Cardinals 2006: Game 1 (ARI 34 SF 27) Analysis

[Mitch]

The Positives:

1. QB Kurt Warner: 23/37 301 yds. 8.1 ave/p/catch 3 TDs. When was the last time the Cardinals scored three TDs in the 1st quarter? Credit Warner's hot hand (and his feet on improvs) and the defense for creating two big SF turnovers. Warner distributed the ball well and fairly evenly...but most importantly, he engineered two TD drives at critical times, the first on the Cardinals' first possession in answer to the 49ers' opening TD drive...the second as an answer to his own fumble in the middle of the 3rd quarter that allowed the 49ers to climb within 3 points of the lead (21-24)...the drive culminated by a perfect 11 yard TD pass up the middle to TE Adam Bergen.

2. RB Edgerrin James: 26/73 2.8 yd. ave. 1 TD rushing...3/13 receiving...not stellar stats by any means...similar average per carry for the Cardinal RBs last year (which means the offensive line thus far is no better)...but, listed here as a positive in the sense that the Cardinal offense dominated the time of possession at 35:02 to 24:58, and James certainly had a lot to do with that...and his 1st quarter TD run was impressive.

3. RB J.J. Arrington: 2/11 5.5 yd. ave rushing...5/124 24.8 (long of 30) kickoff returns. Good returns and good change of pace carries at RB.

4. WR Larry Fitzgerald: 9/133 14.8...stellar performance (save two uncharacteristic drops).

5. WR Anquan Boldin: 4/62 15.5 1 TD...WR Bryant Johnson: 2/51 25.5...TE Adam Bergen 2/18 9.0 1 TD...WR Troy Walters 2/15 7.5 1 TD...TE Leonard Pope 1/9 9.0...strong contributions...

6. Offensive Line: Yeah there were plenty of negatives here unfortunately...but helping to post 367 yards of total offense deserves them recognition here.

7. LB Gerald Hayes...5 tackles...1 fumble recovery and near TD...1 sack...MVP of the defense today, IMO...needs to be more consistent plugging the middle, but the effort and the production were there.

8. SS Adrian Wilson...5 tackles and some punishing hits...

9. CB Eric Green...4 tackles...came in and changed the defensive tempo of the game with his physical play...made a couple of bonehead mistakes too...but, IMO, was a huge difference maker, especially in slowing down TE Vernon Davis...with Green delivering the hits, Davis began to hear footsteps.

10. S Hanik Milligan...right away making his presence felt on STs...with two nice tackles.

11. S Aaron Francisco...was flying around and making plays on STs like he had been in the pre-season.

12. K Neil Rackers: 4/4 extra pts....2/2 FGs...love those numbers!

13. P Scott Player: 4/173 43.3 ave (long of 49)...good day punting...

14. RB Marcel Shipp for saving a TD on Arnaz Battle's 60 yard punt return...the defense held from the 6 yard line and limited SF to a FG.

Negatives:

1. QB Kurt Warner...did not handle pass rush well after the first quarter...didn't slide and shuffle his feet the way he should...threw an ill-advised left handed pass for an intentional grounding (didn't seem to even know the rule that a pass delivered by a non-standard throwing motion has to touch the receiver)...coughed up a fumble inside the Cards' own ten, when he should have tucked the ball in and taken the sack...started to throw flat-footed and even falling backward on short throws.

2. RB Edgerrin James...did not look very sudden on the occasions in the open field where he had openings...looked tentative, IMO...yes, the line didn't give him much and the stetch play R and stretch play L were getting awfully predictable and monotonous...but still...when Frank Gore had openings he burst through them (yes he had more...but Edge did have a few and a couple more on swing passes that he took his sweet time on).

3. Offensive Line: Not only was the run blocking sub par, as usual, the pass blocking was very inconsistent, particularly as the game wore on...SF did a very good job of looping and stunting, but the Cardinals' linemen looked gassed and slow to react far too often.

4. Defensive Line: One of the more lackluster and unproductive performances the defensive line has turned in under Pendergast...they didn't stop the run, and they didn't generate any semblance of a pass rush...look at these tackling/sack stats: Okeafor (1/0), Dockett (1/0 and a totally bonehead roughing penalty on Alex Smith to bail the 49ers out of a 4th and long), Clancy (2/0) and Berry (0/0)...starters' totals: 4/0. Pendergast needs to shuffle his depth in there...Watson and Lewis were inactive (hopefully that will change)...Antonio Smith came in a couple of times, but needs to be used more, IMO...and if it were up to me, I would move Calvin Pace back to RDE and have him spell Bertrand Berry on a regular basis to keep Berry healthy and fresh...and make the pass rush more formidible.

