Achievers-Cheaters-& No Shows: Mid-Season Report Card

[cardpa]

I would give Fitzgerald a C because of his lack of leadership. He should be one of the leaders on offense and has failed in that department.

DRC gets a C-

I agree Brown and Keith get a break from me and get C- Watching the Minnesota game and Sendlein giving away the snap count was dismal to say the least.

I think all of the other grades are spot on.

 

[Cardiac]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?sl..._bye_week&bcmt=5938318#mwpphu-comment-5938135

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-packerspeak&bcmt=5934659#mwpphu-comment-5934659

Normally, a bye week constitutes a couple of walkthrough-like practices, with many of the over-30 players sitting and watching. A lot of the veterans have watched the first two days of practice during the Steelers' bye week, but the sessions have been anything but walkthrough-like. "Mike T crushed us a little bit because, if we would have won, we would have been two games up in the division," linebacker Larry Foote said, referring to coach Mike Tomlin and Sunday's loss to Baltimore. "But I'm OK with where we're at and the way we're flying around. We're (going) in the right direction. God willing, we stay injury-free." The Steelers are slated to practice today, then won't have to report to the South Side practice facility until Monday.



So what's the secret to Reid's success when coming off an open date? Well, part of it comes from serving on Mike Holmgren's staff in Green Bay from 1992-98. Holmgren took the unusual approach of basically giving his players and coaches an entire week away from football during the bye, both with the Packers and Seahawks. And like clockwork, Reid brought his players in Monday morning following a 37-19 loss to the Tennessee Titans and told them to get lost for a week.

I can recall Bill Parcells wanting to keep his players around the practice facility until Friday before the bye so they wouldn't be tempted to secure discount fares to Cabo. Reid simply reminds his players to "be smart" and doesn't put any sort of a restriction on their travel plans. I talked to Eagles tight end Brent Celek on Wednesday night and he sounded like a different guy. He's been battling through various injuries since training camp.

"It almost felt like the offseason or something," said Celek, who returned to his lake house in Michigan for a few days. "I feel a million times better and I think the time off is something that we really benefit from."

http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/nfl/106479313.html


The Texans are 4-2 for the first time ever and tied for first place in the AFC South, but they’re licking their wounds as they head into their bye week.

Players got their first of five days off on Wednesday.


I'm not going to take the time to look for each teams local paper and get news about how they did or didn't practice during their bye week.

On a "bing" search the only teams that I found that practiced more then the Cards during the bye week were the Steelers and the Bills.

The Steelers piece is interesting because it appears to me that since they lost before their bye Tomlin had them practicing harder.

I thought that this might ease Mitch's frustration with how Whiz handled the bye week. It seems most teams hold a practice or two and then get the week off.

As for the team only playing hard or well when they want to and the bye week that Whiz gave them a week off for as evidence of this; well I disagree.

 

[Cardiac]

ACHIEVERS: Good, Effort Players Who Have Generally Impacted The Games in a Positive Way. Mid-Year Grades in Parentheses.

I agree with most of your grades and it is a fairly subjective thing anyway.


The biggest question marks were:

(1) Could the Cardinals continue their winning ways in the NFC West without QB Kurt Warner?

(2) Could the Cardinal defense rebound from its abysmal finish to the 2009 season?

Thus far, the answers are a resounding no on both counts.

It has been very dissapionting this year thus far. I know some of us expected the team to struggle during the 1st 1/2 of the season but that isn't the same as living through frustrating blow outs and close losses. Knowing it's going to hurt but then actually feeling the pain is not the same.

For a team that was facing the speculation that Warner had as much to do with team winning as anything or anyone else, the results have been mind-boggling, for the following reasons:

(1) The handling of the Matt Leinart situation. The Matt Leinart decision was one that had to me made right from the get-go. For it to happen at the very end of training camp and for the Cardinals to not have more attractive options in place put the team's chances for success in total jeopardy.

I don't think we will ever know how and why this played out the way it did. On the surface it appears Whiz just went stupid and screwed this up to high heaven. I for one don't think that's the case but the only evidence I have is what I believe is an otherwise stellar resume from him.

(2) The speculation was that Warner was so dynamic because he developed a strong chemistry and timing with his receivers and because he had the autonomy to make on-the-field calls, audibles and adjustments.

HOF QB who was coached up to regain his former abilities and improved on others. Haley and or Whiz were the difference. Oh and Warner was as accurate a passer as anyone.

What the first of half of this season has done is it has exposed the consistent flaws of Ken Whisenhunt's coaching and offensive schemes, because the consistencies of it:

* No QB in Arizona other than Warner has been able to perform with even a modicum of success in Whisenhunt's offense.

