Evil Ash
Henchman Supreme
http://cbs.sportsline.com/nfl/teams/report/ARI/7285233
Cardinals report: Inside slant
April 26, 2004
Pat Tillman showed us all what it means to be an American, what it means to be a human being, what it means to be a hero.
In death, as in life, Tillman undoubtedly would not want a fuss made about his passing in Afghanistan on Thursday as a U.S. Army Ranger. And truth be told, his being killed in action while fighting to bring freedom to a chaotic world is no more significant than the passing of so many other young men and women who were similarly driven to try to make the world a better place.
Yet anyone who knew Tillman knew that he truly was special.
He graduated from Arizona State University in 3 1/2 years, with honors. As an undersized, lightly recruited freshman, Tillman was asked by former ASU coach Bruce Snyder whether Tillman would approve being red-shirted to gain an additional year of development on the football field.
Tillman's response to Snyder was, "Coach, do what you want, but I'm out of here in four years."
Tillman played as a true freshman, played on an undefeated regular-season Sun Devils team that suffered its only loss in the Rose Bowl, and was out of there in four years, drafted in the seventh round by the Arizona Cardinals in 1998 after being named the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year as a senior with ASU.
He was moved from linebacker to safety as a Cardinals rookie, and eventually cracked the lineup.
Initially, Tillman didn't even own a car, although he is from a family in the San Francisco Bay area where money was not a compelling issue. Tillman rode a bicycle from his apartment to the team's training facility in Tempe, Ariz., until a local dealer heard about it and struck a car deal with him.
Each offseason, Tillman found new ways to challenge himself, first running a marathon, and the next summer entering a triathlon.
Sept. 11, 2001 was on a Tuesday, the player's day off around the NFL. But as was his custom, Tillman was at the facility working out when the horrific images from New York and Washington began flashing across the TV screen. He came into the press room and sat down on the padded chairs around the TV, watching for hours as the World Trade Center towers collapsed under terrorist attacks, as the symbol of our nation's military might, the Pentagon, took a direct hit. He just shook his head, anger burning in his eyes.
It was the final year of his initial contract, and the St. Louis Rams, who'd won a Super Bowl largely with their offense and were hoping to continue their run by bolstering their defense, had made a contract offer to the restricted free agent worth almost $10 million in the spring of 2001.
Under NFL rules, the Cardinals could have retained him by matching the offer, but it never came to that. Tillman, embarrassed when word leaked that he'd even talked to the Rams, told them, "No thanks." He preferred to remain loyal to the team that helped him break into pro football as a long-shot seventh-round pick, the Cardinals.
The Big Red had a three-year, $3.6 million contract ready for him when Tillman returned from his honeymoon in May of 2002.
But he told them, "No thanks," as well.
Tillman is cut from a different cloth. Instead of talking about 9/11 he chose to do something about it. He left a comfortable lifestyle on the table and took a job that paid less than $25,000 a year that could place him in a life-or-death situation every day. He joined the U.S. Army, presumably with the express intent on becoming an elite Ranger and attempting to track down Osama Bin Laden.
We can only presume that because once he made the decision Tillman began denying all requests from the news media for interviews.
He and his brother, Kevin, a minor-league baseball prospect who'd made a similar decision, went to basic training together and ultimately to Ranger training together.
Pat Tillman served an initial tour of duty in Iraq in the war on terror and came home. When the Cardinals visited the Seattle Seahawks late last season, Tillman, then stationed in Washington state, arranged to meet with former Cardinals coach Dave McGinnis and former Cardinals defensive coordinator Larry Marmie, and with his former teammates. It was kept tightly under wraps, in typical Tillman style. He watched the game with Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill from the owner's box and quickly met with his former teammates in the locker room after the game, exiting through a back door before the room was opened to the media.
Few knew that Tillman had been sent back overseas before the tragic news shook a football franchise, a community, and possibly even an entire nation early Friday morning that he had lost his life in a mission in Afghanistan.
The Cardinals through the years haven't been known for producing a multitude of winners, but clearly they had one in Pat Tillman.
As the reality sank in, ironically the day before this year's NFL Draft, so many images flash - his rare intellect, his unwillingness to be pulled into the norm, his dedicated passion to his beliefs, his helmet-rattling hits on the football field. Even those in Arizona who never met him feel as if they had.
