10 thoughts - Colts game

[Cheesebeef]

Is it better than not getting to the playoffs? Is it a improvement?

It’s improvement at a minuscule level. And not a good season. Only fans with pathetic expectations would call a year where you lose 6 of 7 or 7 of 7 to end the year “good” in any way shape or for.

It’s also a season with big flashing red lights of an awful pattern of ineptitude from this coach in EVERY YEAR HES EVER COACHED. you can use foresight to avoid future doom. And if we finish the season losing 6 of 7 or 7 of 7, we get what we deserve if we bring that underachiever back.

You may be good with scraps that fall from the table. I’m different.

 

[Gandhi]

If we win 2 playoff games there won’t be one unhappy fan.

I disagree on that one, CC. I can understand the view, since it would show improvement, and thus give hope for the future. It is just kind of in my blood that I always want to win. It doesn’t matter the situation, the flow of the game, the process of the game, the opponent, the site of the game, or anything else – if they don’t win, I get very disappointed. To me, any season cannot be considered a success if they don’t win the Super Bowl (even though there are different nuances of non-success). I am not saying that it is a rational or realistic standpoint, but it is just how I feel.

 

[Cardsfaninlouky]

1 – Good job on Jonathan Taylor. Other than his 43-yard run, he “only” had 65 rushing yards on 26 attempts. That’s 2.5 yards per run. Absolutely acceptable.

2 – Rodney Hudson’s absence has been catastrophic. The offensive line has been a liability for weeks.

3 – We can discuss his play, but Kyler Murray the athlete was back after hiding for some weeks.

4 - I have never understood why so many fans underestimate special teams. Case in point: this game.

5 – Is Kliff Kingsbury on the hotseat if his team again go up in flames at the backend of the season? Would a playoff berth overshadow context?

6 – Max Garcia have had waaaay too many bad snaps during his center-adventure this season.

7 – Against an o-line with four new starters, the Cards’ d-line should dominate a lot more.

8 – Christian Kirk has had a nice season… until now.

9 – I am proud of Antonio Hamilton. He played really well as replacement for Marco Wilson.

10 – After the Niners’ loss some days ago, the Cardinals will probably still get in the playoffs (now it is official, by the way). And guys, it is all about getting in. Upsets does happen in the playoffs. If you are in, anything can happen.

6- Rodney Hudson needs to play in order for the OL to be good but he's had some bad snaps also. He didn't have to snap the ball in shotgun as much to Carr during his Raider days.

9- I've been impressed with Hamilton all year, Wilson has been playing like his Gator Days during this losing streak, we have to see where his shoulder is at now after Saturday? We will need Hamilton & Kevin Peterson in the playoffs & may even need to sign another CB off the street with Alford also being out?

 

[Cardsfaninlouky]

His offsides alone is a drive killer for a offense which is really built on finding a rhythm

Now we're seeing why Josh Jones slipped to the 3rd round. Obviously Steve Keim didn't see it lol.

 

[Cardsfaninlouky]

Get Hudson back in and we have the backs and QB to have a running game and that still holds true for winning in the playoffs. This defense also has to start getting turnovers again, we cannot afford to let tip passes fall to the ground. There were at least two tips which hung in the air and there was no defender to seize the opportunity

Well we know why Baker wasn't there to catch the tipped passes, too busy concentrating on Taylor cause our rush defense sucks ass lol.

 

[DaHilg]

Hudson makes the o go.
They need him healthy.
Get josh jones out of there
He is a nightmare

jones, Garcia, Harlow all nightmares. Humphries is overrated - average LT. Beachum slightly below average. This Oline is horrid without Hudson.

 

[Cards_Campos]

It’s improvement at a minuscule level. And not a good season. Only fans with pathetic expectations would call a year where you lose 6 of 7 or 7 of 7 to end the year “good” in any way shape or for.

It’s also a season with big flashing red lights of an awful pattern of ineptitude from this coach in EVERY YEAR HES EVER COACHED. you can use foresight to avoid future doom. And if we finish the season losing 6 of 7 or 7 of 7, we get what we deserve if we bring that underachiever back.

You may be good with scraps that fall from the table. I’m different.

