Mitch
Crawled Through 5 FB Fields
Last week I drew the analogy that the Cardinals were rolling over like a bunch of possums trapped in a coyote den. Last night was much more of the same only it was showcased for all of America to see.
The Cardinals are back to being the laughing stock of the NFL.
Funny and fitting that Derek Anderson's and Deuce Lutui's laughs on the sideline captured while the team was down 18 points is garnering all the media attention.
The way they and the team played...was...a joke.
Might as well lol.
Funny too that the very first play on offense was a joke of a call to begin with. What a way for an offense to come out and send a message to the 49er defense...that...instead of lining up in an I formation and running Beanie Wells like a battering ram over right tackle...Ken Whisenhunt opts instead to hand the ball to Wells sideways out of a shotgun formation on a misdirection play. The play itself had no chance to begin with. It was a joke call.
Then Jaws said it best..."you learn how to hand the ball off in the 4th grade." Clearly Wells never got his elbow up, as he was looking instead for which 49er DL was going to clean his clock.
Funny that on the next play the entire Cardinal defensive line got wiped out of the middle like wet snow tossed aside by a windshield wiper...which gave Troy Smith a passing lane that was the size of a two lane highway...literally.
Funny that there again was DRC getting outrun by a slower player.
Even more funny that no coach on the Cardinals on the field or in the coaches' box was paying attention to the fact that Michael Crabtree did not appear to have a firm hold of the ball as it hit the turf.
Funny that same as last week when faced with a chance to show trust in his offense and a desire to keep the ball in the hands of the offense, Ken Whisenhunt opts to punt on a 4th and 6 inches...mind you that punting the ball back to the 49ers meant putting more trust in a defense that even with 3 nose tackles playing in the middle could not and would not even put up a fight to stop the 49ers' running game...which HAD to be the number one key to this game.
The funny-ness all really started after that punt...because at that point the game was over. The game was no contest after that.
Minutes later, NT Bryan Robinson, playing LDE, was taken on a Nantucket sleighride by rookie RT Anthony Davis which opened a 20 foot hole in the left side of the Cardinals' defense for Brian Westbrook to scamper through..while the second level of the Cardinal defense showed no interest in tackling.
Back to the 4th grade. DTs are taught to at the very least "crumble" on a downblock or double team so as to leave a pile that the RB would have to sidestep to get around, thus giving the LBers extra time to make the tackle.
That's all I am going to say about this game...we've got to start talking about what needs to be done from here on, because it has been clear for the last 6 weeks that the Cardinal players have little interest and determination for being at least competitive. Something is seriously wrong and this is no laughing matter.
Following the only two games in the last 6 weeks where the Cardinals actually were in the game in the 4th quarter (losses to Tampa Bay and Minnesota), Whizenhunt made the egregious statement that the close losses are "harder to take." That it was much easier to get over lopsided poundings because all you have to do "is get mad" and quickly "move on."
The message this sent to the team was that it's better no to care...not to dwell on close losses when the alternative is to get mad and move on.
Derek Anderson got mad after the game.
Why didn't he get mad during the game?
These Cardinals don't get mad during games any more...if they ever did. For two and a half years they reaped the benefit of having a superb QB outscore most of the opponents...they could even give up 45 points...and still win.
But the last time the Cardinals were thoroughly embarrassed on national TV was the last game that superb QB will ever play...he had run out of gas trying to compensate for an unwilling, dormant and poorly coached defense...to the point where "the game is no longer fun anymore."
From the moment we heard Warner was retiring and that the game was "no longer fun anymore"...the funny-ness really began...
Funny that a team one year removed from the Super Bowl was no longer attractive to its own star players as their exodus from the organization was about as swift as a jailbreak.
Supposedly, it was Ken Whisenhunt who changed the culture in Arizona?
Yet, funny that Whisenhunt, despite the team's sudden rise in popularity, could not attract any high profile free agents, save a cadre of ex-Steelers on the downsides of their careers---who came to Arizona knowing they would be over compensated and would not have to endure tough training camps...or a highly demanding coaching staff...or even a highly scrutinizing media.
Whatever credibility Whisenhunt had following the New Orleans emabarrassment last year...and it still should have been plenty...was significantly diminished by his own ensuing words and actions:
1. Proclaiming to the national media and the team that Matt Leinart---the backup to Warner who struggled mightily in relief roles---was the rightful heir to the starting QB position. This confounded the players---because the players were privvy to Leinart's flaws---and they wanted better and much more encouraging news about Warner's replacement.
2. Signing the Anti-Warner in Derek Anderson to be the backup and challenger at QB. No player in the organization could have looked at this move as smart. No one. Not even Deuce Lutui, DA's new best friend.
