Bickley's blog

[vinnymac]

i don't know what went on with the pete kendall thing. i really don't care. he plays for the jets now. it is the 2006 now. i would like to concentrate on what is happening now. the cardinals oline isn't working out for some reason. by the way davis didn't do all that well at gaurd eithier. if you ask me the cardinals are going to do an offensive line do over. one coach that hasn't been mentioned is oc of the falcons greg knapp. for the past 3 years the falcons have led the league in rushing. i know that vick has had something to do with that, but it can't be igonred. when he was with the 49ers he had one of the offenses in the league. so greg knapp is due for a hc job. i wouldn't mind the cardinals to take a look at him.

 

[Zeno]

I believe one of those losses was the infamous 4 down stand on the 1 yardline by the Lions. That was embarassing

I'm pretty sure that was against the Eagles. I remember Golic talking about it because he played for the Eagles at the time and even they couldn't believe it.

 

[BACH]

Dickley refuses to let the Pete Kendall/Anthony Clement/LJ Shelton thing die.

Are you kidding me?

We sucked just as bad, IF NOT WORSE, when those guys played for us.

They still suck.

Especially half a season Kendall.

I'm gonna ask you the same... Are you kidding me?

When you're saying that the line was worse, but had better stats, then you're also saying that the RBs respondsible for the better production.

Do you honestly believe that both the Shipp/Anderson and Smith/Hambrick-combo are better than Edge/JJ??

Why doesn't he let it die? Have you already forgotten the play from our interior line last season? Or the problem with the blindside tackle this season. Wouldn't it be nice if LJ and Kendall were still with this team. You say that they suck. That might be true, but Kendall is better than any of our current interior linemen (Wells might better, if he played the right position), and LJ is a better blindside tackle than both Big and Ross.

 

[Russ Smith]

Either way, I just dont buy that releasing PK was a bad move. The worse move was believing that Step could be an adequate Center in the NFL. That is what should be harped upon, imo.

I don't see how you can separate the 2 though? You can't cut your starter if you don't at least think your backup can play. If you thought that, you wouldn't have your QB doing line calls and you wouldn't not use the shotgun to protect your C. There's not another coach in the NFL that would knowingly have chosen to just outright cut their starter if they knew the backup was as unready to play as Step was. Any other NFL coach in that situation would have tried to get a veteran stopgap, and then cut Pete.

Even if Kendall had moved to guard as they wanted, that STILL means we need a C, even the original plan was going to result in us having Step at C if they don't sign someone else. Maybe they thought Kendall would make linecalls from guard but that still doesn't solve the shotgun issue. The plan wasn't going to work no matter what. You don't see too many rookie C's starting right away for a reason, they have a lot to learn.

As for why Bickley puts it in the story, you can't possibly write a story about why the Cards need a GM to check Green's ego and NOT list the most obvious example of why?

 

[Mulli]

1988/9 and 1993 - hell, in 1989, Earl Ferrel almost ran for 1000 yards and he was a fullback!

The 1993 Offense was actually something worth watching. Beurline had time to throw, between Garrison Hearst and Ronald Moore, we had some semblance of a running game and with Ricky Proehl, Randall Hill and Gary Clark (when healthy), we actually had a very good complement of WRs.

Randall Hill was overrated.

 

[LVCARDFREAK]

I don't see how you can separate the 2 though? You can't cut your starter if you don't at least think your backup can play. If you thought that, you wouldn't have your QB doing line calls and you wouldn't not use the shotgun to protect your C. There's not another coach in the NFL that would knowingly have chosen to just outright cut their starter if they knew the backup was as unready to play as Step was. Any other NFL coach in that situation would have tried to get a veteran stopgap, and then cut Pete.

Even if Kendall had moved to guard as they wanted, that STILL means we need a C, even the original plan was going to result in us having Step at C if they don't sign someone else. Maybe they thought Kendall would make linecalls from guard but that still doesn't solve the shotgun issue. The plan wasn't going to work no matter what. You don't see too many rookie C's starting right away for a reason, they have a lot to learn.

As for why Bickley puts it in the story, you can't possibly write a story about why the Cards need a GM to check Green's ego and NOT list the most obvious example of why?