Tillman being killed in action brings the tragedy of war that so many other families endure with little or no fanfare into the living rooms of everyone. For every father who has a little boy, this makes you want to hug him and not let go, to look into his eyes and wonder what the future holds for him.
It reminds us not only of the horrific consequences of war, it tells us that we should celebrate the spirit of Pat Tillman, cut from the same cloth as the founding fathers of this country, a real man and a real patriot who chose to defend not a goal line but a way of life, and paid the ultimate price for it.
DRAFT REVIEW -- You'd almost think there's no way the Cardinals could go wrong in the draft, because they had another high pick and because their plight and their needs are such that they could almost close their eyes, point to the draft board, and gain immediate improvement wherever their fingers might land.
They've shown us in many previous drafts, though - in most of them actually - that even they can bungle the job.
So it was with great anticipation among Cardinals fans that new coach Dennis Green, armed wit three picks among the first 64 overall, conducted his first draft with the team, and immediately got his man, Pittsburgh receiver Larry Fitzgerald. Green has said all along Fitzgerald is the best player in this draft.
It was no smokescreen.
The Cardinals' offense is much closer to being a finished product than the defense, and another young receiver to go along with 2003 rookie of the year Anquan Boldin and 2003 first-round pick Bryant Johnson now gives the team young talent that should be one of the league's top receiving trios for many years to come.
Green promises to put them in an offense that can help them achieve that status. Of course, some of that also depends upon the development of gunslinging quarterback Josh McCown. The Cardinals could have used that third pick overall in the first round on either Philip Rivers of North Carolina State or Ben Roethlisberger of Miami of Ohio, but Green said almost from the day he took the job that McCown, with only three games of experience as a starter, would be his man. He backed that soon after Green arrived in Tempe by informing veteran Jeff Blake that he would not receive another contract.
Put Fitzgerald, who will play the split end spot that Boldin played last season while catching 101 balls (Boldin is moving to flanker where Green says he will receive fewer double teams), opposite Boldin and bring Johnson on as the third receiver and the passing game appears formidable. That, in turn, should open the running game for Marcel Shipp with relief from Emmitt Smith.
The Cardinals still need backup help for an aging and ailing offensive line - an area they addressed on the second day of the draft with a Round 4 pick of Ohio State center Alex Stepanovich - but overall that side of the ball is shaping up to be respectable.
The problem is defense, which the Cardinals wisely addressed with two first-day picks, the first overall in both the second and third rounds.
On the surface, it would appear they had two playmaking young outside linebackers in Raynoch Thompson and Levar Fisher, but there are concerns regarding both.
Thompson, a second-round pick in 2000, was suspended the final four games of 2003 by the NFL for alcohol use that violated the league's substance-abuse policy. He had a history.
And Fisher, a second-round pick in 2002, had surgery on both knees during the offseason and watched the initial two voluntary minicamps this spring from the sideline.
So with yet another second-round pick, the Cardinals chose another outside linebacker, Karlos Dansby of Auburn, who should strengthen the team's ability to get to the quarterback. The Cardinals have been last in the league in that statistic the past three seasons.
They might have picked up a steal with that third-round selection of defensive lineman Darnell Dockett of Florida State, the Atlantic Coast Conference defensive player of the year. His former college teammate, Boldin, should help him through the adjustment to pro ball and moving a continent away from his support system.
And heaven knows the Cardinals need help at defensive tackle, a glaring weakness since the days of Eric Swann and Mark Smith. Dockett, who played outside in college, is viewed as an "under" tackle for Green.
The Cardinals seemingly wasted a first-round pick on Wendell Bryant at tackle two years ago and none among the lower-round tries have panned out. It also is a position in which they've been unable to sign a free agent of any consequence. So Dockett, whose skills are commensurate with a higher draft position but whose Achilles tendon injury two years ago caused some concern, was a solid pick in the third round.
As for the second-day choices, it's always a crap shoot. The team generally took the highest-rated player remaining on its board through the low rounds, although one noticeable area of need that went by without attention was cornerback. Green said he believes the assortment of mid-range free agents the team signed will get it through 2004.
All in all, it was a decisive step forward as Dennis Green puts his imprint on this ailing franchise.