Well we really haven't had much time with other QB's playing since Whiz has been here. He seemed to run a pretty good O in Pittsburg and then adapted his O to fit with the talents of Warner.

* Lack of a sustained running game. Even without Warner no added emphasis has been placed on the running game.

The running game has improved since Whiz and Grimm have arrived. It's not where most of us want it to be but nothing is done in a vacuum. The run game can and will be affected by how the rest of the offense is doing.

* Lack of adequate pass protection, especially when it matters most. Whisenhunt's refusal to "chip" opposing DEs, especially when the matchups heavily favor the DEs, has cost this offense time and time again. (Note: This week TE Brent Celek of the Eagles said that the key to their win over the Colts was the way they chipped DE Dwight Freeney. Celek said that after a while Freeney stopped even trying, that it took the heart out of him. This is why a team with Mike Vick at QB can beat a team wirh Peyton Manning. Its in the planning.)

Whiz gave Bridges a bunch of help against Jared Allen last year so his refusal to chip could be better stated as not using it consistently enough. The point to that is you give Warner a ton of credit for how this offense performed (rightfully so) and his impact on the game planning. Most of us know Warner wanted every eligible reciever out in their patterns as soon as possible on every play. I get the impression the Cards have had far more max protection plays this year already then all 2 1/2 year Warner started for us.

* Poor time/clock management late in halfs and games.

Examples in the Bucs' loss:

1. Rushing a 4th down and goal from the 2 at the end of the first half, with a timeout still available.

Whiz's thinking there was that if we don't score the Bucs are pinned against their own goal line, the D has stuffed them for most of the day and that time out would give the Cards a chance to get back into field goal position with the great field position they would have had. If you look closely at this thought process it is rather clever.

Agree or disagree but I don't think is blarring evidence of poor clock management.

2. Passing on 1st and 10 from the Bucs' 20 yard line, with a little over 2 minutes left, and the Bucs down to their last timeout.

Not a bad call but poor execution by DA who had been on one of his "hot" streaks.

3. Even after the interception, there was still a chance if the defense can stop the Bucs from running out the clock, and yet on the very first play, the Bucs gain 25 yards versus what should have been a prevent the run defense, because the defense with Alan Branch on the edge (why?) loses contain.

I would argue Branch has been playing better run defense then CC, DD, and Porter. The issue was the Safety that came flying up and Blount leaped over him.

* Playing the best players at times when there is absolutely no need to---in fact at times where it's totally stupid to. Examples:

Anquan Boldin getting hurt in the Packer blowout due to a high Leinart pass. (You would think that after the Boldin disaster in NY, he would have been the first to take out in another meaningless game)

The year the Cards went to the SB right? The year that the Cards experienced several blow out losses. The 2nd year of Whiz's tenure where he was trying to change the "give up SOC" culture.

It's football and sometimes players get hurt. I can't believe that you who believes Whiz is too lax on players now wanted him to throw in the towel.

Beanie Wells getting 15 carries in the second halfs of pre-season games when he is nursing a knee injury.

Beanie needs reps to get better. Beanie wants to play as much as possible.

* Trick Plays. These make the Cardinal offense creative...like the flea flicker versus the Panthers in the 2008 playoffs that Warner and Haley drew up on the plane...or the end around WR pass from Stevie Breaston this past week that helped lead to the Cardinals' only 3 offensive points of the second half.

Warner hated flea flickers so I'm not sure he helped draw that up but I may be mistaken.

While the trick plays are great...you can't build an offense around them.

Throwing stuff against the wall and hoping it sticks? How may trick plays do the Cards run each week? Is it more then any other team in the league?

* Late arriving plays and even on timely called plays, bringing virtually every snap down to the 1 second mark of the playclock. No quick snaps...and thus giving the defense a predictable edge.

I haven't noticed this but it could an issue. All the new faces in new places could also be a factor in making sure everyone is lined up properly.

* Poor passing to the RBs...poor execution on screen and flare passes...and almost no passing to the TEs.

Truly has been horrible this year. Warner wasn't a fan of throwing to TE's, never ever in his career.

* Sloppily designed and executed 2 minute drills that feature three yard passes and a colossal wasting of time between plays.

I'm pretty confident that the plays called weren't for 3 yard passes. The two minute O before halftime against the Vikings was a thing of beauty. Huge brass ones by Whiz to go for a 3rd and 19.

2010 Offensive Rankings (after 8 games):

Yards: 31st; Rushing: 28th; Passing 31st; Sacks: 31st; 1st Downs: 29th; Red Zone %: 13th; Points Per Game: 20th (which, if you took away the return TDs would be 31st).

