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.
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