And Now-----The End of the Beginning

[Catfish]

As last year's sorrowful season wound down, Michael Bidwill must have been mortified. The lofty heights that the franchise had reached during the Warner years, had come to a very pitiful end. There was no longer any hope that Whiz was on track to fix what had become a sinking ship. He had simply drilled to many holes in the hull to let the water out, and she was steadily settling lower and lower in the water. Michael made the first move. He sent Whiz and company packing, and promoted Steve Keim to help right the listing vessel.

Together, Bidwill and Keim settled on Bruce Arians to be the new skipper. It became Keim's job to supply the talent, and Arians was to be the one who brought in the teachers to manage the new roster. Bidwill provided the money. There was no shortage of either money, or effort to transform what had become a mere shell of the team that had played in the Super Bowl. While the defense was decent, (even good), the offense had become impotent and unable to put points on the board.

At that time, not even those three could have imagined just how different that roster would look when training camp started. Keim and BA pared the roster of dead weight, and too high-cost contracts. Then they quickly selected, (and signed), a number of veteran free agents to low cost, short term contracts. Great thought had been given to they type of players they selected. All were basically self-starting gym rats, who possessed leadership qualities. None were high dollar divas.

Then they set about planning for the draft, where once again, they selected mostly players who had exhibited leadership qualities, and who were mostly self-starters. There was some chance-taking done, but it was not done without giving much thought and planning to the scenarios. National talking heads gave the team high marks for their selections and UDFA signings. Keim proved to be crafty in maneuvering in the draft to create selections.

When Oakland opted to replace their QB, Keim and BA snapped him up, and the Cards inherited a proven veteran, Carson Palmer to run their offense. Things were really beginning to look up.

Then the teaching began in earnest, as mini-camps and OTA's ensued. As Training Camp neared, they review their strategy, and decided to revisit a couple of free agents that they had initiated talks with some weeks back, and brought two more players into the fold to fill holes that they could not yet feel comfortable with. That was on the O-line, and at Pass Rusher on Defense. OT Eric Winston, and DE John Abraham were signed to short term contracts, and now the roster appeared to be ready to tackle Training Camp.

Today, Training Camp, officially begins, and while it certainly is not the end of the off-season, it does mark the end of the beginning. Now it is time to see just how successful Bidwill, Keim, and BA have been with their expenditures of time, money, and effort. Now is the time to begin to actually play football with their new-found roster.

While I know that the jury is still out on the job done by these three, I am certainly anxious and excited, and thrilled with the plan they hatched, (and especially with the way they executed it). Simply turning over their roster to the extent they did, was a huge achievement. Now if the roster turnover pays off with the dividends that they envisioned, then many, many Cardinal's fans will be very pleased this season.

 

[Buckybird]

 

[40yearfan]

Great post Catfish. Thanks.

BTW, this is my 32,000th post and your next one will be your 3,200th post.

Rookie.

 

[Goldfield]

Good read. I couldn't be happier with the effort this franchise and mainly Steve Kiem put this team together. How it plays out on the field is always a crap shoot. But they did as good as they could in one off-season.

To up grade the QB, oline, RB, lb, cb, dl, and only drop one position FS. I am thrilled. <- my opinion.

 

[Mitch]

I love the whole tenor of this off-season, Catfish---it's a dream come true just from the standpoint of making a full-fledged effort to address all of the team needs and to go into the season with a concerted plan and direction---one full of passion and commitment. To me, trying the very best is winning in itself. The games are going to be very interesting and dynamic to watch. There will be ups and downs (there always are)---but learning will occur with every twist and turn, which will make the team and its direction even stronger.

 

[SoCal Cardfan]

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[Stronso]

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[Darkside]

As last year's sorrowful season wound down, Michael Bidwill must have been mortified. The lofty heights that the franchise had reached during the Warner years, had come to a very pitiful end. There was no longer any hope that Whiz was on track to fix what had become a sinking ship. He had simply drilled to many holes in the hull to let the water out, and she was steadily settling lower and lower in the water. Michael made the first move. He sent Whiz and company packing, and promoted Steve Keim to help right the listing vessel.

Together, Bidwill and Keim settled on Bruce Arians to be the new skipper. It became Keim's job to supply the talent, and Arians was to be the one who brought in the teachers to manage the new roster. Bidwill provided the money. There was no shortage of either money, or effort to transform what had become a mere shell of the team that had played in the Super Bowl. While the defense was decent, (even good), the offense had become impotent and unable to put points on the board.

At that time, not even those three could have imagined just how different that roster would look when training camp started. Keim and BA pared the roster of dead weight, and too high-cost contracts. Then they quickly selected, (and signed), a number of veteran free agents to low cost, short term contracts. Great thought had been given to they type of players they selected. All were basically self-starting gym rats, who possessed leadership qualities. None were high dollar divas.

