I'm frustrated as a fan, I was extremely fanatic positive every year since the Cardinals came to Arizona, I didn't care how many pushups I had to do when Dallas beat the Cardinals, the ongoing bet with my cousin Robert the cowpuke fan, 10 pushups per point difference, and it was twice a year.
I was really positive, I liked Denny Green, I liked his drafts, his FA's, I liked Clancy taking us from one of the worse to the middle to the 8th overall defense in 3 years.
and I still do. Denny blew up after the Bears game in 2006, I criticized him for firing the OC and Graves bringing him back as a consultant. They lost this team, it was 50/50 on rather they could get this team back on track.
that was the beginning of my unpopularity, it seemed like a HS popularity contest. the Coach search was on and Whiz came out the winner and Grimm followed. I seen the growth watched the spirited effort in 2007, Matt went down, Kurt went down and Tim R. and Tim H. were signed off the couch cause we didn't have an emergency QB on the Roster, rut roh. Kurt came out in a cast and manned up. took us to 8-8 and won the starting position in the preseason 2008.
I am well documented as a profootballcentral.com Cards writer in 2008, I was asked to slow down after blistering tony Kornheiser for that stupidity he spewed on the Cardinals preseason 2008 MNF. He never watched the Cards, never seen that our D shut down the best Running games in the NFL throughout 2007.
As I started praising Edge and criticizing Kurt for passing every down and destroying the defenses efforts with 4-5-6-7 turnovers games when our defense had produced 4-5-6 turnovers in the same games sometimes, well i could post and get 3 pages of I hate you from Cards fans on the main board.
The historic losses the 2nd half of 08 when we had all but tied up the NFCW tore my az up. and i said so, I loved it when we reinserted Edge and plowed through the playoffs with a run game culminating in play action passes that shocked the world.
We abandoned the run in the SB after Edge got called on chip block that looked like the wrong call. The lineman was not engaged and Edge hit him at the waist not below it. 2 minute drill ending up with the Harrison 99 yard int TD!
Why does it stick in my crawl, We could won more games and the SB handily, IMO, We had the talent, We were more talented than the Steelers, Edge was punked before that and had no intentions of returning, He was top 10 all time in rushing and yards from scrimmage, he produced 2 1000+ yrd season back to back in Arizona, and fans couldn't say bad things about him fast enough. He maybe was not worth the money, even though it was the least expensive year of his contract, but he was not celebrated, He was kicked in the nuts early and often by fans and this staff.
I don't blame THT for being the worse starting RB in the NFL these last 3 years, I blame Haley and Whiz, for taking him out of the role he excelled at and starting him 30+ times, sure he had some nice blocks and 60+ catch season, and He has improved each year, good luck in Washington.
I love me some football, My earliest memories was watching HOF RB Leroy Kelly with the browns, 60+ % o the offense went through him every game for almost a decade. (just after Jim Brown retired first ever MNF game on you tube, watch his career highlights) I still am fixed with the idea that a football team's engine is the RB. yea you can have streaks of success passing 70% of the time but you better have a Marshall Faulk to make em pay when they cheat to the pass game on defense.
This was never more evident than the 3 score lead in the 1st 1/4, we had against GB in the playoffs in 2009, yes it was the best pass fest of all times, but no HC, play caller should put his team in that position after they performed so admirably. It happened alot, you count the 3 score leads we forfeited under Whisenhunt, then count the 2-1 pass over run ratio in most them games. Followed by the Saints game where we were in it until late in the 2nd 1/4, and folded up tents with 6 minutes left in the 3rd 1/4 in a division playoff game, like we get there every year. we haven't got back up since.
I was am still irate over the personnel decisions,missed drafts, missed FA's, cut throat tatics with our young SB talent, before the 2010 offseason. I'm frustrated with the way Whiz calls plays, it is not what we were told when he was hired, and even with success it frustrates the hell out of me. the staffing move promoting Mike Miller and keeping Chris Miller...... nice enough men but I don't seem them in their position on any other team, much less a good one! Grimm went from hottest HC prospect to piece of dirt! he has nearly last placed Run game in the NFL 3 years running.
I thought Whiz lost this team last year in training camp, he had his year of respite, now he has whole scale changes across the board and the same 50/50 chance that Denny had in 2006. I have preseason hope, and I know most don't care what i think, except to flame me.
yes we have a better QB this year, but we have lost talent substantially since the SB across the board and across the depth charts, it pains me. We have finally signed our 4th drafted Cardinal in 5 years. We have one hell of a backfield if somebody calls there numbers consistently, not 1 play in back out crap.
Horton on defense has hope, but He is years behind the chess game with top OC's in this business, make no mistake about it. He's is implementing the full 3-4 after half of the NFL adopted it, and have adjusted their offenses to handle it. Without star OLB and a rookie cornerback! things could get ugly. but I hope not.
one last thing as I'm clearing the air about negativity, Levi Brown is one of the best players on our team, him and the oline have kept QB's upright through our most successful period in 50 years. up until last years 4 scrub QB collection and 50 sacks, they protected a tackle killer, dare you to rush every down QB, with the worse run game in the NFL to the tune of well less 90 sacks in well over 2000 pass attempts.
That has never been done before, that I remember? I salute them. We'll see what we have over the next few weeks, but any negativity or poison I spew is football related, And i hope Whiz gets back to the fundamentals and kicks AZ. I cheered loudly for many years for the Browns and the Cards, just don't feed me crap and call it honey.