5. Pass coverage: Green was having the best day until he got inexplicably beat up the sideline by Antonio Bryant late. Rolle, Macklin, Wilson and Griffith were all liabilities in coverage, more than they were assets...yes a lack of pass rush hurt, but still...the holes in this secondary were plentiful and wide...Rolle was lucky one TD he got toasted for was called back...Griffith was out of position all day, even in run support...and Macklin was rightfully replaced by Green after he missed an easy interception and then whiffed on a sideline tackle of Vernon Davis which allowed the 49ers' rookie a 1st drive trip to the end zone.

6. Special Teams in the 2nd Half: Again...looked less focused and aggressive...and it cost the team momentum.

7. Team Tackling: Has been a problem for a long time...every year since Dennis Green has been head coach, that's for sure...yes when the players do tackle they usually hit hard, but their fundamentals are flat-out poor especially in space...which is why the good tacklers such as Aaron Francisco should be given more time on the defense.

8. On-side kick receiving team: About as lame an effort as one will find.

9. Penalties: 11-85 yards...Griffith, Dockett and Green (unsportsmanlike...all at bad times (not that there's ever a good time really)). Davis...false start...Wells...holding in the open field...Boldin...push in the back...

10. Run Calling on Offense...Edge left, Edge right...virtually all on stretch plays that Kurt Warner is going to pop a groin on...the offensive line is slow and all they seem to create is a lateral wall...and the quickness of team's backside pursuit goes right through the backside of this line...thus taking the romance out of the cutback run.

What I Would Do:

1. Put in an "I" package for Edge (to be used when necessary) and either re-sign James Hodgins or promote John Bronson to be the FB.

2. Start Deuce Lutui or Liwienski at LG. Liwienski was decent at RT...but I still think Brandon Gorin is better...and eventually maybe Wells will be better at RT than both of them...but Wells has worn out his welcome at LG, and should have long ago, IMO. I would also start Nick Leckey at C.

3. Run some inside traps with Lutui and Brown. Run the draw (which may have worked well versus the 49ers' stunts and loops).

4. Rotate the DL personnel to keep them fresh. Work on the pass rush, big time.

5. Split time at SLB between Calvin Pace and James Darling...and have Pace play RDE for Berry now and then.

6. Start Eric Green at RCB.

7. Start Aaron Fracisco at FS.

8. I am even starting to think about moving Adrian Wilson to SLB...and Antrel Rolle to SS...but, I don't like the other options at LCB.

9. Start playing man-to-man press coverage so that RBs don't catch the ball and turn and see wide open spaces to gallop through...on screens and simple swing passes.

10. Seattle is going to try to jump the deep in pass to Fitz with their Fs, so the Cards should try to look more for Bryant Johnson on the deep post (over the FS).

What Was Awesome:

The stadium was in full array...I absolutley relished the shots of the fans all clad in Cardinal red, many of them painted up and going crazy...today there were more reasons to be happy other than the fact that our Cardinals are 1-0 in the new season and they scored 4 TDs! and 34 points!...more reaons? Yeah, 63,407 reasons...that's right, 63,407 reasons! YEAH!

 

[kerouac9]

I know that you like to blame Dennis Green for the bad tackling, Mitch, but it was like that before he got here. The defenses under Mac were totally unable to wrap guys up. I think that these guys are just trying to make the big hit instead of actually wrapping up, but this is better than the guys breaking tackles like they were under the prior regime.

I love to see our defenders trying to strip the ball on every tackle.

 

[Scot1]

Nice post, Mitch--thanks! I wonder if you're going to be able to break down the performance of each offensive line member for solid blocks/whiffs, etc.?

I had one other question--can you tell what Edge's rushing numbers were in the first vs. second half? I remember that his first 6 rushes netted 5 yards, and if you take those out, he was 20 for 68, almost a 3.5 ypc average--not great, but 3.5 is my cut-off of horrible from tolerable. It seemed as though he was doing better, mixing 3 yard runs with 7s or so, more in the second half. Getting adjusted to the foibles of the line?

 

[bratwurst]

It looked to me like SF was prepared for the most part when AW lined up close to the LoS on the strong side, and they would hand off to Gore up the middle for usually large gains as Wilson would be out of position, and the MLB would be back to cover.

Am I crazy or did anyone else see this too? Seemed to me like SF was gameplanning for runs when Wilson crept up to the side of the line.

 

[Mitch]

Nice post, Mitch--thanks! I wonder if you're going to be able to break down the performance of each offensive line member for solid blocks/whiffs, etc.?

I had one other question--can you tell what Edge's rushing numbers were in the first vs. second half? I remember that his first 6 rushes netted 5 yards, and if you take those out, he was 20 for 68, almost a 3.5 ypc average--not great, but 3.5 is my cut-off of horrible from tolerable. It seemed as though he was doing better, mixing 3 yard runs with 7s or so, more in the second half. Getting adjusted to the foibles of the line?

