Fire Their Arses Right Now: CKW, Miller, Grimm and McNulty

[JeffGollin]

Gist of this and other threads is that (1) we lost again and (2) someone has to be blamed.

I think this process is back-assword.

Focus should first be placed on what's causing us to lose. From there we can move on to how we can best remove or change those causes - including changing personnel if necessary.

Staying on the topic of personnel, the questions should center on: (1) who's responsible for what's causing us to lose and (2) are we likely to change what's causing us to lose by wholesale changes in existing staff or by getting existing staff to either tweak or the system or completely overhaul it?

Right now, my bias leans toward blowing up the entire offense - people, system, players the works. But I also think like Wiz's style as establisher of a sane, structured operation and culture and am leery of ripping apart elements worth keeping. The question I'd be asking is: "If not Wiz, who?" And I'd then ask: "Are you sure you want this?" Are you sure you're going to get what you want from the new guy more than from Wiz?

Maybe the answer will turn out to be a clean sweep, but I don't buy into the argument that - because Wiz doesn't perfectly fit 7 or 8 arbitrary criteria, we should sack him (because we're mad at him for losing).

 

[PACardsFan]

Gist of this and other threads is that (1) we lost again and (2) someone has to be blamed.

I think this process is back-assword.

Focus should first be placed on what's causing us to lose. From there we can move on to how we can best remove or change those causes - including changing personnel if necessary.

Staying on the topic of personnel, the questions should center on: (1) who's responsible for what's causing us to lose and (2) are we likely to change what's causing us to lose by wholesale changes in existing staff or by getting existing staff to either tweak or the system or completely overhaul it?

Right now, my bias leans toward blowing up the entire offense - people, system, players the works. But I also think like Wiz's style as establisher of a sane, structured operation and culture and am leery of ripping apart elements worth keeping. The question I'd be asking is: "If not Wiz, who?" And I'd then ask: "Are you sure you want this?" Are you sure you're going to get what you want from the new guy more than from Wiz?

Maybe the answer will turn out to be a clean sweep, but I don't buy into the argument that - because Wiz doesn't perfectly fit 7 or 8 arbitrary criteria, we should sack him (because we're mad at him for losing).

Very good post Jeff. I've been around long enough to see some horrific Cardinal football over the years. The bad teams of the 90's & 00's were horrible, even when relatively healthy. That is not the case with this team. IMO, it would be a bad decision to fire Whiz after this season. The Cardinals have had injuries hurt them in the past, but never to the extent as this year & never predominantly on one side of the ball. Our injuries have been on the OL, QB, & RB. Those are too critical of positions to overcome injuries to. There's a time to replace your HC, I just don't think this is it. This franchise has made tremendous strides under Whisenhunt. I hate to see it go backwards. Rest assured, Whiz will be hired very soon afterwards & we'll watch his new team rise to heights that will sicken us.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Very good post Jeff. I've been around long enough to see some horrific Cardinal football over the years. The bad teams of the 90's & 00's were horrible, even when relatively healthy. That is not the case with this team. IMO, it would be a bad decision to fire Whiz after this season. The Cardinals have had injuries hurt them in the past, but never to the extent as this year & never predominantly on one side of the ball. Our injuries have been on the OL, QB, & RB. Those are too critical of positions to overcome injuries to. There's a time to replace your HC, I just don't think this is it. This franchise has made tremendous strides under Whisenhunt. I hate to see it go backwards. Rest assured, Whiz will be hired very soon afterwards & we'll watch his new team rise to heights that will sicken us.

It is more likely Whisenhunt steps down on his own than he gets fired.

However, several position coaches will be gone after this year.

 

[Stout]

Ummm... I almost hate to bring it up, but last week the team was smiling at Whiz and patting him on the butt. What if the team LIKES Whiz and wants to play for him and all this really is just no QB? What if the players know things about the QB situation - and other things - that the fans don't? Whiz alluded to things the reporters didn't know about a couple of weeks ago. The team knows about what's actually going on more than any of us do.

We're all frustrated. But how do we know a change of coach will affect the team's attitude and desire to play well? Just playing devil's advocate here. Sort of.

The TV coverage barely showed Whiz today. Anyone at the game see how the players were relating to him?

I understand what you're saying, but I don't give a flying flip if the players like the coach, or even if they're playing well for him. If he's coaching like crap, and is the frontrunner in bringing in crappy players and crappy QBs, he needs to be gonzo. And boy, does KW need to be gonzo after the season.