A closer look at the Cardinals' first-day picks:
Round 1/3 - Larry Fitzgerald, WR, 6-2, 223, Pittsburgh
This is the man Coach Dennis Green said he wanted all along, and by all accounts he's one of the best receivers to come into the game in years. Fitzgerald won the Walter Camp and Biletnikoff awards last season. He has a long history with Green, once serving as Minnesota Vikings ballboy when Green coached there, and often working out with Vikings receivers Randy Moss and Cris Carter after practices. Fitzgerald is known for his great hands, very quick initial bust off the ball, solid technique and size. Scouts like his feel for the game. He knows when to break off a route when the quarterback is pressured and how to get open underneath. There are some concerns, though, regarding his speed - he is not a burner but his first step usually gets him an advantage - and he's still not the greatest blocker. He's also young. Fitzgerald is coming to the pros after only two college seasons (he turns 21 in August during preseason). At Pittsburgh, had touchdown catches in 16 straight games and was the first the Panthers' first player with successive 1,000-yard seasons receiving. With the Cardinals, he's going to look very good lining up opposite 2003 rookie of the year Anquan Boldin to improve the receiving game.
Round 2/33 -- Karlos Dansby, OLB, 6-3, 251, Auburn
Dansby has good size and surprising speed -- he initially played strong safety in college -- to go with it. He was a fierce blitzer at Auburn, an element of his game that the Cardinals no doubt will put to use quickly. He wasn't a lost cause in pass coverage, by any means, with 107 yards in returns on eight picks. The only real negative is that he needs to improve his work against the rush. He'll probably play the strong side for the Cardinals, who have questions regarding both of their starting OLBS -- Raynoch Thompson (alcohol suspension in 2003) and LeVar Fisher (offseason surgery on both knees).
Round 3/64 -- Darnell Dockett, DE, 6-3, 277, Florida State
Dockett is very effective with his quickness and appears ticketed to play the "under" tackle in Coach Dennis Green's defense after playing primarily end in college. It remains to be seen if his lack of bulk becomes a liability playing inside in the NFL. It might. He was an excellent run-stuffer in the college game, though, breaking the Seminoles' record for tackles for loss with 48. He was not much of a pass rusher while playing outside, but the under tackle is more of a run-stopping spot. There are questions about how football-wise he is. Green's staff will have some real teaching and mentoring to do here. But the Cardinals are looking for fresh bodies at the tackle spots, which have been unproductive for five years.
Copyright (C) 2004 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.
Cardinals report: Inside slant
April 26, 2004
Pat Tillman showed us all what it means to be an American, what it means to be a human being, what it means to be a hero.
In death, as in life, Tillman undoubtedly would not want a fuss made about his passing in Afghanistan on Thursday as a U.S. Army Ranger. And truth be told, his being killed in action while fighting to bring freedom to a chaotic world is no more significant than the passing of so many other young men and women who were similarly driven to try to make the world a better place.
Yet anyone who knew Tillman knew that he truly was special.
He graduated from Arizona State University in 3 1/2 years, with honors. As an undersized, lightly recruited freshman, Tillman was asked by former ASU coach Bruce Snyder whether Tillman would approve being red-shirted to gain an additional year of development on the football field.
Tillman's response to Snyder was, "Coach, do what you want, but I'm out of here in four years."
Tillman played as a true freshman, played on an undefeated regular-season Sun Devils team that suffered its only loss in the Rose Bowl, and was out of there in four years, drafted in the seventh round by the Arizona Cardinals in 1998 after being named the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year as a senior with ASU.
He was moved from linebacker to safety as a Cardinals rookie, and eventually cracked the lineup.
Initially, Tillman didn't even own a car, although he is from a family in the San Francisco Bay area where money was not a compelling issue. Tillman rode a bicycle from his apartment to the team's training facility in Tempe, Ariz., until a local dealer heard about it and struck a car deal with him.
Each offseason, Tillman found new ways to challenge himself, first running a marathon, and the next summer entering a triathlon.
Sept. 11, 2001 was on a Tuesday, the player's day off around the NFL. But as was his custom, Tillman was at the facility working out when the horrific images from New York and Washington began flashing across the TV screen. He came into the press room and sat down on the padded chairs around the TV, watching for hours as the World Trade Center towers collapsed under terrorist attacks, as the symbol of our nation's military might, the Pentagon, took a direct hit. He just shook his head, anger burning in his eyes.
It was the final year of his initial contract, and the St. Louis Rams, who'd won a Super Bowl largely with their offense and were hoping to continue their run by bolstering their defense, had made a contract offer to the restricted free agent worth almost $10 million in the spring of 2001.
