Harry
ASFN Consultant and Senior Writer
If you want to know why the coaching isn’t working, don’t blame the coaches. Blame the owner. When you go to change coaches the most obvious place to start is to ask, what are the strong points of the team? On defense I’d say Jones & Peterson were the clear standouts. Certainly Jones could play a 4-3. He’d done it. Peterson’s strength was his ability to play man. Maybe he could play zone, but that was not a given and would decrease his impact. Have you noticed how often teams are throwing in his area? They rarely did last season. The linebackers had all struggled in coverage and could not be easily hidden in zone. The weak spots in the zone would be obvious. The opponent could easily see where the weak 2nd CB would be. The safeties likely could play zone. On offense the line was aging and in need of replacement and leadership. The wide receivers were leaving except for Fitz. DJ would be back. Again every other RB was allowed to leave. The offense’s success had come from aggressive passing which opened up the run to some extent.
So what does Bidwill do? He hires a coach who wants to focus on running the ball with no WRs to spread the field and no OL. Also there’s no back up RB to a player returning from injury. On defense Wilks wants to change to a 4-3. Basically the new coach wants to change everything. How often does that work quickly: seldom. Where were the players better suited to those new systems? The Cardinals would have been better advised to stay with a 3-4. It’s true the Cards struggled on defense last year, mostly because of injuries. The year before they’d had a top ranked defense. This team needed a remodel, not a teardown. I like coaches who play to their personnel’s strength, not the ones fitting square pegs into round holes.
Wilks has the wrong personnel for his system. In some cases he simply has too few NFL level players. Perhaps they told Wilks their intention was to mostly clear cap space. So maybe they told him run your system and we’ll see who can play in it. If so they may be considering actually trading someone like Peterson. He’s clearly not going to fit in this system. If you're a season ticket holder it’s okay to be mad. Either the choice was incompetent or they just didnt tell you this year wasn’t about winning. I’m not sure it’s tanking, but it’s close. I am quite certain Wilks didn’t lie about his intentions. So the buck stops at Bidwill!
So what does Bidwill do? He hires a coach who wants to focus on running the ball with no WRs to spread the field and no OL. Also there’s no back up RB to a player returning from injury. On defense Wilks wants to change to a 4-3. Basically the new coach wants to change everything. How often does that work quickly: seldom. Where were the players better suited to those new systems? The Cardinals would have been better advised to stay with a 3-4. It’s true the Cards struggled on defense last year, mostly because of injuries. The year before they’d had a top ranked defense. This team needed a remodel, not a teardown. I like coaches who play to their personnel’s strength, not the ones fitting square pegs into round holes.
Wilks has the wrong personnel for his system. In some cases he simply has too few NFL level players. Perhaps they told Wilks their intention was to mostly clear cap space. So maybe they told him run your system and we’ll see who can play in it. If so they may be considering actually trading someone like Peterson. He’s clearly not going to fit in this system. If you're a season ticket holder it’s okay to be mad. Either the choice was incompetent or they just didnt tell you this year wasn’t about winning. I’m not sure it’s tanking, but it’s close. I am quite certain Wilks didn’t lie about his intentions. So the buck stops at Bidwill!
