Mitch
Crawled Through 5 FB Fields
I was sitting on my back porch at halftime feeling dubious about the way the game was going...my thought was that the Cards were having real trouble stopping Frank Gore and the Niners receivers were wide open (once again---which is why last year the Cardinals gave average and subpar QBs and teams a chance to build confidence---as they were given wide open targets versus the Cardinals' soft zones to feast on throughout the afternoon).
And I kept thinking that a good pass rush is totally negated by having WRs and TEs wide open downfield.
On the flip side, I was impressed with how much more sticky the Niners' coverage was...and their pressure on Warner was good. The Cards' running game was decent...but...
Yet...as I walked back inside...something popped into my head...I thought, you know, Whiz and his staff are good at making half-time adjustments, so who knows?
What we all witnessed in the second half was about as perfect a masterpiece as Cardinal fans have ever seen. The ball control was textbook...the execution was efficient...and the results were extraordinary...as the Cardinals pounded the ball with Edgerrin James and Tim Hightower...they converted key third downs with Kurt Warner and Anquan Boldin...the coaches showed guts on every fourth down call...and what we saw was a total domination of the clock...
This game epitomized the mantra that the best defense is a running game on offense. While the Cardinals pounded the ball for 3-4 yards and a cloud of dust, the Mike Martz led Niner offense was twiddling its thumbs on the sidelines.
We also saw a huge change in Kurt Warner. He, as always, hung in the pocket as long and as tough as he could...one time he knew he would take a huge shot when he threw up the middle to Steve Breaston in the face of a blitzing linebacker...and when Warner had no open receiver, he ate the ball and did not fumble.
In today's gameplan...that was fine...in fact, better than fine.
The offensive highlights included a picture perfect z-out pass up the right sideline from Warner to Breaston...a perfectly executed fade pass TD from Warner to Larry Fitzgerald...an incredibly gutsy 4th and inches on the half yard line call to rookie Tim Hightower who barreled into the end zone on a hole that was opened wide by Deuce Lutui and kept open on a blowout pull block by Reggie Wells...and what a nice surprise it was to see DRC and his 4.3 speed running a go route on offense! Hope we see more of that! It was also a great move for the Cardinals to keep both FBs, as Smith was big on short yardage plays and Castille was good in other roles. But the real star in this game was Edgerrin James, who earned every tough inch of his 100 yards.
The offensive lowlights were the two poor penalties by Mike Gandy and Reggie Wells...both of which should create more bad blood in games to come with the Niners, as both of their hits should be considered cheap shots that could have badly hurt two of the Niners defenders...Gandy actually could have hit Patrick Willis worse, like planting his helmet in his back...and Wells probably thought he still had an angle to dive in front of his man, but he ended up diving into the back of his man's legs from behind. Both plays were ridiculous, as neither one would have affected the outcome of the play.
The defensive lowlights were the long Gore TD where no Cardinal even got a hand on Gore and Dockett was driven on a double team about five yards backward. Let's face it the Cardinals need Watson and Branch. The wide open long passes up the middle to BJ and Vernon Davis...and the safety valve short passes to Gore that were poorly covered and each time all kinds of tackles were missed.
The defensive highlights were numerous...Hayes' great hit on Wragge that knocked him back into Gore and caused a fumble on the Niners' three yard line...the total wipeout tackle Dockett leveled on the Niners FB for the forced fumble...Wilson's perfect interception...Berry's great strip sack and Smith's alert fumble recovery and run (alhtough he did run like Rollo the Dancing Bear)...but the most incredible of all was Travis LaBoy's 4th quarter sack, strip and fumble recovery...which may have vaulted him into the early lead for the highly coveted Cardinal Sack Champion belt!...LaBoy's own creation!
As for special teams the play of the day was Rackers' pooch kickoff...he is amazing at this stuff! But, we also got a great day of punting from Dirk Johnson, who boomed them when he needed to and pooched them as well as one could ever ask...Clark Haggans' one inch line downing of the ball was huge.
Rackers had a bad miss on a relative chip shot..which seemed to demoralize the whole team for a brief period...getting no points out of a great turnover by the defense at the Niners' twelve yard line was a real change in momentum. Yes, there was a high snap, but the hold looked perfect...and Rackers has to be able to block out anything but the football.
But...he made three of four, including the game clincher with 2:00 left. Today, that's what the Cardinals needed from him.
In past years, the Cardinals were on the other end of games like this. This is one game, and a real good road win versus a division opponent...yet, what we saw today is a team that can take total control of a game from the sidelines (coaching) and on the field (execution).