Yep, horrible QB play will earn you these stats.

The greatest strength of Whisenhunt's offense is his ability to make the right calls and get the right execution in the Red Zone. Even without Warner, this year's team ranks #13 (after being #1 last year). The problem is, the offense isn't getting into the red zone nearly often enough, as it was last year.

Spot on. Doesn't this give some evidence that Whiz is a pretty good Offensive mind and not such a horrible OC? Harders thing to do is score in the redzone without much of a running game. Yet Whiz with a crappy QB is still getting results.


(2) As for the defense...the excuse during the playoffs---in which they gave up an NFL record 90 points in consecutive games---was that the unit was injured. This year the unit has been healthy...and the results are pretty much the same. The consistent patterns here under Bill Davis (with many carry-overs from Clancy Pendergast) have been:

* Inability to stop the run...showing particularly no interest in stopping power backs...even allowing third stringers like Jason Snelling (ATL), Mike Tolbert (SD) and LaGarrette Blount to have career 100 yard plus days.

I'm not gonna say Davis is or is not a good DC. I will say that the jury is still out on him until the end of this season.

* Inability to pressure the edge...both on the pass rush and in defending the run.

* Poor contain on the edge.

* Shabby, inconsistent tackling. This year the best, surest tacklers are Paris Lenon, Greg Toler and Michael Adams.

Money Mike is fearless isn't he? I am more confident of him making the tackle then anyone else on this team. The poor tackling issue is not confined to just the Cards but it is unacceptable at this point.

* Poor fundamentals in tackling...poor pursuit angles...not breaking down, like the way Adrian Wilson lunged and whiffed on Percy Harvin.

Adub looked pitiful on that play. Harvin has done that to many an NFL player but for him to have those quicks on that ankle was amazing. Adub did break down nicely on a tackle later in that game.

* Very few hard, statement-making tackles.

Yep, Dansby was always good for one or two of those a game.

* Porous coverage, especially late in halfs.

Has been the issue with the Cards since I have been a fan. Please can someone, anyone fix this.

* Poor game planning. When an All-Pro like TE Antonio Gates is wide open all afternoon, what does that tell you?

That All-Pro Gates has had more then one of these games. It also tells me that Davis was schooled by Turner.

* Weak defense on the perimeter...inability to cover WR hitch screen, RB screens, reverses, waggles, bootlegs.

The Falcons game was awful, they got the edge anytime they wanted. I don't recall major issues in the other games but this season does have a bunch of bad play all on sides of the ball.

* Poor deep help. It is still impossible to believe that Brett Favre was given a clear passing lane right up the middle from 30 yards out and under 30 seconds left without a safety being right there at the goal-line.

Weren't there 3 DB's in that area?


* Lack of in-game adjustments. How can the Vikings keep passing to a wide-open slant? How can they hit the TE seam pass two times in a row?

Yep, very frustrating.

* Poorly conceived matchups. Michael Adams on Donald Driver (no better option?). Adrian Wilson on Visanthe Shiancoe (no better option there?). Paris Lenon on Bernard Berrian? Please.

I doubt that the D scheme is to have Lenon on Berrian. The OC put in a play that pushed the D into unfavorable match ups. It happens in every NFL game every Sunday for every Team. Did the Dolpins draw up a D that had a LB to cover Q. Nope, Whiz and Haley called a play against a D that they hoped to get so they could get that match up.

* Playing and starting veterans who are unproductive.

In many or some fans opinions.

* Slow development of draft picks---Whiz is much better at getting the young players involved early. With Davis, it's been awfully slow.

Who? Toler is starting in his second year as was CC.
D-linemen rarely have a huge impact in their 1st couple of years.

* Players totally gassed at the end of games to the point of standing around.

Well TOP has been awful this year. The D doesn't get enough 3 and outs and the O has far too many of them and TO's. I don't think the players are not condiditioned well enough, wouldn't Lott have made sure of this?

* Players quitting on plays, especially in coverage.

Quitting or getting beat?

* Blown coverages, especially in key sitations and on third downs. The consistent refrain of players like Wilson claiming the players are "not on the same page."

Constant refrain? Most teams when they aren't playing well say they must do better at getting on the same page and eliminating mistakes. 2 new starters for the DB's with 3 more new faces at LB and yeah maybe there will be a learning curve. Time to get it fixed.

* A misunderstanding of how to use Adrian Wilson. There are several other personnel issiues, but the one with Wilson is most disconcerting.