Simple. Green or any other coach had no choice on PK. He wasnt gonna play here. It wasnt Greens decision to cut him as much as it was PK's decision not to play for Green. Green knew it, thought this is my chance to make a statement, and cut his ass. At least thats how I see it.

If DG doesnt cut PK, he probably holds out or nurses an injury all season. It was clear from the get go, PK didnt want to play for Green and hated that Mac was fired. The two are easily seperated .

 

[Russ Smith]

Simple. Green or any other coach had no choice on PK. He wasnt gonna play here. It wasnt Greens decision to cut him as much as it was PK's decision not to play for Green. Green knew it, thought this is my chance to make a statement, and cut his ass. At least thats how I see it.

If DG doesnt cut PK, he probably holds out or nurses an injury all season. It was clear from the get go, PK didnt want to play for Green and hated that Mac was fired. The two are easily seperated .

If it was clear to you from the get go, why did Green name Kendall as one of his "core group" of players not once but twice after he took over the team?

At some point yeah I think Green figured this guy doesn't want to be here, but I don't think it was right away. I think it's clear PK didn't buy into what Green was selling, was he just lazy, or did he just see that Green didn't have a clue about OL? We'll never know.

My main objection is Plan B might as well have been Plan 9 from outer space rookie C who can't make line calls or shotgun snap is not a plan B.

 

[LVCARDFREAK]

My main objection is Plan B might as well have been Plan 9 from outer space rookie C who can't make line calls or shotgun snap is not a plan B.

Agreed. I have been pissed about Step starting since the Dallas game where Emmitt got hurt. He was just owned all day.

I dont remember DG naming PK a "core" player....Not syaing your wrong, just dont remember it.

 

[Russ Smith]

Agreed. I have been pissed about Step starting since the Dallas game where Emmitt got hurt. He was just owned all day.

I dont remember DG naming PK a "core" player....Not syaing your wrong, just dont remember it.

When he first took over he rattled off the names of guys he considered to be core players. Big, Kendall, Boldin, Wilson, I forget the whole list it was approximately 10 players. IIRC Blake was on the original list until Green cut him, I'm pretty sure that situation was pretty obvious Green told blake he wanted Josh to be the QB, Blake didn't like it, so Green cut him. Kendall was on the list the first 2 times Green rattled off the names.

 

[Captain Matt]

Is there any credence to the speculation that PK was cut so late to "screw him over". He was supposedly the one who had been bitching about Player's Association (union) violations in practice. He was a vocal leader on the line. And he was (for lack of a better description) one of Mac's boys. It seemed to be a pretty strong statement (and a totally bad business decision) to launch him on the eve of camp. Landing another job would have been much more difficult (as opposed to cutting him in April/May). Not letting him spread discontent at camp, chucking a known cry baby, and getting rid of a Mac-a-boy might have been done to galvonize the rest of the line into some sense of unity. It sounds like a total conspiracy theory line, but I'm not sure that the move, and the timing of the move, had less to do with football performance, and more to do with setting a "new posture" with the coaching staff and management. i.e. "we're moving in a new direction, get on board, or get the heck out of here."

 

[Russ Smith]

Is there any credence to the speculation that PK was cut so late to "screw him over". He was supposedly the one who had been bitching about Player's Association (union) violations in practice. He was a vocal leader on the line. And he was (for lack of a better description) one of Mac's boys. It seemed to be a pretty strong statement (and a totally bad business decision) to launch him on the eve of camp. Landing another job would have been much more difficult (as opposed to cutting him in April/May). Not letting him spread discontent at camp, chucking a known cry baby, and getting rid of a Mac-a-boy might have been done to galvonize the rest of the line into some sense of unity. It sounds like a total conspiracy theory line, but I'm not sure that the move, and the timing of the move, had less to do with football performance, and more to do with setting a "new posture" with the coaching staff and management. i.e. "we're moving in a new direction, get on board, or get the heck out of here."

Not bad for PK, bad for the Cards. If you listen to Kendall he was contacted by something like 15 teams in the first couple of days after we cut him(I forget the exact number Lex would know he loves the guy ).

But the Cards went into camp suddenly needing a veteran C which is pretty hard to find heading into camp. the only veteran C out there on the open market that year as I recall was .... Pete Kendall.

 

[vinnymac]

everyone get over pete kendall. he has been gone for 3 years now. at least we know that the cardinals need to get a center in the offseason. start experimenting with some people.