Under NFL rules, the Cardinals could have retained him by matching the offer, but it never came to that. Tillman, embarrassed when word leaked that he'd even talked to the Rams, told them, "No thanks." He preferred to remain loyal to the team that helped him break into pro football as a long-shot seventh-round pick, the Cardinals.
The Big Red had a three-year, $3.6 million contract ready for him when Tillman returned from his honeymoon in May of 2002.
But he told them, "No thanks," as well.
Tillman is cut from a different cloth. Instead of talking about 9/11 he chose to do something about it. He left a comfortable lifestyle on the table and took a job that paid less than $25,000 a year that could place him in a life-or-death situation every day. He joined the U.S. Army, presumably with the express intent on becoming an elite Ranger and attempting to track down Osama Bin Laden.
We can only presume that because once he made the decision Tillman began denying all requests from the news media for interviews.
He and his brother, Kevin, a minor-league baseball prospect who'd made a similar decision, went to basic training together and ultimately to Ranger training together.
Pat Tillman served an initial tour of duty in Iraq in the war on terror and came home. When the Cardinals visited the Seattle Seahawks late last season, Tillman, then stationed in Washington state, arranged to meet with former Cardinals coach Dave McGinnis and former Cardinals defensive coordinator Larry Marmie, and with his former teammates. It was kept tightly under wraps, in typical Tillman style. He watched the game with Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill from the owner's box and quickly met with his former teammates in the locker room after the game, exiting through a back door before the room was opened to the media.
Few knew that Tillman had been sent back overseas before the tragic news shook a football franchise, a community, and possibly even an entire nation early Friday morning that he had lost his life in a mission in Afghanistan.
The Cardinals through the years haven't been known for producing a multitude of winners, but clearly they had one in Pat Tillman.
As the reality sank in, ironically the day before this year's NFL Draft, so many images flash - his rare intellect, his unwillingness to be pulled into the norm, his dedicated passion to his beliefs, his helmet-rattling hits on the football field. Even those in Arizona who never met him feel as if they had.
Tillman being killed in action brings the tragedy of war that so many other families endure with little or no fanfare into the living rooms of everyone. For every father who has a little boy, this makes you want to hug him and not let go, to look into his eyes and wonder what the future holds for him.
It reminds us not only of the horrific consequences of war, it tells us that we should celebrate the spirit of Pat Tillman, cut from the same cloth as the founding fathers of this country, a real man and a real patriot who chose to defend not a goal line but a way of life, and paid the ultimate price for it.
DRAFT REVIEW -- You'd almost think there's no way the Cardinals could go wrong in the draft, because they had another high pick and because their plight and their needs are such that they could almost close their eyes, point to the draft board, and gain immediate improvement wherever their fingers might land.
They've shown us in many previous drafts, though - in most of them actually - that even they can bungle the job.
So it was with great anticipation among Cardinals fans that new coach Dennis Green, armed wit three picks among the first 64 overall, conducted his first draft with the team, and immediately got his man, Pittsburgh receiver Larry Fitzgerald. Green has said all along Fitzgerald is the best player in this draft.
It was no smokescreen.
The Cardinals' offense is much closer to being a finished product than the defense, and another young receiver to go along with 2003 rookie of the year Anquan Boldin and 2003 first-round pick Bryant Johnson now gives the team young talent that should be one of the league's top receiving trios for many years to come.
Green promises to put them in an offense that can help them achieve that status. Of course, some of that also depends upon the development of gunslinging quarterback Josh McCown. The Cardinals could have used that third pick overall in the first round on either Philip Rivers of North Carolina State or Ben Roethlisberger of Miami of Ohio, but Green said almost from the day he took the job that McCown, with only three games of experience as a starter, would be his man. He backed that soon after Green arrived in Tempe by informing veteran Jeff Blake that he would not receive another contract.
Put Fitzgerald, who will play the split end spot that Boldin played last season while catching 101 balls (Boldin is moving to flanker where Green says he will receive fewer double teams), opposite Boldin and bring Johnson on as the third receiver and the passing game appears formidable. That, in turn, should open the running game for Marcel Shipp with relief from Emmitt Smith.
The Cardinals still need backup help for an aging and ailing offensive line - an area they addressed on the second day of the draft with a Round 4 pick of Ohio State center Alex Stepanovich - but overall that side of the ball is shaping up to be respectable.
