Mitch
Crawled Through 5 FB Fields
I imagine you might have had the same thought this past week. With the Vikings' players clearly wanting Brad Childress out as coach, the thought was the players might not try very hard in this game, even though their hopes for salvaging their season are flickering.
Then you see the rabid Vikings fans trying to fire the players up and you think, man, how can the players play half spirited in front of the fans?
Then you see the Cardinals actually have a chance when Kerry Rhodes intercepts one of Favre's first passes and weaves his way three yards from the end zone only to have Greg Camarillo pull off his best Stevie Breaston imitation to a tee by stripping a loosely gripped ball before it crossed the goalline.
Then...with the crowd going wild you watch Favre move the team down the field for a TD and 7-0 lead, and you wonder whether the road route you are growing to expect is imminent.
Then...you watch Hyphen the smallest Cardinal with the biggest heart---change all that...just like at Tennessee last year...
And just like it was against Tennessee last year you watch the Cardinals gain the lead and you breathlessly continue to hope for the best as the defense is one play away from winning the game, and the other team has to go 99 yards...only...that one play never comes as you helplessly watch the defense melt under the pressure.
And then you think of the Super Bowl meltdown...and you think of all the myriads of late defensive meltdowns you have watched during your tenure as a Cardinals fan and it makes you shudder and cringe. It simply happens way too often...with seemingly no accountability for it anywhere...and simply the same old flawed approach...wasn't it Enstein who theorized that insanity is making the same mistake over and over again?
And then you are reminded that your own Head Coach admitted he didn't watch tape of the Super Bowl...and just a year later you have to watch the same porous coverage without any real consistent semblance of a pass rush, especially from the edges...and you wonder why the right defensive coach wasn't hired to change all this and why in the world the personnel people believe they can fix the pass rushing personnel by adding no free agents and drafting two of the more unheralded pass rushers in the draft while they were drafting offensive players in front of them.
And then another year later...yes there was the addition of DE/OLB Joey Porter, who finally showed up more than usual yesterday, just, er, not at the exact time that wins you the game...but...you still can't rush the edge from the other side...and you still have DBs quitting on coverage and you still have safeties who must be doing their own thing because they are not there protecting the end zone when you absolutely need them to be there.
Insanity?
Then there's the insanity of knowing that the last game your team won was over the defending Super Bowl Champs who had waxed you in the playoffs to the tune of 45-14...but this year you play them at home and you beat them 30-20 with a mistake prone but eager rookie making his first start, and of the 30 points none of them came on a standard offensive TD. Wow.
But you remember that the Max Effort from the entire team you saw that day was the result of an incentive offered by the Head Coach who promised the team that they would have virtually all of the Bye Week off if they won that game.
So they take that Bye Week off and they also take the away Seattle game off, and take off much of the Tampa Bay home game, allowing them two pick sixes and 4 drives that averaged over 80 yards per. And you somehow have the ball in FG range to tie the game, 1st and 10 from the 20 yard line and you throw the ball into triple coverage and lose.
And now you have once again pulled off a scoring coup by scoring 14 points on a TD return by Hyphen that is perfectly designed and executed thanks to a textbook double team block on a Viking LB by Hamsa Abdullah and Reggie Walker (it looked like 21 and 56 to me)...and a KO fumble return by Michael Adams following an alert stripping of Percy Harvin by rookie O'Brien Schofield.
Your offense does not turn the ball over (despite one throw that was inexplicably thrown right into the waiting arms of a Viking LB in the flat...but he bobbles it all the say to the turf, thank goodness)...
But you can't run the ball...because the Vikings are daring you to pass.
And having done little to nothing all the first half, you are faced with 3rd and 16 and your new old starting QB Derek Anderson throws a perfect strike up the left sideline between the CB and FS to a diving Larry Fitzgerald and suddenly you see the Cardinals driving at the end of a half, not the other way around...and then you get a nifty catch and run by rookie WR Andre Roberts to put you up 14-10 at half-time.
But you have terrible field position most of the day...the coach calls the plays ultra conservatively...and all you can muster is one good drive that gets you to the two yard line...which could have been a relatively easy TD if your RB Tim Hightower hits the hole with a burst as he did as a rookie, but instead is chased down by the back side DE Ray Edwards of all players. You pass the ball on third and three but the one WR, Steve Breaston, you are staring at is double teamed so you thow the ball away and kick the FG.
Then your defense gets driven on left and right but they stiffen at the goalline and stop the Vikings on 4th and goal from the 1.
Up 14 the offense takes no chances...diving Anderson on a 1/2 yard sneak, Hightower on another 1/2 yard dive and then throw to Hightower on a flat pass that he drops.
