Bordow: Cards stick with losing formula

[NMCard]

While Graves was working without a contract did any other teams come looking for his services as GM?

 

[az1965]

Like someone said, luck will be a HUGE factor in determining what is going to happen next few days. We cannot count on the stupid "plans" and poor decision making abilities (or lack there of) of these morons (Bidwills and Graves).

Yeah, right, they have a plan like last 3 years that belw up on their faces. Let's go back to the drawing board... If someone does not have football brains, sure they are going to grow some pretty soon.

I'm so sick of it... because I know things are NOT going to improve.

 

[conraddobler]

Chow is an offensive genius, very organized, very bright. The reason he's never got a HC job is he's apparently terrible in interviews and everyone comes away thinking this guy won't close the deal on recruits(college) or free agents(NFL) he's just not aggressive enough.

Chow has a LONG history of tutoring QB's, all the guys at BYU, Rivers at NC State, Palmer and Leinart (and Booty) at USC.

But that's really always been his role, offense, and QB's, he's never had the whole ball of wax and I think that's what makes him a tough guy to peg.

If he were 50 you might say ok it's his time, but he'll be 61 in May. I just think the way the Cards are operating it seems they're trying to hire a guy who's an offensive guy, and plug him into most of the existing defensive staff.
5 of the 6 named guys are offensive guys right?

My fear is you hire a 60 year old guy as a first time HC, you better have the infrastructure around him to help him, and who here honestly believes that the Cards have that in place with Graves, the Bidwills, and Clancy Pendergast?

But I do think the reason we got all those Pete Carroll and Fisher as the next coach rumors could well have been that we were talking to both guys about Chow?

One interesting thing I read on a USC site. Apparently Carroll and Chow didn't exactly part on good terms, Chow thought he had the Stanford job sewed up and reportedly was recruiting players that USC was recruiting telling them come with me to Stanford. Carroll found out and was going to demote or fire Chow but he didn't get the Stanford job and then left for the Titans.
So that would punch holes in my theory of why we might have been talking to PC.

That's a good story but if Chow was backdooring Carroll dosen't he have more stones than given credit for?

See I'd like that in a guy to an extent.

 

[conraddobler]

Like someone said, luck will be a HUGE factor in determining what is going to happen next few days. We cannot count on the stupid "plans" and poor decision making abilities (or lack there of) of these morons (Bidwills and Graves).

Yeah, right, they have a plan like last 3 years that belw up on their faces. Let's go back to the drawing board... If someone does not have football brains, sure they are going to grow some pretty soon.

I'm so sick of it... because I know things are NOT going to improve.

Only this team would deem what Graves has done to be worthy of an extension.

ONLY this team.

Picture any other NFL team doing it, I dare you.

Edit.

Any winning team.

 

[lobo]

The one two punch of Bryant Johnson and Calvin Pace is a tough one to avoid leaving a really clear mark from.

no doubt that was a lunkhead move my "someone" the fact of the matter is that suggs was the pick and one cannot present the guys the team passed on to take those two...they coulda' and shoulda' without doubt taken suggs...if i recall correctly there was the question about his speed...the usually dung thrown at us about players not taken when they should have been.

 

[JeffGollin]

There is no move the Cardinals could have made that would have earned praise from Bordow.

The only thing that will change Bordow's attitude will be for us to start winning consistently. Then watch how fast guys like that hop aboard the bus.

 

[ajcardfan]

There is no move the Cardinals could have made that would have earned praise from Bordow.

The only thing that will change Bordow's attitude will be for us to start winning consistently. Then watch how fast guys like that hop aboard the bus.

No. That's wrong. He has praised the Cardinals when it was due. If you read his column from the day before, which I posted, he begged the Cards to overhaul the front office and hire a GM from the outside. Which most of us wanted. Had the Cards done so, he would've praised them for that.

 

[conraddobler]

no doubt that was a lunkhead move my "someone" the fact of the matter is that suggs was the pick and one cannot present the guys the team passed on to take those two...they coulda' and shoulda' without doubt taken suggs...if i recall correctly there was the question about his speed...the usually dung thrown at us about players not taken when they should have been.

The problem is that is the only draft we have to judge him on was that one, the last few years it's been Green, please don't everybody try and tell me it wasn't, he put together how to run a board for them from top to bottom, the interviews make it clear the progression was refreshing for Rod, as in he didn't do it that way before.

That one flub with Pace and Bryant well that happend after he got his jock handed to him by Philly taking a guy we wanted, he got totally schooled in that draft, which I'd expect a rookie GM could have happen to them.