3. Proclaiming to the media that the team was going to do all it could to keep Karlos Dansby and Antrel Rolle...and then releasing Rolle and not offering either Dansby or Rolle contract figures that could make them want to stay until it was far too late...similar to what they did the previous year with Kurt Warner, only Warner did not want to move his family, so the deal essentially fell into the Cardinals' lap....which it seems has to happen around here for any deal to get done.
4. Waiting until the 5th round to draft a QB.
5. Showing continued faith and trust in a defensive coordinator who clearly was way over his head for the job...a coach who should have never been promoted in the first place.
6. Offering the "we were banged up" excuses for the defense last year...well, the defense has been basically healthy this year and is still giving up close to 30 points a game.
7. Taking no personal or professional blame for the team's downfall and shortcomings.
The list goes on and on...
The point is...Whiz...as of right now...has very little if any credibility.
The players are ruling the roost...they would rather quit in games and laugh it off on the sidelines...that much is obvious and has been since the bye week.
The only game the team played hard and physical for all 60 minutes...was the New Orleans game...which was prompted by the HC's bye week incentive.
That's really the only influence Whiz has had on this team all year long.
W
hat could he bribe the team with after that? Beat SF and there will be no OTA's next year!?
The players know---nothing really happens---he just gets mad and moves on.
But now it's moving on to what?
More snaps for a QB who doesn't even belong on the team? For a NT who wouldn't start for a UFL team? For a MLB who clearly has lost the desire to play? For an All-World talent at CB who only runs his 4.3 speed when he wants to run a way from contact? For a once All-Pro SS who no longer can play the position? For a once all-Pro DE whom the coaches use as much in pass coverage as on rushing the edge---where he has been good for what, one QB pressure a game?
The young talent is there on this roster...but what good is talent if it is being wasted? Like with Daryl Washington...like with Dan Williams...like with John Skelton (was there a reason why this kid was drafted?).
The one rookie they are sticking with and playing, WR Andre Roberts, is one of the few bright spots. In fact, he was wide open all night in the middle of the field, only DA was locked in on Fitz and Doucet---even Breaston was almost completely ignored.
I said it a long time ago this season and I stand by it even moreso now...the players have very little to no respect for these coaches, starting with Whiz.
And everyone knows that Whiz can't change his spots. He's not going to turn into a training camp tyrant. The best he could do is try to convince the team that Marc Bulger is the bandaid...and anyone who watched Bulger play the last few years knows he won't stand a chance behind the current o-line that has regressed so badly under Russ Grimm that last night they could only muster 13 yards of rushing...the worst total since 1953?
The reality is that under Whisenhunt the defense has always been poor. Time management has been awful. Personnel decisions have been highly questionable. And as for the offense, it's more clear than ever it wasn't Whiz's system...it was Kurt Warner's leadership and input that made the difference. Look at the numbers:
Warner's record: 28-17
Without Warner: 6-14
The haunting thought is...what would have happened following the Super Bowl if Michael Bidwill had called Kurt Warner into his office and asked him "what do we need to do in order to win the Super Bowl?"
One might imagine that Warner would have said the following:
1. Do not let Todd Haley leave even if it means promoting him to head coach.
2. Sign me to a new 3-4 year contract.
3. Re-sign Anquan Boldin (with Whiz out of the way, that would have been more likely---forget that Q and Haley had that yelling match on the sidelines---heck, it was Haley yelling at Warner that, IMO, was the turning point---what we have learned is that Fitz, Breaston and all loved being challenged and loved taking their games to the next level).
4. Sign a good defensive coordinator and good pass rushers...dedicate most of the drafts to defense.
5. Get me two good offensive tackles.
I thoroughly believe that with Haley still in town Warner would still be playing...and he would still be loving the game.
The players who have been left behind? They can't even seem to play for the love of the game, despite the poor coaching.
This has to change...and it has to change quickly.
Another mass exodus looms (Fitz, Breaston, Lutui, Branch, Watson, Levi Brown---will any of them be on the roster in two years?...let alone next year?).
Meanwhile, the other NFC West teams are better coached and are adding deeper talent (that's profitting and gettting developed quicker and faster from better coaching).
The 49ers...that team has talent...and next year will be coached by Gruden or Harbaugh. Look out.
The Rams now have the best QB in the division and are the best coached. They come to play every week. Put Breaston on their team and what does that do for their chances?
The Seahawks are not standing pat...their GM is a mover and a shaker.
Last night...when down 21-6 Darnell Dockett was waving for the fans to whoop it up and pump up the volume. There was no response.
The fans can no longer cheer for this team.
And Whiz, who voiced disingenuous concern about the fans last week, rubbed it in all of our faces last night when he kept trotting Derek Anderson out there...the message was loud and clear...you fans are stuck with this kind of football...too bad.
Fans will no longer sell out the U of P...just as MNF will have no interest in coming there or tabbing the Cardinals again for a while. Steve Young said it best, "that team had no interest in playing." A much as I can't stand Young---he was right. Only we've been seeing this for the whole season.