Then they set about planning for the draft, where once again, they selected mostly players who had exhibited leadership qualities, and who were mostly self-starters. There was some chance-taking done, but it was not done without giving much thought and planning to the scenarios. National talking heads gave the team high marks for their selections and UDFA signings. Keim proved to be crafty in maneuvering in the draft to create selections.

When Oakland opted to replace their QB, Keim and BA snapped him up, and the Cards inherited a proven veteran, Carson Palmer to run their offense. Things were really beginning to look up.

Then the teaching began in earnest, as mini-camps and OTA's ensued. As Training Camp neared, they review their strategy, and decided to revisit a couple of free agents that they had initiated talks with some weeks back, and brought two more players into the fold to fill holes that they could not yet feel comfortable with. That was on the O-line, and at Pass Rusher on Defense. OT Eric Winston, and DE John Abraham were signed to short term contracts, and now the roster appeared to be ready to tackle Training Camp.

Today, Training Camp, officially begins, and while it certainly is not the end of the off-season, it does mark the end of the beginning. Now it is time to see just how successful Bidwill, Keim, and BA have been with their expenditures of time, money, and effort. Now is the time to begin to actually play football with their new-found roster.

While I know that the jury is still out on the job done by these three, I am certainly anxious and excited, and thrilled with the plan they hatched, (and especially with the way they executed it). Simply turning over their roster to the extent they did, was a huge achievement. Now if the roster turnover pays off with the dividends that they envisioned, then many, many Cardinal's fans will be very pleased this season.

Agree with this. Churning over the roster is the most impressive part, for me. Keim and BA wasted no time putting their stamp on the team.

I still think there's some misconceptions about the level of talent brought in, and a lot of koolaid drinking when it comes to that. They did a superb job of filling slots and managing the cap, and that was probably the most necessary part of the regime change in the first year, but anyone who thinks our secondary is as good as last year is mistaken in my opinion.

Supposedly we'll be better against the run this year, but that was never a concern of mine--I'd rather shut down long plays. We lost BOTH starting safeties and if that happens on any other team we'd think their secondary would suffer. Here in Cardinal-land though it's apparently no big thing.

We're now apparently relying on our D-line to create enough pressure to alleviate worse safety play, and to do that means we have to rely on Todd Bowles and whatever schemes he comes up with. What has Bowles actually done to justify such belief? What defense has he inherited that he improved?

There are players in our division that will eat our LB's and safeties alive. Think of Tavon Austin for the Rams--that dude is going to be used so he's going up against our LB's and safeties, in the open field. How do we slow down Vernon Davis with worse safety play than we had before? And Percy Harvin for Seattle is going to stretch our defense in a bad way. Furthermore, Kaep and Wilson are two QB's perfect to play against our D with a poor secondary and rushing D-line. Those are just a few players in our own division, and they will have big games because of our weak secondary. Didn't even mention Boldin going over the middle and dunking on our goalpost.

Bottom line: I don't trust Bowles or our secondary. Horton had the perfect schemes for this division, which was QB contain (with blitzes coming from random places) and a good secondary. This team, right now, isn't built to win this division. We don't match up well. Seattle and the 9ers specifically want us to rush the passer because it plays into exactly what they want with their misdirections and QB's who can run. We're built for the future, laid a good foundation, but we're going to have to score a lot of points. Obviously, based on today's practice report from Shane, we're practicing a lot of long ball, and we're going to have to do that to stretch the D and keep pace.

That being said, I think Keim and BA did what they had to do. They did what most of us wanted them to do, but it's not like they brought in top tier talent with these moves. They brought in enough to fill roster spots and manage the cap so that in the future we're not in this mess again.

 

[GuernseyCard]

Short of the loss of the still unemployed Rhodes, one can argue that the back end has in fact improved. I certainly prefer Arenas and the Honey Badger covering quick inside routes over mini-Mike. We have two of the better cover linebackers in D-Wash and Dansby, and pressure shortens routes and keeps plays in front of the D.

 

[Catfish]

Short of the loss of the still unemployed Rhodes, one can argue that the back end has in fact improved. I certainly prefer Arenas and the Honey Badger covering quick inside routes over mini-Mike. We have two of the better cover linebackers in D-Wash and Dansby, and pressure shortens routes and keeps plays in front of the D.

Of course, all this talk about our defensive secondary is pure speculation at this point. I tend to agree with you GuernseyCard, in that quick ball hawking play deep, and better cover LB's will tend to shorten routes and keep plays if front of the D. I feel that this defense has a chance to be better than we have been used to. Almost certainly, the team as a whole should be better.