But the clock can be very much on your side if the defense can keep the Vikings in front of them and make them run clock...instead the Vikings go 40 yards in 4 plays in a matter of just over a minute and now there's no need for an on-side kick and your offense has to find a way to muster 10 yards to win the game...your defense is gassed, they have now given up well over 400 yards passing and the crowd is going crazy.
So, you dive Hightower into an 8 man box twice for no gain forcing the Vikings to expend their last two timeouts and then on 3rd and 10 you throw a 6 yard pass. Your coach must have either called a different play in that sitaution---because is there any point whatsoever of throwing a 6 yard pass?---if it was a different play called, it was not run (although it clearly looked like Anderson had the 6 yard pass in mind the whole time) or your Head Coach thinks that the defense which he's watched melt under pressure for 3 1/2 half years will find a way to stop Brett Favre who now has thrown for over 400 yards. Basically, you put the game in the hands of your already gassed defense.
And guess what? This time all it takes is 4 lousy plays for them to go 62 yards...and with time elapsing between plays and a ten second takeaway from the Vikings for a penalty, the clock is still down to 27 seconds, but you let them score on the TE seam pass that they had just beaten you on in the previous drive---the one where Adrian Wilson quit running on the play and the safety didn't get to the middle soon enough.
This time Wilson is still on Shiancoe and this time he chases harder, but inexplicably turns his head away from Shinacoe in the opposite direction of where the ball is coming, something YOU ARE NEVER TAUGHT TO DO, and just like last time, there is NO FS help on the play. In fact, the safety is so far from the picture that Favre can lob the pass there from 30 yards out.
And then with 27 second left and 2 TOs you see how a team who really wants to win the game rushes the passer as Anderson is beseiged by Vikings and luckily does not fumble. Same on the first possession in OT...which made him overpress on a throw to a wide open Fitzgerald when he really didn't have to, but by now he was rattled and fearing that he would do just what he did last week, throw the game away.
What was it from the defense???...another 4 plays for 40 yards to get the Vikings into easy FG range. The same fake the WR hitch throw and hit the inside WR running a slant that neither the Cardinal SILB nor the Cardinal FS defended all afternoon. That one is NOT on Toler.
Then as awful as the meltdown felt...you have another thought...you think...hey at least this time it was a close game...the turnovers were avoided...and there were plenty of very good moments and moments that seemed to suggest the Cardinals were going to sneak out of there with the W and with Childress' scalp in hand to boot.
You feel very hopeful about young players such as Hyphen, Roberts, Rashad Johnson (1st career interception), Dray (good STs all day and nice 20 yard catch from Breaston) and Schofield.
But then you wonder why every week you see Adrian Wilson struggling so badly in coverage and you wonder why they just don't rush him after the passer every play, something the team needs...and you wonder why he quits on plays as often as he does...why his lack of effort is egregious at times...and worse of all his technique...like on the two times he was asigned to cover Harvin (what coach thought that was possible? Heck they even thought Lenon could cover Camarillo---the matchups in this game were something else, huh?)...but back to Wilson, not only did we see him completely blow the two seam passes to Shinacoe which cost the team the game and quick scores...but when he covered Harvin on the hitch, what you are taught is that especially versus a shifty, fast player, you "break down" and make the WR commit himself and you use the sideline as an extra defender. Instead, what does Wilson do? He lunges straight at Harvin, so all Harvin has to do is take one sidestep and he is off to the races.
So now it is a day later and you wonder why we as fans see what the Cardinals' coaches either refuse to see or refuse to change despite seeing what they see. You wonder why the players aren't prepared better for game end situations and why they looked so whimpy under pressure. You wonder why the players need a week off incentive to play hard and super intense for 60 minutes.
You wonder why the coaches time mangement skills on both sides of the ball are so conspicuously poor.
You wonder why the Head Coach has all the excuses and seemingly no sense of personal or professional reponsibility for what is going wrong.
You wonder why a lightning in a bottle player who electrifies the defense is sitting in favor of playing a slow and somewhat gimpy veteran...think with his speed Washington could have dropped right into the path of the slants? Or chased down Adrian Peterson, especially on the passes to him that the entire team didn't defend?
You wonder why you draft a NT in the first round ahead of drafting a QB or DE and why your 34 year old non-productive, non-threat veteran is STILL starting.
You wonder how and why the offensive line plays like a swinging gate at the worst times.
And you wonder why your Pro Bowl CB is either lost or invisible.
