BA, "We Played Stupid"

[Chris_Sanders]

http://www.espn.com/blog/arizona-ca...on-we-played-stupid-at-times-and-that-cost-us

Well I don't totally agree with Keim to blame, players were stupid and Ariana's and staff were perfect, didn't coach different than prior winning seasons.

Still lower tier of NFL rushing attempts and rankings with an offensive MVP at RB- patients is not BA's virtue. We lost more by pushing a higher risk one dimensional passing game - when we do not need to do so. It's true that one great pass play can cover up a lot of field fertilizer - but we were not practicing risk reduction. Earn 3rd dimensional play action by running the ball better and more. That's on the play caller again.

I am not sure how you strung together a few coherent sentences but since you did...

Arizona was #18 in rushing yards. I guess you are saying there are only two tiers but most people call those "Halves"

David Johnson ranked 3rd in total carries in the NFL. That is with basically missing week 17. I am sure you have no idea about NFL trends but they aren't kind to NFL backs with over 300 carries. While every decent fantasy football player knows this, you are preaching "give more carries" while DJ sat at 293.

http://www.nfl.com/fantasyfootball/...le/going-deep-is-300-the-magic-number-for-rbs

In the HISTORY of the NFL exactly 3 players have gone over 300 carries in back to back seasons. There is a reason 2 backs exist in the NFL these days and it is because the metrics show a sharp decline in over usage of backs.

Even still, we have to be worried about DJ because his 2100 all purpose yards led the NFL by 120 yards (again despite basically missing a game) and is 300 yards above a guy (Hill) who got 800 yards on kick returns and 700 yards above the guy sitting at #11.


We are at the point where I wonder if you are capable of critical thinking beyond "Derp derp run da ball"

 

[Bodha]

So- if you were the Cardinal GM this offseason, you would have fired Bruce Arians if he refused to replace Amos Jones?

No, I would fire Amos.

If BA feels so strongly about Amos that he would retire as a result, then so be it, goodbye.

I am not going to trash BA. Hes a great head coach. But he has some very bad habits. One obviously is his protection of bad players/staff (Stanton/Amos). Another is his ridiculous stubbornness in regards to electing to receive the ball despite the fact we are clearly a 2nd half team. Another is his awful challenges OR lack-of-challenge when he shouldve challenged. Endzone jump balls to Smokey (the shortest WR we have). Sending David up the middle repeatedly despite him being an outside bounce runner. Need 2 yards for the 1st down, throw it 40 for an incompletion. Among others.

 

[BullheadCardFan]

BA has ZERO problem throwing players under the bus and airing their dirty laundry.

But this quote bothers me about BA. It's Buddy Ryan-ish... blaming the players and not himself when the coaching/personnel moves (especially at CB and ALL the disasterous ST decisions) last year left A LOT to be desired. He has NOT once addressed those shortcomings in the press and it's a sign of weakness, IMO.

+1

Coaching staff needs to be accountable also.

 

[WisconsinCard]

No, I would fire Amos.

If BA feels so strongly about Amos that he would retire as a result, then so be it, goodbye.

I am not going to trash BA. Hes a great head coach. But he has some very bad habits. One obviously is his protection of bad players/staff (Stanton/Amos). Another is his ridiculous stubbornness in regards to electing to receive the ball despite the fact we are clearly a 2nd half team. Another is his awful challenges OR lack-of-challenge when he shouldve challenged. Endzone jump balls to Smokey (the shortest WR we have). Sending David up the middle repeatedly despite him being an outside bounce runner. Need 2 yards for the 1st down, throw it 40 for an incompletion. Among others.

You do realize that the QB throws the ball right? CP decides who he is throwing it to and had other options. How is that on BA? As far as the RB "bouncing" it out side, plays are designed to go a certain way because that is what the line is blocking for. The "bouncing" part is decided by the RB.

 

[cardpa]

I can't disagree that games were lost by undisciplined play and mental mistakes. That is true.

As Harry points out, the roster was flawed from the start at CB and not having a viable return man on the roster. This is on Keim.

I disagree on the offensive line depth. We had a vet C, and a rookie C. We had two vet OGs in Iupati and Mathis, and then a vet backup in Watford. At OT, we had Veldheer (vet) and Humphries (1st round pick) and a vet backup in Watford. I don't know how much better depth you want with a salary cap and what we paid those guys.