The problem is defense, which the Cardinals wisely addressed with two first-day picks, the first overall in both the second and third rounds.
On the surface, it would appear they had two playmaking young outside linebackers in Raynoch Thompson and Levar Fisher, but there are concerns regarding both.
Thompson, a second-round pick in 2000, was suspended the final four games of 2003 by the NFL for alcohol use that violated the league's substance-abuse policy. He had a history.
And Fisher, a second-round pick in 2002, had surgery on both knees during the offseason and watched the initial two voluntary minicamps this spring from the sideline.
So with yet another second-round pick, the Cardinals chose another outside linebacker, Karlos Dansby of Auburn, who should strengthen the team's ability to get to the quarterback. The Cardinals have been last in the league in that statistic the past three seasons.
They might have picked up a steal with that third-round selection of defensive lineman Darnell Dockett of Florida State, the Atlantic Coast Conference defensive player of the year. His former college teammate, Boldin, should help him through the adjustment to pro ball and moving a continent away from his support system.
And heaven knows the Cardinals need help at defensive tackle, a glaring weakness since the days of Eric Swann and Mark Smith. Dockett, who played outside in college, is viewed as an "under" tackle for Green.
The Cardinals seemingly wasted a first-round pick on Wendell Bryant at tackle two years ago and none among the lower-round tries have panned out. It also is a position in which they've been unable to sign a free agent of any consequence. So Dockett, whose skills are commensurate with a higher draft position but whose Achilles tendon injury two years ago caused some concern, was a solid pick in the third round.
As for the second-day choices, it's always a crap shoot. The team generally took the highest-rated player remaining on its board through the low rounds, although one noticeable area of need that went by without attention was cornerback. Green said he believes the assortment of mid-range free agents the team signed will get it through 2004.
All in all, it was a decisive step forward as Dennis Green puts his imprint on this ailing franchise.
A closer look at the Cardinals' first-day picks:
Round 1/3 - Larry Fitzgerald, WR, 6-2, 223, Pittsburgh
This is the man Coach Dennis Green said he wanted all along, and by all accounts he's one of the best receivers to come into the game in years. Fitzgerald won the Walter Camp and Biletnikoff awards last season. He has a long history with Green, once serving as Minnesota Vikings ballboy when Green coached there, and often working out with Vikings receivers Randy Moss and Cris Carter after practices. Fitzgerald is known for his great hands, very quick initial bust off the ball, solid technique and size. Scouts like his feel for the game. He knows when to break off a route when the quarterback is pressured and how to get open underneath. There are some concerns, though, regarding his speed - he is not a burner but his first step usually gets him an advantage - and he's still not the greatest blocker. He's also young. Fitzgerald is coming to the pros after only two college seasons (he turns 21 in August during preseason). At Pittsburgh, had touchdown catches in 16 straight games and was the first the Panthers' first player with successive 1,000-yard seasons receiving. With the Cardinals, he's going to look very good lining up opposite 2003 rookie of the year Anquan Boldin to improve the receiving game.
Round 2/33 -- Karlos Dansby, OLB, 6-3, 251, Auburn
Dansby has good size and surprising speed -- he initially played strong safety in college -- to go with it. He was a fierce blitzer at Auburn, an element of his game that the Cardinals no doubt will put to use quickly. He wasn't a lost cause in pass coverage, by any means, with 107 yards in returns on eight picks. The only real negative is that he needs to improve his work against the rush. He'll probably play the strong side for the Cardinals, who have questions regarding both of their starting OLBS -- Raynoch Thompson (alcohol suspension in 2003) and LeVar Fisher (offseason surgery on both knees).
Round 3/64 -- Darnell Dockett, DE, 6-3, 277, Florida State
Dockett is very effective with his quickness and appears ticketed to play the "under" tackle in Coach Dennis Green's defense after playing primarily end in college. It remains to be seen if his lack of bulk becomes a liability playing inside in the NFL. It might. He was an excellent run-stuffer in the college game, though, breaking the Seminoles' record for tackles for loss with 48. He was not much of a pass rusher while playing outside, but the under tackle is more of a run-stopping spot. There are questions about how football-wise he is. Green's staff will have some real teaching and mentoring to do here. But the Cardinals are looking for fresh bodies at the tackle spots, which have been unproductive for five years.
Copyright (C) 2004 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.