So maybe he learned, maybe it rubbed off on him, I will wait and see until after the draft and FA ends to make further comments on the man but there are a ton of decisions that have to be made correctly between now and then, let's hope the man is up to the job.

 

[BigRedRage]

Cards stick with losing formula
By Scott Bordow, Tribune Columnist
January 2, 2007


The news you wanted to hear:
The Cardinals fired coach Dennis Green Monday.
The news you dreaded to hear:
Vice president Michael Bidwill said there would be no structural changes in Arizona’s front office.
“We feel like we have a good plan,” general manager Rod Graves said.

Let’s see. The Cardinals were 16-32 the past three years. No one in the front office had the temerity to challenge Green or override his harebrained decisions. Money was wasted in free agency, and by the end of the 2006 season, Arizona couldn’t fill all the seats inside University of Phoenix Stadium.

Yeah, that’s some plan.

The Cardinals had an opportunity Monday to change course, to sail away from the turbulent seas of the past few seasons.

Instead, they rammed the iceberg again.

In announcing that the front office would remain intact and that Graves has been given a three-year contract extension, Bidwill essentially pointed all of his fingers at Green and said, “Don’t look at us. We had nothing to do with it.”

It was so ludicrous, so laughable, that all you could do was shake your head and wonder how he kept a straight face.

Look, no one can argue that Green didn’t bring his firing upon himself. The Cardinals will be better off without him.

But Green was not solely responsible for Arizona’s failure. As the general manager, it was Graves’ job to be the checks and balances to Green’s ego.
Instead, he sat idly by, silently, as Green made dubious personnel decisions — see Pete Kendall, Oliver Ross, etc. — hired his cronies and fired so many assistant coaches the Cardinals never had any stability.

“What I wanted to do based on Dennis Green’s track record and success was support him,” Graves said.

Support is fine. Blind allegiance, particularly when it hurts the franchise, is not a virtue; it’s a shortcoming.

Graves is as good of a man as you’ll meet in the NFL. He’s decent and honorable, hard-working and loyal. But what has he done to warrant three more years of running the franchise?

Graves has ostensibly been in charge since the end of the 2002 season. The Cardinals’ record since he took over: 20-44.

His most notable personnel move was trading down in the 2003 draft and selecting Bryant Johnson and Calvin Pace with Arizona’s two first round picks. (To his credit, he did snag Anquan Boldin in the second round). It was a disastrous deal, not only because Johnson and Pace have been, at best, limited contributors, but because the Cardinals passed on a chance to select Arizona State defensive end Terrell Suggs.

It was learned later on the Cardinals didn’t pick Suggs in part because they were afraid they wouldn’t be able to sign him, and the embarrassment locally would be great. Well, if Graves was doing the Bidwills’ bidding, he did a disservice to himself and his football team.

I’m not advocating that Graves should have been fired along with Green. He has done a terrific job of negotiating and restructuring contracts, and he has a good rapport with players and scouts. His skills are best suited for those duties.
But a general manager has to have a strong and independent voice, and nothing Graves has done in the past suggests he will stand up to the Bidwills — or the head coach — when he needs to.

Perhaps, sadly, that’s why he still has the job.

Graves and Michael Bidwill stopped answering questions about 18 minutes into Monday’s press conference. They said they had a coach to hire.

Good luck to whoever gets the job.

He’s going to need it.
Contact Scott Bordow by email, or phone (480) 898-6598

Bordow is the most negative writer ever, I get the tribune at home for free and read all of his articles on the cardinals and he is always negative, i dont like him.

 

[Russ Smith]

Bordow is the most negative writer ever, I get the tribune at home for free and read all of his articles on the cardinals and he is always negative, i dont like him.

How could you not be negative covering the Cards?

I think people underestimate these writers, I think they want the team to win too and are just as frustrated as we are when they lose. how many ways can you say snatched defeat from the jaws of victory?

 

[conraddobler]

No. That's wrong. He has praised the Cardinals when it was due. If you read his column from the day before, which I posted, he begged the Cards to overhaul the front office and hire a GM from the outside. Which most of us wanted. Had the Cards done so, he would've praised them for that.

You know as much as I hate hacks that write stuff about the team just because it's easy, the team could you know......

STOP MAKING IT SO FREAKING EASY!!!!

Wheeeew I feel better now.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

I totally agree with this article.

The Cardinals are the same crappy organization with all the same problems, just without one Dennis Green.

They are doomed for another 5-11 season.