My takeaways include that this surely means Gannon will call the defenses. It also likely means Gannon’s mention that he might call the offensive plays will surely go away. As I mentioned in a different post, considering the Cards investment in LBs, the team’s near term success will hinge on developing this unit. Rallis is generally regarded as a solid teacher; a skill the Cards have obviously lacked. This would seem to make it an absolute certainty the Cards will play Gannon’s bend but don’t break style of defense. Get ready to be patient. This weakens my certainty that the Cards will take Carter. Anderson may excite Rallis more. Don’t expect to see much blitzing. I am slightly concerned this may limit the points of view on defensive questions. I don‘t see this guy challenging Gannon very often. He was chosen because he‘s comfortable with the strategy. Fans will need to control expectations. The Eagles‘ personnel was in much better position to excel.
The Cards have big holes and with Watt gone, they have a major leadership deficiency in the front 7. The Eagles didn’t blitz because they didn’t have to blitz to pressure the QB. The Cards couldn’t pressure the QB without blitzing, except for Watt on occasion. Whether this defensive style can survive without that front 4 pressure, is a major question. If the defense fails, how patient will the fans be? Is Gannon flexible enough to devise a different defensive strategy? How quickly can the Cards assemble the needed personnel? I know getting Joseph to compensate for Kingsbury‘s lack of NFL HC experience didn’t work, but the Cards now have a staff with zero experience to guide them. Since the GM is also a rookie, that’s a great deal to learn on the fly. Bidwill hasn’t shown an affinity in the past for identifying a genius. There may be a significant knowledge gap that takes some time to correct. Failure isn’t certain, but I admire their sense of a challenge.