 

[Buckybird]

Short of the loss of the still unemployed Rhodes, one can argue that the back end has in fact improved. I certainly prefer Arenas and the Honey Badger covering quick inside routes over mini-Mike. We have two of the better cover linebackers in D-Wash and Dansby, and pressure shortens routes and keeps plays in front of the D.

I agree whole heartedly, but I'm still skeptical of Bowles schemes & his history of success when the entire unit plays as one & the bullets fly for real.

IMO if Bowles can have a top 10 defense that limits big plays, 2014 could be special...IF.

 

[Krangodnzr]

There are players in our division that will eat our LB's and safeties alive. Think of Tavon Austin for the Rams--that dude is going to be used so he's going up against our LB's and safeties, in the open field. How do we slow down Vernon Davis with worse safety play than we had before? And Percy Harvin for Seattle is going to stretch our defense in a bad way. Furthermore, Kaep and Wilson are two QB's perfect to play against our D with a poor secondary and rushing D-line. Those are just a few players in our own division, and they will have big games because of our weak secondary. Didn't even mention Boldin going over the middle and dunking on our goalpost.

I don't know if you heard this, but Percy Harvin has a partially torn labrum and is likely out for the season.

 

[Snakester]

Good post Catfish! I am really excited about this season. Bringing in Winston and Abraham just topped it off. I feel we will sign another TE and WR at some point, probably when there are cuts at the end of pre-season. Looking at our division rivals I do not see a better team than us personnel wise. I think we can very easily win our division if our coaching staff is as good as we hope they are. I know we have a lot of if's and or but's but so does everyone else. One of the biggest things we have going into this season is depth all over the team. We can have a few injuries and the team won't be crippled.

 

[Catfish]

Good post Catfish! I am really excited about this season. Bringing in Winston and Abraham just topped it off. I feel we will sign another TE and WR at some point, probably when there are cuts at the end of pre-season. Looking at our division rivals I do not see a better team than us personnel wise. I think we can very easily win our division if our coaching staff is as good as we hope they are. I know we have a lot of if's and or but's but so does everyone else. One of the biggest things we have going into this season is depth all over the team. We can have a few injuries and the team won't be crippled.

I feel your excitement Snakester, but throwing statements around like 'very easily winning our division' is a little premature in my opinion. No matter how things shake out for us, this division is still one of the toughest in the NFL, and winning it won't be (easy) for anyone. I do believe, however, that we all will enjoy the way our team plays from here on out. I think we will be (in) many more games than we have been recently, and that we will be in position to win more often as a result. If this staff can coach these guys up like I think they can, we should be on the way to long-term winning football here in the desert.

 

[CardsFan88]

I don't know if you heard this, but Percy Harvin has a partially torn labrum and is likely out for the season.

Slightly torn. They don't know how bad it is. Nor do they know at this point if it'll get worse.

From what I've read on ESPN their 'expert' said that if he needs surgery he'd be out 10-16 weeks depending on how invasive the surgery is (bone shaving or something like that or not), if not, perhaps he'll just be on the PUP list and be eligible to come off by week 6.

Some say he's just wussing out and simply doesn't want to practice in training camp... but I don't believe this since even guys like this practice the first year with a new team, who traded and signed him to a huge contract.

Hard to say how much time he'll miss. Could be a little, alot, or all of the season... maybe even none (though imo that's the smallest chance of all of them).

 

[GuernseyCard]

Re: Harvin - if he's seeking a second opinion, I'd venture the first wasn't very good.

 

[Duckjake]

I agree whole heartedly, but I'm still skeptical of Bowles schemes & his history of success when the entire unit plays as one & the bullets fly for real.

IMO if Bowles can have a top 10 defense that limits big plays, 2014 could be special...IF.

I disagree in regards to this year. It is going to take some time for these guys to get on the same page and Mathieu is a rookie. No matter how the Kool Aid addicts try to spin it Mathieu, RJohnson, and Bell is not an improvement of the secondary. Remember it took almost half a season for the D to get going under Horton.

To me the key will be Cason and Powers. Cason I believe is a solid player and I really like that he is over 6'. Powers/Arenas at nickel, Cason and PP21 at Corners could make up for the huge drop off at Safety until the young guys can step in.

 

[Snakester]

I feel your excitement Snakester, but throwing statements around like 'very easily winning our division' is a little premature in my opinion. No matter how things shake out for us, this division is still one of the toughest in the NFL, and winning it won't be (easy) for anyone. I do believe, however, that we all will enjoy the way our team plays from here on out. I think we will be (in) many more games than we have been recently, and that we will be in position to win more often as a result. If this staff can coach these guys up like I think they can, we should be on the way to long-term winning football here in the desert.

When I said easily win our division I should have said as anyone else in our division. I think we have as good a team as any other in our division. My biggest question is whether our team can get it together by time the season starts or will it take half the season for the team to come together.