No one can laugh that reality off.
The Cardinals are back to being the laughing stock of the NFL.
Funny and fitting that Derek Anderson's and Deuce Lutui's laughs on the sideline captured while the team was down 18 points is garnering all the media attention.
The way they and the team played...was...a joke.
Might as well lol.
Funny too that the very first play on offense was a joke of a call to begin with. What a way for an offense to come out and send a message to the 49er defense...that...instead of lining up in an I formation and running Beanie Wells like a battering ram over right tackle...Ken Whisenhunt opts instead to hand the ball to Wells sideways out of a shotgun formation on a misdirection play. The play itself had no chance to begin with. It was a joke call.
Then Jaws said it best..."you learn how to hand the ball off in the 4th grade." Clearly Wells never got his elbow up, as he was looking instead for which 49er DL was going to clean his clock.
Funny that on the next play the entire Cardinal defensive line got wiped out of the middle like wet snow tossed aside by a windshield wiper...which gave Troy Smith a passing lane that was the size of a two lane highway...literally.
Funny that there again was DRC getting outrun by a slower player.
Even more funny that no coach on the Cardinals on the field or in the coaches' box was paying attention to the fact that Michael Crabtree did not appear to have a firm hold of the ball as it hit the turf.
Funny that same as last week when faced with a chance to show trust in his offense and a desire to keep the ball in the hands of the offense, Ken Whisenhunt opts to punt on a 4th and 6 inches...mind you that punting the ball back to the 49ers meant putting more trust in a defense that even with 3 nose tackles playing in the middle could not and would not even put up a fight to stop the 49ers' running game...which HAD to be the number one key to this game.
The funny-ness all really started after that punt...because at that point the game was over. The game was no contest after that.
Minutes later, NT Bryan Robinson, playing LDE, was taken on a Nantucket sleighride by rookie RT Anthony Davis which opened a 20 foot hole in the left side of the Cardinals' defense for Brian Westbrook to scamper through..while the second level of the Cardinal defense showed no interest in tackling.
Back to the 4th grade. DTs are taught to at the very least "crumble" on a downblock or double team so as to leave a pile that the RB would have to sidestep to get around, thus giving the LBers extra time to make the tackle.
That's all I am going to say about this game...we've got to start talking about what needs to be done from here on, because it has been clear for the last 6 weeks that the Cardinal players have little interest and determination for being at least competitive. Something is seriously wrong and this is no laughing matter.
Following the only two games in the last 6 weeks where the Cardinals actually were in the game in the 4th quarter (losses to Tampa Bay and Minnesota), Whizenhunt made the egregious statement that the close losses are "harder to take." That it was much easier to get over lopsided poundings because all you have to do "is get mad" and quickly "move on."
The message this sent to the team was that it's better no to care...not to dwell on close losses when the alternative is to get mad and move on.
Derek Anderson got mad after the game.
Why didn't he get mad during the game?
These Cardinals don't get mad during games any more...if they ever did. For two and a half years they reaped the benefit of having a superb QB outscore most of the opponents...they could even give up 45 points...and still win.
But the last time the Cardinals were thoroughly embarrassed on national TV was the last game that superb QB will ever play...he had run out of gas trying to compensate for an unwilling, dormant and poorly coached defense...to the point where "the game is no longer fun anymore."
From the moment we heard Warner was retiring and that the game was "no longer fun anymore"...the funny-ness really began...
Funny that a team one year removed from the Super Bowl was no longer attractive to its own star players as their exodus from the organization was about as swift as a jailbreak.
Supposedly, it was Ken Whisenhunt who changed the culture in Arizona?
Yet, funny that Whisenhunt, despite the team's sudden rise in popularity, could not attract any high profile free agents, save a cadre of ex-Steelers on the downsides of their careers---who came to Arizona knowing they would be over compensated and would not have to endure tough training camps...or a highly demanding coaching staff...or even a highly scrutinizing media.
Whatever credibility Whisenhunt had following the New Orleans emabarrassment last year...and it still should have been plenty...was significantly diminished by his own ensuing words and actions:
1. Proclaiming to the national media and the team that Matt Leinart---the backup to Warner who struggled mightily in relief roles---was the rightful heir to the starting QB position. This confounded the players---because the players were privvy to Leinart's flaws---and they wanted better and much more encouraging news about Warner's replacement.
2. Signing the Anti-Warner in Derek Anderson to be the backup and challenger at QB. No player in the organization could have looked at this move as smart. No one. Not even Deuce Lutui, DA's new best friend.
3. Proclaiming to the media that the team was going to do all it could to keep Karlos Dansby and Antrel Rolle...and then releasing Rolle and not offering either Dansby or Rolle contract figures that could make them want to stay until it was far too late...similar to what they did the previous year with Kurt Warner, only Warner did not want to move his family, so the deal essentially fell into the Cardinals' lap....which it seems has to happen around here for any deal to get done.