That said, we should not fire him this week. Aside from it being an awful time for it (Christmas), it would serve no purpose. Now, next Monday, I want to read that Graves is no longer the GM, that we're bringing in a strong, experienced GM, and that he'll be the one in charge. By the end of the week, or the beginning of the next week, I want to hear that the GM has canned KW and staff, and that he'll bring in the coach he thinks we need, and the QBOF, either by draft, trade or FA. If that coach is Horton, so be it. I'd love to have Horton, but he may not be the guy to stay.

 

[JeffGollin]

One thing that's been gnawing at me all night since the loss is "what's with our RB coaching?"

First we have Beanie doing his "snow angel" fumbling routine inside the 2.

And on the next running play I see Powell following his blockers to the left edge - in traffic with the ball in his inside (right) hand.

What are we teaching our guys? That it's OK to be sloppy protecting the ball deep in our own territory? It's one thing to bench a guy who fumbles or a QB who throws a dumb pick. But it would be far better if sound fundamentals were drummed into these guys' very souls so that they wouldn't have to be benched in the first place. Either that or draft smarter RB's.

If I ever needed a reason to make wholesale changes on the offensive coaching side of the ball, it would be this sort of stuff.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

Momentum is a mirage. We rode the momentum of a four gaming winning streak into a nine game losing streak.

The reason we started losing games was in large part due to the fact that teams highlighted our inability to pass block in passing situations. Once we got sacked 9 times by the Rams it was only a matter of time before Kolb got injured by getting hit that much. Once Kolb went down we lost our only capable starter which ruined any chance of our offense being at least serviceable.

 

[Dayman]

I understand what you're saying, but I don't give a flying flip if the players like the coach, or even if they're playing well for him. If he's coaching like crap, and is the frontrunner in bringing in crappy players and crappy QBs, he needs to be gonzo. And boy, does KW need to be gonzo after the season.

That said, we should not fire him this week. Aside from it being an awful time for it (Christmas), it would serve no purpose. Now, next Monday, I want to read that Graves is no longer the GM, that we're bringing in a strong, experienced GM, and that he'll be the one in charge. By the end of the week, or the beginning of the next week, I want to hear that the GM has canned KW and staff, and that he'll bring in the coach he thinks we need, and the QBOF, either by draft, trade or FA. If that coach is Horton, so be it. I'd love to have Horton, but he may not be the guy to stay.

Exactly!

 

[clif]

I understand what you're saying, but I don't give a flying flip if the players like the coach, or even if they're playing well for him. If he's coaching like crap, and is the frontrunner in bringing in crappy players and crappy QBs, he needs to be gonzo. And boy, does KW need to be gonzo after the season.

That said, we should not fire him this week. Aside from it being an awful time for it (Christmas), it would serve no purpose. Now, next Monday, I want to read that Graves is no longer the GM, that we're bringing in a strong, experienced GM, and that he'll be the one in charge. By the end of the week, or the beginning of the next week, I want to hear that the GM has canned KW and staff, and that he'll bring in the coach he thinks we need, and the QBOF, either by draft, trade or FA. If that coach is Horton, so be it. I'd love to have Horton, but he may not be the guy to stay.

They only thing that bothers me is the statement that it is an awful time for it being christmas. Who cares? He's got millions in the bank {i assume} and has a gorgeous home in the valley. Wife and kids by his side... so what if it is Christmas. He signed on for this lifestyle.

 

[Stout]

They only thing that bothers me is the statement that it is an awful time for it being christmas. Who cares? He's got millions in the bank {i assume} and has a gorgeous home in the valley. Wife and kids by his side... so what if it is Christmas. He signed on for this lifestyle.

If it were absolutely essential, I'd agree. Since the move doesn't make sense at the time anyway, to do it on Christmas would be needlessly cruel.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

I am all for firing Whiz at this point, but I think the right move is to wait until the season is over and then start evaluating everything from top to bottom and make your decisions after you finish evaluating. Odds are Whiz will be gone, but I could see a possibility of someone else being put in charge of personnel decisions and a new OC, QB coach and OL coach being hired.

 

[john h]

Don't we all. However, I am already predicting another 5-11 season for 2013.

It will depend largely on who our QB is and how he performs. We better get lucky or smart in our choice of a QB.

 

[cardncubfan]

Ummm... I almost hate to bring it up, but last week the team was smiling at Whiz and patting him on the butt. What if the team LIKES Whiz and wants to play for him and all this really is just no QB? What if the players know things about the QB situation - and other things - that the fans don't? Whiz alluded to things the reporters didn't know about a couple of weeks ago. The team knows about what's actually going on more than any of us do.

We're all frustrated. But how do we know a change of coach will affect the team's attitude and desire to play well? Just playing devil's advocate here. Sort of.

The TV coverage barely showed Whiz today. Anyone at the game see how the players were relating to him?

Excellent post Dems. Merry Christmas btw.