Adrian Wilson: Rhodes not the freelancer Rolle was

[vince56]

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/car.../20100904arizona-cardinals-safety-tandem.html

Veeeeery interesting comments by Adrian in this piece. If he can deliver, I think Rhodes will be a step up from Antron too, as he's a better coverage safety than Rolle.

 

[Shane]

Nice write up! Don't let Cbus read it.

 

[TheHopToad]

"I think it was addition by subtraction," Wilson said.

Pretty strong words about Rolle, especially coming from AW.
​

 

[Heucrazy]

If the Cards can get any pass rush the secondary is going to be sick this year.

 

[SpokaneCardfan]

If the Cards can get any pass rush the secondary is going to be sick this year.

Is it me or has anyone else noticed the past couple of years that when the D rushes the Qb that they always seem to get bunched up in the middle.It is like the Oline pushes them together so they can't move forward.

 

[Cbus cardsfan]

meh, we'll see. I don't think it's ever a good idea to become less athletic and that's what they have done. Alot of guys can be in the right position, communicate well, and so on, the bottom line is making plays. It would have been nice for Rolle to play in the scheme more and make plays, that would be ideal, but, given the choice, I wold take the playmaker over the scheme guy any day. I'm sure Terrence Holt played the scheme well and communicated well. Look what that got us.I know Rhodes is clearly better than Holt. I was just using him as an example.

 

[mrbyte]

If the Cards can get any pass rush the secondary is going to be sick this year.

and pass rush will be the key...lets hope Porter reurns to form

 

[BW52]

meh, we'll see. I don't think it's ever a good idea to become less athletic and that's what they have done. Alot of guys can be in the right position, communicate well, and so on, the bottom line is making plays. It would have been nice for Rolle to play in the scheme more and make plays, that would be ideal, but, given the choice, I wold take the playmaker over the scheme guy any day. I'm sure Terrence Holt played the scheme well and communicated well. Look what that got us.I know Rhodes is clearly better than Holt. I was just using him as an example.

I think you bwill see Rhodes is a more consistent player and won`t get burned like Rolle.I think you will be happy with Rhodes.

 

[cardsfanmd]

Is it me or has anyone else noticed the past couple of years that when the D rushes the Qb that they always seem to get bunched up in the middle.It is like the Oline pushes them together so they can't move forward.

That's because the pressure was coming strictly from the line. That's why the signing of Porter and the development of our young OLBs was so important. Thank you, Cody Brown.

 

[CtCardinals78]

meh, we'll see. I don't think it's ever a good idea to become less athletic and that's what they have done. Alot of guys can be in the right position, communicate well, and so on, the bottom line is making plays. It would have been nice for Rolle to play in the scheme more and make plays, that would be ideal, but, given the choice, I wold take the playmaker over the scheme guy any day. I'm sure Terrence Holt played the scheme well and communicated well. Look what that got us.I know Rhodes is clearly better than Holt. I was just using him as an example.

Rolle was a liability in coverage. Sure, he made big plays, but for every big play he made he allowed at least 3 or 4 big plays that hurt the team. I am happy as heck Rolle is gone. I think the secondary will be much improved with Rhodes. Sure they may not make as many big plays but, the play will be more consistent and I expect a lot less big plays to be given up at the safety position. This team will not miss Antron.

 

[Shzm13]

Pretty strong words about Rolle, especially coming from AW.
​

He also said:

"We did lose a great playmaker and a great player, but I think we gained a great player who can make plays also in Kerry," said Donnie Henderson, the Cardinals' new defensive-backs coach. "I think we made out on that one. Kerry's going to be where he's supposed to be. . . . I think we've got a pretty good dynamic duo."

Meh, not that big a deal.

 

[Chopper0080]

A freelancing free safety is always tricky because, for the most part, they are the last line of defense. I am a little shocked to hear Kerry Rhodes being compared to Terrance Holt, but there is a drop off in athletic ability between Rhodes and Rolle. The one thing that I look forward to is the hopeful elimination of the big play. With Rolle it seemed that he was unable to grasp the fact that there are times and situations where you have to stick with the scheme. Rolle just seemed to try and read eyes, and he seemed to fail more then he succeeded. With Rhodes I hope to stay more in position, and have better positioning in the back line of our defense.

 

[Pariah]

He also said:
"We did lose a great playmaker and a great player, but I think we gained a great player who can make plays also in Kerry," said Donnie Henderson, the Cardinals' new defensive-backs coach. "I think we made out on that one. Kerry's going to be where he's supposed to be. . . . I think we've got a pretty good dynamic duo."

Wilson didn't say that. Coach Henderson did.