Injuries affected us much more than people realize. Yes we are not built with depth. Most teams are not. But losing JJ Watt was a major blow. Losing DHop was a major blow. Losing Hudson and Edmonds was a major blow. The NFL is already pretty even every weekend full strength. Chargers went toe to toe with Kansas City and have played some of the best teams and won. They Goto Houston who is awful and get blitzed with their season on the line. Tampa lost 9-0 to New Orleans 9-0!! Tom Brady scored Zero!!! This league has 16 teams who could win it all if they get lucky and hot. GB has the best record and they have got lucky on probably 3-4 games. US. Cleveland. Baltimore
For sure. They easily could have 5 losses if things just slightly went a different way like it did for us. We have beaten some really good teams fully healthy. We are not. You are right Kyler can’t carry this team no more than Lamar Jackson can carry his. You need everyone in this NFL. The AFC best record is 11-4 and we would be 2nd in the AFC. It is what it is with injuries but this team and most Cant win without its core players. DHop was instant first down in a lot of situations and was always worried about which left other players open. JJ Watt was a major run stopper. And opened the field for Jones.
No one is elite and if we play at an 80% level we can hang with anyone. Fix the mistakes. Missed Kicks. Some penalties. And get a little luck we can win it all.

 

[JeffGollin]

The Cardinal fatalist in me leads me to believe that there are still ways to for us miss the playoffs and that the media gurus have made a glaring mistake..

Playoffs? We don't deserve to make the playoffs.

 

[WisconsinCard]

I was with you in the Green Bay game, because the whole media was "poor widdle Packers" which was clearly BS. Lately, we've been playing decimated teams and so, yes, I'm going to dismiss our injuries, because all things being equal, we have still been sucking.

That is what a team with a true transcendent QB looks like. They can win with an average squad.

 

[WisconsinCard]

Well we know why Baker wasn't there to catch the tipped passes, too busy concentrating on Taylor cause our rush defense sucks ass lol.

That is so true, but not just this game. A ball is tipped up, even by a wide open WR and there is nobody close enough to make the pick. There is nobody within 5 yards of the receiver.

 

[Gandhi]

9- I've been impressed with Hamilton all year, Wilson has been playing like his Gator Days during this losing streak, we have to see where his shoulder is at now after Saturday? We will need Hamilton & Kevin Peterson in the playoffs & may even need to sign another CB off the street with Alford also being out?

I agree, CFL. I first got Hamilton on my radar during training camp, and it seems like he has been able to take his good play to the regular season as well. I also agree that Marco Wilson has been below level for the last couple of games, so while I am not necessarily saying that Hamilton should replace him fulltime, I do think it would be good to balance out the playing time a little.

 

[Russ Smith]

What i dont get is why was colt mccoy the holder on kicks?
How can he be that bad??
Jeff Rodgers is supposed to be a very good special teams coach..
How can they go into this game so unprepared..i know andy lee was a late scratch, but how dont you prepare for these things during the year.
This is part of the details that kliff is missing?

I asked that too but I think I figured it out from a story on Cardswire and it makes sense. https://cardswire.usatoday.com/2021...alists-after-p-andy-lee-landed-on-covid-list/

We worked out 3 punters, 3 kickers and a long snapper(Beau Brinkley again) during the week. Why? Because Lee spends lots of times in meetings with with the long snapper and the kicker because of FG's and XP's so it was reasonable to assume that both Prater and Brewer were at high risk of testing positive later in the week. So they wanted to have replacements lined up at all 3 spots.

Because of that, the logical guy to practice holds during the week was McCoy because it took them awhile to decide which punter they were going to replace Lee with. I would assume once we settled on Winslow we had him practicing too but by that point presumably they decided to stick with McCoy, who was obviously really bad.

During the game i just kept thinking how could they not know how bad Colt would be but I guess in hindsight it makes sense Winslow probably didn't get much reps, Lee tested positive the 22nd even if we signed Winslow the next day he only got 2-3 days and remember he's practicing with the long snapper for punting too.

 

[Chopper0080]

jones, Garcia, Harlow all nightmares. Humphries is overrated - average LT. Beachum slightly below average. This Oline is horrid without Hudson.

You left out Pugh at OG.

The problem with our offensive line is that there is not one great player on it. Crazy when you consider how much money we spend on it. Humphries is average to above average. Pugh the same. Beachum average. Hudson was the glue that added a above-average piece to the group and made it better as a whole. And Harlow and Garcia aren't bad but you can't have them next to each other, in front of a inexperienced QB, and expect great things.