4. Waiting until the 5th round to draft a QB.
5. Showing continued faith and trust in a defensive coordinator who clearly was way over his head for the job...a coach who should have never been promoted in the first place.
6. Offering the "we were banged up" excuses for the defense last year...well, the defense has been basically healthy this year and is still giving up close to 30 points a game.
7. Taking no personal or professional blame for the team's downfall and shortcomings.
The list goes on and on...
The point is...Whiz...as of right now...has very little if any credibility.
The players are ruling the roost...they would rather quit in games and laugh it off on the sidelines...that much is obvious and has been since the bye week.
The only game the team played hard and physical for all 60 minutes...was the New Orleans game...which was prompted by the HC's bye week incentive.
That's really the only influence Whiz has had on this team all year long.
W
hat could he bribe the team with after that? Beat SF and there will be no OTA's next year!?
The players know---nothing really happens---he just gets mad and moves on.
But now it's moving on to what?
More snaps for a QB who doesn't even belong on the team? For a NT who wouldn't start for a UFL team? For a MLB who clearly has lost the desire to play? For an All-World talent at CB who only runs his 4.3 speed when he wants to run a way from contact? For a once All-Pro SS who no longer can play the position? For a once all-Pro DE whom the coaches use as much in pass coverage as on rushing the edge---where he has been good for what, one QB pressure a game?
The young talent is there on this roster...but what good is talent if it is being wasted? Like with Daryl Washington...like with Dan Williams...like with John Skelton (was there a reason why this kid was drafted?).
The one rookie they are sticking with and playing, WR Andre Roberts, is one of the few bright spots. In fact, he was wide open all night in the middle of the field, only DA was locked in on Fitz and Doucet---even Breaston was almost completely ignored.
I said it a long time ago this season and I stand by it even moreso now...the players have very little to no respect for these coaches, starting with Whiz.
And everyone knows that Whiz can't change his spots. He's not going to turn into a training camp tyrant. The best he could do is try to convince the team that Marc Bulger is the bandaid...and anyone who watched Bulger play the last few years knows he won't stand a chance behind the current o-line that has regressed so badly under Russ Grimm that last night they could only muster 13 yards of rushing...the worst total since 1953?
The reality is that under Whisenhunt the defense has always been poor. Time management has been awful. Personnel decisions have been highly questionable. And as for the offense, it's more clear than ever it wasn't Whiz's system...it was Kurt Warner's leadership and input that made the difference. Look at the numbers:
Warner's record: 28-17
Without Warner: 6-14
The haunting thought is...what would have happened following the Super Bowl if Michael Bidwill had called Kurt Warner into his office and asked him "what do we need to do in order to win the Super Bowl?"
One might imagine that Warner would have said the following:
1. Do not let Todd Haley leave even if it means promoting him to head coach.
2. Sign me to a new 3-4 year contract.
3. Re-sign Anquan Boldin (with Whiz out of the way, that would have been more likely---forget that Q and Haley had that yelling match on the sidelines---heck, it was Haley yelling at Warner that, IMO, was the turning point---what we have learned is that Fitz, Breaston and all loved being challenged and loved taking their games to the next level).
4. Sign a good defensive coordinator and good pass rushers...dedicate most of the drafts to defense.
5. Get me two good offensive tackles.
I thoroughly believe that with Haley still in town Warner would still be playing...and he would still be loving the game.
The players who have been left behind? They can't even seem to play for the love of the game, despite the poor coaching.
This has to change...and it has to change quickly.
Another mass exodus looms (Fitz, Breaston, Lutui, Branch, Watson, Levi Brown---will any of them be on the roster in two years?...let alone next year?).
Meanwhile, the other NFC West teams are better coached and are adding deeper talent (that's profitting and gettting developed quicker and faster from better coaching).
The 49ers...that team has talent...and next year will be coached by Gruden or Harbaugh. Look out.
The Rams now have the best QB in the division and are the best coached. They come to play every week. Put Breaston on their team and what does that do for their chances?
The Seahawks are not standing pat...their GM is a mover and a shaker.
Last night...when down 21-6 Darnell Dockett was waving for the fans to whoop it up and pump up the volume. There was no response.
The fans can no longer cheer for this team.
And Whiz, who voiced disingenuous concern about the fans last week, rubbed it in all of our faces last night when he kept trotting Derek Anderson out there...the message was loud and clear...you fans are stuck with this kind of football...too bad.
Fans will no longer sell out the U of P...just as MNF will have no interest in coming there or tabbing the Cardinals again for a while. Steve Young said it best, "that team had no interest in playing." A much as I can't stand Young---he was right. Only we've been seeing this for the whole season.
No one can laugh that reality off.
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