Honestly, I disagree on Harry's view that lack of depth across the roster was an issue. It wasn't. QB, we were good. RB, we lost Chris Johnson, Ellington was worthless, and we still had a viable K Williams at times to spell DJ. WR, we lost our #2 WR to being an alcoholic, our #3 to sickle cell, #4 to a season ending injury. Not a depth issue. OL, as stated above, is not a depth issue. DL, was deep. OLB, best production we have had in years. ILB, we lost Bucannon, and all of our roster'd depth behind him. Minter had to play more, and got exposed. Not really a depth issue when your backups aren't healthy. CB was bad. S was great. Mathieu (a 8 mil per year player) and Branch were hurt but we had Tony Jefferson and DJ Swearinger on the bench. Great depth.

Regarding training camp, that is on Arians. We didn't start hot out of the gate, and that style of training camp did give any outs for Arians. But, this is his first head coaching gig, I'm ok with that.

Undisciplined play and mental errors are on the players, not the coaches. This is not High School football, these are professionals, and they are paid to put in the work so they can do their jobs. The schemes are on the coaches, and for the most part, the schemes were good. The execution is on the players, and the players flubbed that in critical situations which cost us.

All of these things are correctable in an offseason, and I imagine 2017 will see us back in playoff contention.

Good post Chopper, however I disagree to some extent about the lack of discipline and mental mistakes in that the coaches continued to allow these things to happen apparently without repercussion because we kept seeing the same or similar mistakes over and over. I would like to think that a coach at any level would not accept the same mistakes to continue ad nauseam and not tell the player if you cannot stay discipline in your assignments or you keep making the same mental errors then you can have a permanent seat on the bench. Telling a player this would also give good insight into the player. Is he okay with a bench seat as long as he's collecting a paycheck or does it motivate him to dig deeper and find way to get back on the field? Yes, they are paid professionals and they should take enough pride in their ability to do their job however sometimes they need a kick in the arse and I don't think that happens enough on this team.

 

[football karma]

No, I would fire Amos.

If BA feels so strongly about Amos that he would retire as a result, then so be it, goodbye.

I am not going to trash BA. Hes a great head coach. .

Regardless of how it happens, you have effectively fired the winningest HC in the team's recent history to get a new ST coach. What are the odds you upgrade at HC given Arians has been great.

You also likely get a whole new staff as that new HC will want his own guys.

That just feels like an awful lot over a ST coach -- especially going into a year where your QB and leading WR are likely giving it one last shot to get a ring.

 

[Stout]

If you hate coach-speak, you're really really gonna hate GM-speak when it comes to releasing/retaining coaches.

No way any GM in his right mind is going to air personnel dirty laundary in public.

Maybe he'd get a pass for not airing dirty laundry in public if he actually DID something about it. Actions speak louder than words. Keim didn't fire Jones. That says it all.

 

[juza76]

The only issue

EXECUTION

 

[Bodha]

Regardless of how it happens, you have effectively fired the winningest HC in the team's recent history to get a new ST coach. What are the odds you upgrade at HC given Arians has been great.

You also likely get a whole new staff as that new HC will want his own guys.

That just feels like an awful lot over a ST coach -- especially going into a year where your QB and leading WR are likely giving it one last shot to get a ring.

You cant be afraid of moving forward.


Great example is Ray Horton. Love him as a DC, arguably the best DC we had ever had. I was 100% behind him to be our HC. But instead we hired BA. Hiring BA means we are losing the best DC weve ever had in Horton....and hiring this new DC who ran an absolutely atrocious D in Philly, name is Todd Bowles. As it turns out, Todd Bowles was an even better DC than Horton. Nobody saw that coming.

Point being you can be afraid to move forward even if you have a good thing, because maybe theres an even better thing around the corner.

And the most important thing is none of this is on us the fans or Keim. The question is not "You would fire BA over a STs coach?". The question is to BA "You would retire over a STs coach?". The onus and fault is on him

 

[RugbyMuffin]

I think Arians, if guilty of anything, forgot his mantra that he walked into the Cardinals with.

"There are no little things, everything can effect the outcome of a game" I am paraphrasing but I remember we he talked about such things when he first got here, but last season it was the little things that killed this team.

Hopefully they go back to their roots and figure that out again.

 

[Paso Fino]

I can't help comparing BA to Belichick. Can you imagine Belichick being satisfied with the Cardinal's special teams? Belichick is so successful because he obsesses about the details. He studies his next opponents players and tendencies and prepares his team to exploit weaknesses. He does not call the plays. Instead, he is closely watching what the opponent is doing during the game and tells the OC and DC when changes are in order. If only BA would turn over play calling to an OC.

 

[Jetstream Green]

"'We' played stupid"... a coach and the staff seem to liken themselves with the players on the field and he did say 'we', and that to me says he holds himself accountable