Yes, Scot1, Edge's numbers were slightly better in the 2nd half...but not by much, really. The best part: time of possession.

 

[Mitch]

It looked to me like SF was prepared for the most part when AW lined up close to the LoS on the strong side, and they would hand off to Gore up the middle for usually large gains as Wilson would be out of position, and the MLB would be back to cover.

Am I crazy or did anyone else see this too? Seemed to me like SF was gameplanning for runs when Wilson crept up to the side of the line.

Good point, bratwurst...teams tend to run away from the SS to begin with...but...Adrian Wilson, like the rest of the defense needs to take Tackling 101...they all look like they are playing thud out there (thud is the term coaches and players use for the half speed drills where the tackling is only thud and stop at half speed).

 

[krispydude]

wilson doesnt tackle...he's either going full speed to knock someone out or trying to rip the ball out of the carrier

 

[Mitch]

wilson doesnt tackle...he's either going full speed to knock someone out or trying to rip the ball out of the carrier

You got it, krispydude.

 

[Mitch]

Nice post, Mitch--thanks! I wonder if you're going to be able to break down the performance of each offensive line member for solid blocks/whiffs, etc.?

I had one other question--can you tell what Edge's rushing numbers were in the first vs. second half? I remember that his first 6 rushes netted 5 yards, and if you take those out, he was 20 for 68, almost a 3.5 ypc average--not great, but 3.5 is my cut-off of horrible from tolerable. It seemed as though he was doing better, mixing 3 yard runs with 7s or so, more in the second half. Getting adjusted to the foibles of the line?

Scot1: Gary (Snakester) is our expert tape breaker downer...he'll post his analysis for us in a day or two...but it's always well worth the wait!

 

[Goldfield]

I agree with you ALOT.

Wilson should play alot at LB with Aaron Francisco getting alot of time at FS. Aaron Francisco's speed & tackling would be a refreshing thing. It would also let Griffith play his natural SS position.

AW is more effective up on the line as a LB.

I would play Pace on running downs only. Play L.Moore in Docketts place more.

I think Rolle would make a real good Saftey but we have nobody to play Corner so that will have to wait.

 

[Goodyear Card]

Mitch,

How about moving Wells to center? Hopefully, Ross will be back soon and will be able to play better than last year.

thanks for your comments

 

[overseascardfan]

I would have liked to see Jonathan Lewis or Watson (don't know if he's still injured) play and give he starters a rest. They were drafted for the ability to play the run.

 

[JeffGollin]

None of our shortcomings were due to a lack of talent.

They were mainly due to a lack of execution.

Coming into the game, I felt that all we had to do was to rein in our mistakes and leverage our superiority in talent and depth. Coming out of the game, I feel the same way.

Only problem was: We didn't rein in enough of our mistakes:

- Our one-on-one tackling was abysmal.

- Defensive players bit on run fakes and failed to hold contain and maintain their zones (The Pace faux pax on the long Davis catch early in the game is a perfect example. He bit on a play to his left and Davis was wide open to the right).

- We were flagged for too many dumb rookie-like roughness calls. The one on Dockett probably cost us a game-clinching TD.

- Special teams play broke down later in the game.

- I got the feeling that SF made halftime adjustments that left KW without immediate receivers to throw to and wound up eating the ball. We didn't appear during the 2H to adjust to their adjustments.

- It also looked as though Clancy P was content to sit on our lead instead of at least occasionally sending a 5th or 6th pass rusher - if for no other reason than to rattle Alex Smith. Instead we only rushed 4 and almost allowed ourselves to suffer "death by 1,000 cuts."

On the plus side:

- We started to move the ball on the ground in the 2H. That final drive for the FG was a gem involving 13 plays and 7:00 - mostly on the ground. This probably cemented our win and points up the value of a RB like Edge.

- I liked our resiliancy. Instead of caving every time SF narrowed the score, we rebounded for an answering score of our own. That wouldn't have happened last year or the year before. We'd have folded like a cheap tent.

Biggest thing - We won a game we had to win. And we won't have to listen or read a lot of negative trash in the media or around the water cooler about "What happened to your 'team of destiny?'"

 

[Nasser22]

I enjoyed the first half of this game and I'm happy we got a win to start of the season. I was unhappy with the o-line, but really what can you expect when they didn't go after any really good lineman or at least a good starting tackle to move Leonard Davis to his rightful position or at least so we'd have a better option than these no names and the injured fella who's name I just forgot.

I was also unhappy with the run D, but I think that part of the defense will be fine once we get Dansby back. I think he should be back by week 2 or 3. Hopefully he doesen't reaggravate that injury.