He doesn't cover well unless he is in deep zone, he doesn't have any blitz moves and hasn't been effective there for awhile and he does get caught up in the wash along the line at times. I don't have an answer and apparently neither does Adub or Henderson or Davis.

2010 Defensive Rankings (after 8 games):

Yards: 30th; Rushing: 28th; Passing: 27th; Sacks: 17th; 1st Downs: 30th; 3rd Down %: 21st; Red Zone %: 5th; Points Per Game: 28th.

Aww man these are horrible. Some blame goes to how poorly the O has played and the number of TO's but aww man are the rankings pitiful.


Davis' strengths show up in these stats as well. Thanks to some timely blitzes (which he likely should call more of) the Cardinals get to the QB and force turnovers...and the defense stiffens in the red zone...but, it gives up far too many yards and coversions, far too many long sustained drives (The Bucs' game---4 drives covered over 320 yards)---and at times too many quick hitting drives (The Vikings' last 3 drives in the 4th Q & OT: 4 plays 40 yards; 4 plays 62 yards; 4 plays 46 yards).

Like the offense the good news is the Red Zone % stat...only the offense doesn't get there hardly at all, and the defense find itself there far too often.

Kudos to ST Coach Kevin Spencer who has found a way to keep the team in games. This guy is sharp and has kept improving the Cardinals' STs year after year.

Team Leadership:

The Cardinals' best game this year was their beating of New Orleans at home 30-20. There were many uncanny things that happened in that game...but one thing was clear, unlike in many other games...the players were jacked and fought hard for 60 minutes...the term MAX EFFORT was spawned there, and it applied to the entire team.

This game manifested what this team is capable of...even with an undrafted rookie at QB...

Yet...the most telling STAT of all???

Come to find out the players prior to the Saints' game had added incentive of earning a whole week (besides one perfunctory walk-through practice) off for the bye week with a win.

See my separate post on this "stat".

The reality is...this team is severely lacking in veteran leadership...and in players who are thoroughly committed to winning.

Really? I'm upset about the W/L column but I'm not throwing the entire team under the bus for a lack of committment.

The players collectively have succumbed to a level of complacency that

That is...the most important stat.

The coaches are to blame...they always are when a team plays as poorly as the Cardinals have. Coaches DO create culture.

Yep, a culture that has turned around the worst run franchise to a two time division champ and a conference champ.

But, the players have to make the difference...they are the ones who have to embrace the culture...and they are not.

Sure they should be fired up for Seattle...

This team gets fired up for the games THEY WANT to get fired up for.

Patriots players decided they didn't want to get fired up for the Browns last week. This is the only team since the Dolphins in the 70's that has had a perfect regular season.

This is why, we the fans are getting cheated.

In years past I felt like I was getting cheated. Since Michael B and Whiz I feel like a VIP.

This team is a total c-teaser.

You last line shows how upset you are, very unMitchlike.

I gotta say how impressed I am with the amount of time you put into your posts, it took me an hour just to respond. That much passion and dedication should be rewarded with a third consecutive division title.

 

[JeffGollin]

Mitch - I'm blown away by the analysis and the amount of work that went into it.

I'd tend to be a bit wary about being too arbitrary about the grades, however, because (not being on the scene) we're not privy to the back stories that may exist for many players (i.e. injuries, coaching, schemes, personal issues) as well as the hidden factors we don't know about that may be the "real reasons" certain plays were screwed up.

That said - I think there are three ways you can evaluate each player: (1) pure performance based on "what you actually see on the field or via the TV screen", (2) performance as a percentage of potential (with such stuff as injuries factored in) and (3) outcomes regardless of injuries or other extenuating circumstances.

I tend to wax philosophical with regard to overall team performance. There's been the typical bad stuff which combine with the good stuff to make us 3 & 5. I tend to believe that - all warts and pleasant surprises considered - we'd be a .650 football team with better quarterbacking.

Other things that vex me: (a) timely mistakes - like the Hightower drop, Blount hurdle, the Breaston drop in the end zone. Rhodes fumble, A-Dub's wrong turn etc. (b) really bad one-on-one tackling. (c) an interior run-defense that can sometimes turn mushy. (d) "blockers standing around" toward the end of plays (Not everyone - the one I notice most is Brandon Keith). (e) a lack of physical superority/domination by linemen on both sides of the ball -we tend to get pushed around more than we push around the opposition.

With the exception of "(e)" all of these problems can be remedied by consistently greater concentration, focus, discipline and effort.

(Note - You might notice that I let coverage by the DB's off the hook. That's because I'm not sure if what sometimes look like mental lapses are really more a function of "sometimes you eat the bahr and sometimes the bahr eats you").

