azdad1978
Championship!!!!
By Darren Urban, Tribune
September 24, 2005
Defensive end Bertrand Berry is coming off a Pro Bowl season and already has three sacks in two games for the Arizona Cardinals.
But he will not face a better left tackle than the guy he sees Sunday in Seattle, the Seahawks’ perennial Pro Bowl selection Walter Jones.
“It’s a big challenge,” Berry said. “He is a great player, and he is a guy we have to get after the best we can. It will take 60 minutes to beat him. Whatever we do, we have to factor him into it.”
Jones has been stellar over the years, despite missing the previous three training camps before 2005 as an unsigned franchise-tagged player. Jones would wait until the season was about to start, come in and sign a one-year tender, and still play at a high level.
This season, after Jones finally got a long-term contract, he went to camp. And he might be even better, especially after manhandling Atlanta’s Pro Bowl defensive end Patrick Kerney last week.
“I always thought, however, early in the season, that was Walt’s training camp and even a great player has to get his timing down and those things,” Seattle coach Mike Holmgren said. “My personal feeling, he had a fine game against Atlanta — wow. Being at training camp and being with the offensive line, I think that helps him. I don’t care how good you are.”
Last year, Berry would have switched sides sometimes to get away from Jones, as the Cardinals tried to put him in the best positions to disrupt the defense. This year, with the addition of another high-priced defensive end, Chike Okeafor, Berry stays on the right side while Okeafor is on the left.
Okeafor should have a much easier time going against inexperienced right tackle Sean Locklear.
“I think the Cardinals have two of the best defensive ends,” Holmgren said. “They are pressure guys, they are active guys. Our tackles have their hands full. . . That’s an all-day sucker playing against the defensive ends of the Cardinals.”
NO. 1 TAILBACK
- J.J. Arrington and Marcel Shipp shared the reps as the starting running back as the week wore on, and it is still a mystery who coach Dennis Green puts in the lineup to start in Seattle. A reasonable guess is that Green will start Arrington again — and not demote him after being sick last week — but that Shipp will likely get the majority of the work.
WHERE’S THE LOVE?
- Green’s son, Jeremy, was a respected scout for the Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers, and he has been rumored to eventually get a job with the Cardinals. He's currently an NFL analyst for ESPN.com. In an online chat Friday, Jeremy Green was asked if the Cards had a chance to make the playoffs this year.
“You always have a chance in the NFC West,” Jeremy Green wrote, “but at this point I would say no. Offensively, their run game is terrible. They can’t protect the QB and the defense hasn’t played as well as last year either.”
EXTRA POINTS
Green has been talking about making the Cardinals a top-10 team both offensively and defensively since he showed up last year. The Cards are ranked ninth in offense and eighth in defense. Of course, they are 21st in scoring and 30th in points allowed, leading to their 0-2 record. . . The Seahawks have scored 35 points this season, all of them in the second quarter. . .
Holmgren was asked if his team lacked a killer instinct. “I don’t know exactly what that means. I don’t think so. I like to kill anybody just like the next guy.”
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=48847
September 24, 2005
Defensive end Bertrand Berry is coming off a Pro Bowl season and already has three sacks in two games for the Arizona Cardinals.
But he will not face a better left tackle than the guy he sees Sunday in Seattle, the Seahawks’ perennial Pro Bowl selection Walter Jones.
“It’s a big challenge,” Berry said. “He is a great player, and he is a guy we have to get after the best we can. It will take 60 minutes to beat him. Whatever we do, we have to factor him into it.”
Jones has been stellar over the years, despite missing the previous three training camps before 2005 as an unsigned franchise-tagged player. Jones would wait until the season was about to start, come in and sign a one-year tender, and still play at a high level.
This season, after Jones finally got a long-term contract, he went to camp. And he might be even better, especially after manhandling Atlanta’s Pro Bowl defensive end Patrick Kerney last week.
“I always thought, however, early in the season, that was Walt’s training camp and even a great player has to get his timing down and those things,” Seattle coach Mike Holmgren said. “My personal feeling, he had a fine game against Atlanta — wow. Being at training camp and being with the offensive line, I think that helps him. I don’t care how good you are.”
Last year, Berry would have switched sides sometimes to get away from Jones, as the Cardinals tried to put him in the best positions to disrupt the defense. This year, with the addition of another high-priced defensive end, Chike Okeafor, Berry stays on the right side while Okeafor is on the left.
Okeafor should have a much easier time going against inexperienced right tackle Sean Locklear.
“I think the Cardinals have two of the best defensive ends,” Holmgren said. “They are pressure guys, they are active guys. Our tackles have their hands full. . . That’s an all-day sucker playing against the defensive ends of the Cardinals.”
NO. 1 TAILBACK
- J.J. Arrington and Marcel Shipp shared the reps as the starting running back as the week wore on, and it is still a mystery who coach Dennis Green puts in the lineup to start in Seattle. A reasonable guess is that Green will start Arrington again — and not demote him after being sick last week — but that Shipp will likely get the majority of the work.
WHERE’S THE LOVE?
- Green’s son, Jeremy, was a respected scout for the Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers, and he has been rumored to eventually get a job with the Cardinals. He's currently an NFL analyst for ESPN.com. In an online chat Friday, Jeremy Green was asked if the Cards had a chance to make the playoffs this year.
“You always have a chance in the NFC West,” Jeremy Green wrote, “but at this point I would say no. Offensively, their run game is terrible. They can’t protect the QB and the defense hasn’t played as well as last year either.”
EXTRA POINTS
Green has been talking about making the Cardinals a top-10 team both offensively and defensively since he showed up last year. The Cards are ranked ninth in offense and eighth in defense. Of course, they are 21st in scoring and 30th in points allowed, leading to their 0-2 record. . . The Seahawks have scored 35 points this season, all of them in the second quarter. . .
Holmgren was asked if his team lacked a killer instinct. “I don’t know exactly what that means. I don’t think so. I like to kill anybody just like the next guy.”
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=48847