And you wonder why you go the Cardinals' website and they have the Pro Bowl voting display for fans and none of the six players pictured on it are even near worthy, and yet the one who is, Hyphen, is not pictured.
You just wonder...
Then you see the rabid Vikings fans trying to fire the players up and you think, man, how can the players play half spirited in front of the fans?
Then you see the Cardinals actually have a chance when Kerry Rhodes intercepts one of Favre's first passes and weaves his way three yards from the end zone only to have Greg Camarillo pull off his best Stevie Breaston imitation to a tee by stripping a loosely gripped ball before it crossed the goalline.
Then...with the crowd going wild you watch Favre move the team down the field for a TD and 7-0 lead, and you wonder whether the road route you are growing to expect is imminent.
Then...you watch Hyphen the smallest Cardinal with the biggest heart---change all that...just like at Tennessee last year...
And just like it was against Tennessee last year you watch the Cardinals gain the lead and you breathlessly continue to hope for the best as the defense is one play away from winning the game, and the other team has to go 99 yards...only...that one play never comes as you helplessly watch the defense melt under the pressure.
And then you think of the Super Bowl meltdown...and you think of all the myriads of late defensive meltdowns you have watched during your tenure as a Cardinals fan and it makes you shudder and cringe. It simply happens way too often...with seemingly no accountability for it anywhere...and simply the same old flawed approach...wasn't it Enstein who theorized that insanity is making the same mistake over and over again?
And then you are reminded that your own Head Coach admitted he didn't watch tape of the Super Bowl...and just a year later you have to watch the same porous coverage without any real consistent semblance of a pass rush, especially from the edges...and you wonder why the right defensive coach wasn't hired to change all this and why in the world the personnel people believe they can fix the pass rushing personnel by adding no free agents and drafting two of the more unheralded pass rushers in the draft while they were drafting offensive players in front of them.
And then another year later...yes there was the addition of DE/OLB Joey Porter, who finally showed up more than usual yesterday, just, er, not at the exact time that wins you the game...but...you still can't rush the edge from the other side...and you still have DBs quitting on coverage and you still have safeties who must be doing their own thing because they are not there protecting the end zone when you absolutely need them to be there.
Insanity?
Then there's the insanity of knowing that the last game your team won was over the defending Super Bowl Champs who had waxed you in the playoffs to the tune of 45-14...but this year you play them at home and you beat them 30-20 with a mistake prone but eager rookie making his first start, and of the 30 points none of them came on a standard offensive TD. Wow.
But you remember that the Max Effort from the entire team you saw that day was the result of an incentive offered by the Head Coach who promised the team that they would have virtually all of the Bye Week off if they won that game.
So they take that Bye Week off and they also take the away Seattle game off, and take off much of the Tampa Bay home game, allowing them two pick sixes and 4 drives that averaged over 80 yards per. And you somehow have the ball in FG range to tie the game, 1st and 10 from the 20 yard line and you throw the ball into triple coverage and lose.
And now you have once again pulled off a scoring coup by scoring 14 points on a TD return by Hyphen that is perfectly designed and executed thanks to a textbook double team block on a Viking LB by Hamsa Abdullah and Reggie Walker (it looked like 21 and 56 to me)...and a KO fumble return by Michael Adams following an alert stripping of Percy Harvin by rookie O'Brien Schofield.
Your offense does not turn the ball over (despite one throw that was inexplicably thrown right into the waiting arms of a Viking LB in the flat...but he bobbles it all the say to the turf, thank goodness)...
But you can't run the ball...because the Vikings are daring you to pass.
And having done little to nothing all the first half, you are faced with 3rd and 16 and your new old starting QB Derek Anderson throws a perfect strike up the left sideline between the CB and FS to a diving Larry Fitzgerald and suddenly you see the Cardinals driving at the end of a half, not the other way around...and then you get a nifty catch and run by rookie WR Andre Roberts to put you up 14-10 at half-time.
But you have terrible field position most of the day...the coach calls the plays ultra conservatively...and all you can muster is one good drive that gets you to the two yard line...which could have been a relatively easy TD if your RB Tim Hightower hits the hole with a burst as he did as a rookie, but instead is chased down by the back side DE Ray Edwards of all players. You pass the ball on third and three but the one WR, Steve Breaston, you are staring at is double teamed so you thow the ball away and kick the FG.
Then your defense gets driven on left and right but they stiffen at the goalline and stop the Vikings on 4th and goal from the 1.
Up 14 the offense takes no chances...diving Anderson on a 1/2 yard sneak, Hightower on another 1/2 yard dive and then throw to Hightower on a flat pass that he drops.