 

[Cardiac]

Hey Mitch nice job. I liked the read and agree with quite abit of what you said.

Some things that I would like to differ with you on is the offensive line play.

You have been around football for a long time. You know that the biggest advantage that the offensive line has is that it is aware of the snap count and can get a jump on the opponent because of it. I have been constantly been aggrevated with the performance of the blocking. I rewatched the last game and have decided somethings about the offensive line. Our tackles, while not world beaters, are not as bad in pass protection as the world thinks. Lyle Sendlien is the cause of a lot of problems for the offense. The last half of last year and so far this year he has been giving away the snap count. When compiled with your correct assertation that way to many of the snaps come exceedingly late, signaling the snap of the ball creates difficulties beyond belief for the tackles when facing quality pass rushers. Now he has taken his betrayal even further. He is signaling the snap count when the qb is under center also and on running plays. How can you expect the offensive line to perform up to expectations when they are missing the most important advantage? That is knowing the snap count and the defense not knowing.

This has been covered before but with so many posts I'm sure I've missed info as well. Sendlien isn't tipping the snap, that up and down head motion is the Cards way of doing a silent count/snap. No it's not unique to the Cards and yes they sould vary how long the line waits after the head bob to snap the ball. Take notice at the next Cards home game, the head bob is almost never there.

Now the second thing about the offensive line. Why at the end of most running plays are they all standing around at the end of the play. That just confounds me. Looks to me like poor coaching or poor play design. Surely Grimm is responsible for one or both of those areas. Shame on him.

I'm going to have to watch this more closely. It didn't seem to be an issue in Pittsburgh when Grimm was there and wasn't his MO when he was a player but more then one poster has commented on this.

Finally, what is with all of the pushing that the tackles do in pass protection. The tackles are using their hands to push the rushers outside and not doing a very good job of slowing the pass rushers because of it. Just a guess, I figure that the Cards don't have a lot of offensive holding penalties by their tackles. (McKinney of the Vikings could have had one called on him every pass play on the last 2 drives last week.) This looks to me as if it is a flaw in the system mechanics and not the tackles themselves.

The O-line has cut down all their penalties by a ton this year, great observation. Our OT's are at best solid at this point. If they get into a disadvantageous situation then they can't hold up.

As a result, I give Sendlien a grade of a nice solid D. Our tackles should have a grade approacking a C and maybe because of the lack of chipping in pass protection give them a C+.

I'd give Sendlien a C but I'm not good at watching O-line play during a game and even then I don't know th blocking schemes/calls so my grade is just a guess.

 

[Duckjake]

Really? Great run defenses do not consistently let 3rd stringer RB's have career games. This run defense is awful.

You missed one important word. "had".

In the last 8 games of 2007 the average per game was 80.75. Including putting a -18 on Detroit.

In 2008 if you take out the 3 no show games (Vikings,Pats,Eagles) the Cards only gave up an average of around 90 yards rushing per game, which would have been 4th best in the NFL. That's great run defense for 80% of the season.

In the playoffs they allowed only 72.5 yards rushing per game.

In 2009 through the first 6 games the average was 67.5 including holding Seattle to 14 yards rushing and Gore to 30 yards on 22 carries vs SF.

Then for some reason the wheels fell off and they haven't stopped anyone since.

 

[Mulli]

You missed one important word. "had".

In the last 8 games of 2007 the average per game was 80.75. Including putting a -18 on Detroit.

In 2008 if you take out the 3 no show games (Vikings,Pats,Eagles) the Cards only gave up an average of around 90 yards rushing per game, which would have been 4th best in the NFL. That's great run defense for 80% of the season.

In the playoffs they allowed only 72.5 yards rushing per game.

In 2009 through the first 6 games the average was 67.5 including holding Seattle to 14 yards rushing and Gore to 30 yards on 22 carries vs SF.

Then for some reason the wheels fell off and they haven't stopped anyone since.

If you take out the first eight games this year, the run D is awesome!!!

 

[Duckjake]

If you take out the first eight games this year, the run D is awesome!!!

Quite the opposite. They haven't made one single tackle. Slackers

 

[Mulli]

-5/5

You are such an engineer.

FeEd tHe bEaN.

 

[Duckjake]

You are such an engineer.

FeEd tHe bEaN.

A little early in the day for you to be doing psilocybin isn't it?

 

[Cardinals.Ken]

This season is a disaster and a setback.

It may be a disaster...but it'll only be a setback if the playmakers, coaches, and decision makers don't park their egos and learn from the experience.