This ain't ugly my friends...this one was as pretty as they get!
Say hello to first place in the NFC West!!!! Yeah, baby!!!!
And I kept thinking that a good pass rush is totally negated by having WRs and TEs wide open downfield.
On the flip side, I was impressed with how much more sticky the Niners' coverage was...and their pressure on Warner was good. The Cards' running game was decent...but...
Yet...as I walked back inside...something popped into my head...I thought, you know, Whiz and his staff are good at making half-time adjustments, so who knows?
What we all witnessed in the second half was about as perfect a masterpiece as Cardinal fans have ever seen. The ball control was textbook...the execution was efficient...and the results were extraordinary...as the Cardinals pounded the ball with Edgerrin James and Tim Hightower...they converted key third downs with Kurt Warner and Anquan Boldin...the coaches showed guts on every fourth down call...and what we saw was a total domination of the clock...
This game epitomized the mantra that the best defense is a running game on offense. While the Cardinals pounded the ball for 3-4 yards and a cloud of dust, the Mike Martz led Niner offense was twiddling its thumbs on the sidelines.
We also saw a huge change in Kurt Warner. He, as always, hung in the pocket as long and as tough as he could...one time he knew he would take a huge shot when he threw up the middle to Steve Breaston in the face of a blitzing linebacker...and when Warner had no open receiver, he ate the ball and did not fumble.
In today's gameplan...that was fine...in fact, better than fine.
The offensive highlights included a picture perfect z-out pass up the right sideline from Warner to Breaston...a perfectly executed fade pass TD from Warner to Larry Fitzgerald...an incredibly gutsy 4th and inches on the half yard line call to rookie Tim Hightower who barreled into the end zone on a hole that was opened wide by Deuce Lutui and kept open on a blowout pull block by Reggie Wells...and what a nice surprise it was to see DRC and his 4.3 speed running a go route on offense! Hope we see more of that! It was also a great move for the Cardinals to keep both FBs, as Smith was big on short yardage plays and Castille was good in other roles. But the real star in this game was Edgerrin James, who earned every tough inch of his 100 yards.
The offensive lowlights were the two poor penalties by Mike Gandy and Reggie Wells...both of which should create more bad blood in games to come with the Niners, as both of their hits should be considered cheap shots that could have badly hurt two of the Niners defenders...Gandy actually could have hit Patrick Willis worse, like planting his helmet in his back...and Wells probably thought he still had an angle to dive in front of his man, but he ended up diving into the back of his man's legs from behind. Both plays were ridiculous, as neither one would have affected the outcome of the play.
The defensive lowlights were the long Gore TD where no Cardinal even got a hand on Gore and Dockett was driven on a double team about five yards backward. Let's face it the Cardinals need Watson and Branch. The wide open long passes up the middle to BJ and Vernon Davis...and the safety valve short passes to Gore that were poorly covered and each time all kinds of tackles were missed.
The defensive highlights were numerous...Hayes' great hit on Wragge that knocked him back into Gore and caused a fumble on the Niners' three yard line...the total wipeout tackle Dockett leveled on the Niners FB for the forced fumble...Wilson's perfect interception...Berry's great strip sack and Smith's alert fumble recovery and run (alhtough he did run like Rollo the Dancing Bear)...but the most incredible of all was Travis LaBoy's 4th quarter sack, strip and fumble recovery...which may have vaulted him into the early lead for the highly coveted Cardinal Sack Champion belt!...LaBoy's own creation!
As for special teams the play of the day was Rackers' pooch kickoff...he is amazing at this stuff! But, we also got a great day of punting from Dirk Johnson, who boomed them when he needed to and pooched them as well as one could ever ask...Clark Haggans' one inch line downing of the ball was huge.
Rackers had a bad miss on a relative chip shot..which seemed to demoralize the whole team for a brief period...getting no points out of a great turnover by the defense at the Niners' twelve yard line was a real change in momentum. Yes, there was a high snap, but the hold looked perfect...and Rackers has to be able to block out anything but the football.
But...he made three of four, including the game clincher with 2:00 left. Today, that's what the Cardinals needed from him.
In past years, the Cardinals were on the other end of games like this. This is one game, and a real good road win versus a division opponent...yet, what we saw today is a team that can take total control of a game from the sidelines (coaching) and on the field (execution).
This ain't ugly my friends...this one was as pretty as they get!
Say hello to first place in the NFC West!!!! Yeah, baby!!!!
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