A problem I see in the future is not having very good coverage in the secondary. We seem to just have hard hitters. Eric Green could be good but he's very inexperienced, Macklin is average, Rolle would be better as a safety, Griffith is old and not that good, Wilson is a hitter who might get a couple INT's. We really should have gone after a corner this off-season.

Oh well, hoping for the best. A 9-7 season will just make me really happy. I'm wearing my Cardinal and ASU stuff tommorow.


And btw, I didn't know there were so many Cardinals fans! Hopefully the majority are real fans and not bandwagoners and stadium-seers.

 

[conraddobler]

I agree with your analysis almost completely Mitch.

The run play calling is probably dialed up by Edge, they seem to be defering to what he wants and the first game you can't blame them, it's going to have to fail some before they can convince Edge to ditch his bread and butter play.

Normally I'd tell them to tell him to go fly but this is Edge, you have to let Edge come to this conclusion at least a bit on his own which I think he will, or eventually they'll get better at it, although I doubt it will work like the ultimately want it to.

My final thoughts are that The Cardinals O was much the same as I thought it would be, I'm a fan.

The Defense let me down more than a little.

More mistakes than we can tolerate by far.

The 49ers are much improved, much better and will only get tougher over games and the years.

The Rams look tough on D.

The Seahawks looked flat.

IMO, our division is much better than anyone credits it being, it's going to be a war.

 

[Scot1]

I just went thru the game log at www.azcardinal.com/06grsf1.htm (thanks for posting it so quickly) and counted up Edge's second-half stats. At first I got 14 rushes, 70 yards--Great! Then I realized I had included 2 rushes called back for penalties, totaling 23 yards, so his totals were 12 for 47 yards. But that means two things: if no penalties had occurred, he would have had almost 100 yards (and while Wells' hold may have helped him gain yards, Boldin's illegal shift probably did not). And despite that, he was close to 4ypc, not great but tolerable, especially with our line, first real game experience, etc.

 

[Redmark]

The Positives:
14. RB Marcel Shipp for saving a TD on Arnaz Battle's 60 yard punt return...the defense held from the 6 yard line and limited SF to a FG.

Saved the day ... looked like a sure touchdown meaning SF would have only needed a FG after the onside kick recovery and they sure had the momentum in their favor at that point. We kept Marcel for ST teams for that reason and his all out hustle made his RB salary seem justified.

 

[Totally_Red]

I was extremely disappointed in the defense's overall "performance". There were way too many dumb penalties, lack of backside contain, poor pass defense and the total lack of any pressure on Smith for this team to go anywhere this season.

Give SF and Norv Turner credit. They game-planned the same stuff that this team failed to address last season and continues to struggle with. Dial up a screen pass of any size, dimension, and concept and you are almost guaranteed 10 yards, with a good possibility of gaining 20-30 yards. Yeah, Frank Gore is a decent RB, but he looked like a HOFer out there today.

I agree with all the comments about the very poor tackling. We have a couple of linebackers who are decent tacklers, but that's about it. Adrian Wilson is not a pro-bowl safety in my mind. Pro-bowlers can and do make open-field tackles, and don't repeatedly whiff on tackles in the opponent's backfield like Wilson does. Bill Lewis said it best in pre-season, he really needs to not worry about making a knockout hit, and just make a solid wrap-up tackle.

Pendergast just has to address the way teams will continue to gouge this defense on the defense's right side. Berry and Huff tend to over pursue, leaving the right side of the defense wide open to cutbacks, counters, screens, anything at all really. Turner obviously saw that from last season and exploited it repeatedly. Really other than the 2 early turnovers, and the 4th quarter goalline stand, SF mistakes (penalties and drops) stopped them more than the Cardinal defense.

 

[AZ Shocker]

We won so I'm not too disappointed. This team is still a "work in progress". We're getting closer. All's it takes is a few things to go our way, and we got some today. A couple turnovers here and there are never a bad thing. What's important is we capitilized and we were in the driver's seat ALL friggin' DAY!

My only gripe is the Cardinals "warm-up" music. Having gotten there early...the stadium p.a. was playing some good tunes. BUT when the Cards came out for warm-ups...OMG it was a full on rap music festival. I get the sense EDGE has even greater power than I imagined. You just know he's picking the warm-up music. lol

Hey Edge...throw us whitey's a bone man. Play at least one rock song during warm-ups!!! lol

 

[TheCardFan]

Mitch,

How about moving Wells to center? Hopefully, Ross will be back soon and will be able to play better than last year.

thanks for your comments

Didn't Wells play C a little last year?

 

[Russ Smith]

Saved the day ... looked like a sure touchdown meaning SF would have only needed a FG after the onside kick recovery and they sure had the momentum in their favor at that point. We kept Marcel for ST teams for that reason and his all out hustle made his RB salary seem justified.

Yep that play didn't get the attention it deserved Shipp made a HUGE play there and it was all hustle he could have easily given up.