But the clock can be very much on your side if the defense can keep the Vikings in front of them and make them run clock...instead the Vikings go 40 yards in 4 plays in a matter of just over a minute and now there's no need for an on-side kick and your offense has to find a way to muster 10 yards to win the game...your defense is gassed, they have now given up well over 400 yards passing and the crowd is going crazy.
So, you dive Hightower into an 8 man box twice for no gain forcing the Vikings to expend their last two timeouts and then on 3rd and 10 you throw a 6 yard pass. Your coach must have either called a different play in that sitaution---because is there any point whatsoever of throwing a 6 yard pass?---if it was a different play called, it was not run (although it clearly looked like Anderson had the 6 yard pass in mind the whole time) or your Head Coach thinks that the defense which he's watched melt under pressure for 3 1/2 half years will find a way to stop Brett Favre who now has thrown for over 400 yards. Basically, you put the game in the hands of your already gassed defense.
And guess what? This time all it takes is 4 lousy plays for them to go 62 yards...and with time elapsing between plays and a ten second takeaway from the Vikings for a penalty, the clock is still down to 27 seconds, but you let them score on the TE seam pass that they had just beaten you on in the previous drive---the one where Adrian Wilson quit running on the play and the safety didn't get to the middle soon enough.
This time Wilson is still on Shiancoe and this time he chases harder, but inexplicably turns his head away from Shinacoe in the opposite direction of where the ball is coming, something YOU ARE NEVER TAUGHT TO DO, and just like last time, there is NO FS help on the play. In fact, the safety is so far from the picture that Favre can lob the pass there from 30 yards out.
And then with 27 second left and 2 TOs you see how a team who really wants to win the game rushes the passer as Anderson is beseiged by Vikings and luckily does not fumble. Same on the first possession in OT...which made him overpress on a throw to a wide open Fitzgerald when he really didn't have to, but by now he was rattled and fearing that he would do just what he did last week, throw the game away.
What was it from the defense???...another 4 plays for 40 yards to get the Vikings into easy FG range. The same fake the WR hitch throw and hit the inside WR running a slant that neither the Cardinal SILB nor the Cardinal FS defended all afternoon. That one is NOT on Toler.
Then as awful as the meltdown felt...you have another thought...you think...hey at least this time it was a close game...the turnovers were avoided...and there were plenty of very good moments and moments that seemed to suggest the Cardinals were going to sneak out of there with the W and with Childress' scalp in hand to boot.
You feel very hopeful about young players such as Hyphen, Roberts, Rashad Johnson (1st career interception), Dray (good STs all day and nice 20 yard catch from Breaston) and Schofield.
But then you wonder why every week you see Adrian Wilson struggling so badly in coverage and you wonder why they just don't rush him after the passer every play, something the team needs...and you wonder why he quits on plays as often as he does...why his lack of effort is egregious at times...and worse of all his technique...like on the two times he was asigned to cover Harvin (what coach thought that was possible? Heck they even thought Lenon could cover Camarillo---the matchups in this game were something else, huh?)...but back to Wilson, not only did we see him completely blow the two seam passes to Shinacoe which cost the team the game and quick scores...but when he covered Harvin on the hitch, what you are taught is that especially versus a shifty, fast player, you "break down" and make the WR commit himself and you use the sideline as an extra defender. Instead, what does Wilson do? He lunges straight at Harvin, so all Harvin has to do is take one sidestep and he is off to the races.
So now it is a day later and you wonder why we as fans see what the Cardinals' coaches either refuse to see or refuse to change despite seeing what they see. You wonder why the players aren't prepared better for game end situations and why they looked so whimpy under pressure. You wonder why the players need a week off incentive to play hard and super intense for 60 minutes.
You wonder why the coaches time mangement skills on both sides of the ball are so conspicuously poor.
You wonder why the Head Coach has all the excuses and seemingly no sense of personal or professional reponsibility for what is going wrong.
You wonder why a lightning in a bottle player who electrifies the defense is sitting in favor of playing a slow and somewhat gimpy veteran...think with his speed Washington could have dropped right into the path of the slants? Or chased down Adrian Peterson, especially on the passes to him that the entire team didn't defend?
You wonder why you draft a NT in the first round ahead of drafting a QB or DE and why your 34 year old non-productive, non-threat veteran is STILL starting.
You wonder how and why the offensive line plays like a swinging gate at the worst times.
And you wonder why your Pro Bowl CB is either lost or invisible.
And you wonder why you go the Cardinals' website and they have the Pro Bowl voting display for fans and none of the six players pictured on it are even near worthy, and yet the one who is, Hyphen, is not pictured.
You just wonder...
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