 

[football karma]

I seem to recall some defensive series where AW was yelling at Rolle --

 

[Shane]

meh, we'll see. I don't think it's ever a good idea to become less athletic and that's what they have done. Alot of guys can be in the right position, communicate well, and so on, the bottom line is making plays. It would have been nice for Rolle to play in the scheme more and make plays, that would be ideal, but, given the choice, I wold take the playmaker over the scheme guy any day. I'm sure Terrence Holt played the scheme well and communicated well. Look what that got us.I know Rhodes is clearly better than Holt. I was just using him as an example.

Kerry Rhodes is VERY athletic and his time in the league is a proven play maker. You are just determined to hate him.

Rolle specific athleticism only helped hi when he had the ball in his hands. Very rarely at any other time did you see it make any difference on the field.

 

[Duckjake]

Rolle was a liability in coverage. Sure, he made big plays, but for every big play he made he allowed at least 3 or 4 big plays that hurt the team. I am happy as heck Rolle is gone. I think the secondary will be much improved with Rhodes. Sure they may not make as many big plays but, the play will be more consistent and I expect a lot less big plays to be given up at the safety position. This team will not miss Antron.

The same applies to Adrian Wilson, would you be happy if he were gone?

The team probably won't miss Rolle since they really needed to improve coverage ability at S more than anything else and from reports it seems Rhodes will do that.

 

[SoCal Cardfan]

Rolle was Deion Sanders.

Minus the ability to actually cover anyone I mean.
Oh.. and Rolle was a better tackler.. sometimes.

 

[vince56]

Rolle was a SS playing FS. We already Wilson. I've thought the last two years "Man wouldn't it be great to have a cover safety to go with these hitters" and now we have one. I'm on board.

 

[Russ Smith]

The same applies to Adrian Wilson, would you be happy if he were gone?

The team probably won't miss Rolle since they really needed to improve coverage ability at S more than anything else and from reports it seems Rhodes will do that.

Completely true but you can't have TWO safeties who get lost in coverage often and since AW was a big factor rushing the QB and moving up in the box to shut down run games, the logical move was to let Rolle walk and keep AW.

Rolle is amazing once he touches the ball, spectacular, but he's a very mediocre cover man. He was overmatched at CB and was regular out of position at FS. I think everyone forgets the first play of OT against Green Bay, Rolle gambles and loses and the WR is wide open for a TD but luckily Rodgers missed him. I've seen Antrell play in 2 preseason games and he's been badly burned in both of them for TD passes. He is what he is, he takes too many gambles for a FS.

 

[CardinalChris]

meh, we'll see. I don't think it's ever a good idea to become less athletic and that's what they have done. Alot of guys can be in the right position, communicate well, and so on, the bottom line is making plays. It would have been nice for Rolle to play in the scheme more and make plays, that would be ideal, but, given the choice, I wold take the playmaker over the scheme guy any day. I'm sure Terrence Holt played the scheme well and communicated well. Look what that got us.I know Rhodes is clearly better than Holt. I was just using him as an example.

I think Rhodes was a "step back" in the athleticism department, but Toler, Washington, Porter, Williams are all step up in that department.

 

[bwonger06]

I would say Rolle and Rhodes were about on par athletically. Rolle never had the speed coming out of college (which is why he was slated to move over to FS as his career progressed) and his tackling is atrocious. I can remember the numerous times where he'd take the worse route to a ball career and ended up face masking them or even the dive at the knees and total whiff (although he has gotten better as of late).

Rhodes is just as athletic if not more and taller than Rhodes. Athleticism was never the problem with Rhodes, it was always mental and laziness.

 

[Pariah]

his tackling is atrocious.

I've seen this from a lot of fans and some in the media, but I always thought that for a CB his tackling was pretty good. He certainly wasn't afraid to come up and support the run--and with CBs, that's half the problem with tackling, their willingness to do it.

Rolle had a lot of faults; I don't think tackling was one of them.

 

[Jetstream Green]

I still think about the Titan game last year and ask myself, where the hell was our FS on that last second TD

 

[Duckjake]

I still think about the Titan game last year and ask myself, where the hell was our FS on that last second TD

Look at all the games last year and ask yourself where the heck were all of our DBs once we got ahead 17-3?

We gave up season high or 2nd highest single game passing totals to 6 different QBs last season. PManning, Schaub, Cutler, Young, Hasselback and Rodgers and won 4 of the 6 games. Hopefully the addition of Rhodes and Porter will put a stop to that. The high passing totals not the winning.

 

[SoCal Cardfan]

I've seen this from a lot of fans and some in the media, but I always thought that for a CB his tackling was pretty good. He certainly wasn't afraid to come up and support the run--and with CBs, that's half the problem with tackling, their willingness to do it.

Rolle had a lot of faults; I don't think tackling was one of them.

His rookie season I thought "damn, this kid can tackle"
But he got considerably worse every season in my opinion.. I can't count how many times he just threw a shoulder at someone on the sideline, and they kept on running.