uses it well to plug the middle. A good back up DT, unless you don't want pressure from the middle and just want to stop the run, then he might start.