Honestly, for all the crap they get, I thin our line was better than Indy's. Wentz just managed it a bit better and made some huge throws in the red zone were Kyler struggles because he can't read fast enough.

 

[WisconsinCard]

I agree, CFL. I first got Hamilton on my radar during training camp, and it seems like he has been able to take his good play to the regular season as well. I also agree that Marco Wilson has been below level for the last couple of games, so while I am not necessarily saying that Hamilton should replace him fulltime, I do think it would be good to balance out the playing time a little.

The rookie wall is real, and I think Marco is probably hitting it. These dudes have never played this many games in one season ever.

 

[GoldGloveschmidt]

You left out Pugh at OG.

The problem with our offensive line is that there is not one great player on it. Crazy when you consider how much money we spend on it. Humphries is average to above average. Pugh the same. Beachum average. Hudson was the glue that added a above-average piece to the group and made it better as a whole. And Harlow and Garcia aren't bad but you can't have them next to each other, in front of a inexperienced QB, and expect great things.

Honestly, for all the crap they get, I thin our line was better than Indy's. Wentz just managed it a bit better and made some huge throws in the red zone were Kyler struggles because he can't read fast enough.

Went had 3 rushers coming at him in the red zone with all day to throw. Kyler had rushers in his face instantly

 

[PJ1]

No crap if we win 2 playoff games there won’t be unhappy fans.

My response to you saying was about it being a good season if we’re one and done and end the season losing 6 of 7. Try and follow along with your own points.

I disagree on that one, CC. I can understand the view, since it would show improvement, and thus give hope for the future. It is just kind of in my blood that I always want to win. It doesn’t matter the situation, the flow of the game, the process of the game, the opponent, the site of the game, or anything else – if they don’t win, I get very disappointed. To me, any season cannot be considered a success if they don’t win the Super Bowl (even though there are different nuances of non-success). I am not saying that it is a rational or realistic standpoint, but it is just how I feel.

Well then you must be suicidal.

 

[BigRedRage]

Our DL is absolutely pedestrian outside of maybe Allen. Losing watt has been a big deal

 

[Gandhi]

Well then you must be suicidal.

Fortunately, I am not, PJ1. It is just an opinion that you should always strive to be the best. You might not reach it, but it is a way of pushing yourself to get better. In that perspective, I do think that the Cardinals can have an acceptable season without getting to the Super Bowl, but successful? No, I will never say that.

This doesn’t translate to life in general, by the way. That would probably lead directly to stress.

 

[Stout]

The rookie wall is real, and I think Marco is probably hitting it. These dudes have never played this many games in one season ever.

No doubt. I'm not worried about the kid. He's been nails his rookie season. I'm only worried about him being injured at this point.

 

[DaHilg]

You left out Pugh at OG.

The problem with our offensive line is that there is not one great player on it. Crazy when you consider how much money we spend on it. Humphries is average to above average. Pugh the same. Beachum average. Hudson was the glue that added a above-average piece to the group and made it better as a whole. And Harlow and Garcia aren't bad but you can't have them next to each other, in front of a inexperienced QB, and expect great things.

Honestly, for all the crap they get, I thin our line was better than Indy's. Wentz just managed it a bit better and made some huge throws in the red zone were Kyler struggles because he can't read fast enough.

Harlow is a swinging gate - reason why he’s never saw any action until with Cards.. Garcia, I will be sickened if he is part of ANY starting o-line in the league next year. Pugh never met expectations. That interior line across the board has been atrocious the past 2 years especially. Only when Hudson is in - deficiencies were hidden slightly.

As for Colts, another team I watch extremely closely being I grew up in Indiana - that team was built right with plenty of depth, especially in the trenches. Chris Ballard is a heck of a GM. (Thankful every time we play SF that Buckner isn’t there!) That’s not to say their back-ups are starter quality, but certainly better than ours on the OLine.. and certainly a lot better when your DC doesn’t apply defensive pressure on them - making their job and Wentz’s job easier. You can look to Colts start of the season of 1-4 to see where their banged up offensive line got them in the start of the season.. even at that time they weren’t missing as many Oline pieces as the other day but Nelson was out amongst a piece or 2 on the Oline during that stretch. Lastly, as much as we love Edmonds/Conner they don’t sniff JT’s jock strap.