Chalk this one up as one of the worst played and coached football games in recent Cardinal history. Let's just get right to the grades.
QB: F. Hideous performance by Shaun King. Period. Was totally out of sync with the offense from the get-go. Looks just as foggy eyed as Josh McCown. No life in his eyes and very little in his play. Forget the total yards. They are meaningless. King should have played like a veteran and should have been jacked out of his mind to finally have his chance to start. Instead, he played like a rookie.
RB: C-. Emmitt was fair, but was never really a factor in the game. The only RB who was a factor was Josh Scobey, who made a handful of nice plays.
OL: C-. The pass protection was decent and, at times, quite good. The run blocking was dreadful.
TE: D. Eric Edwards made a couple of nice catches. Freddie Jones was a no-show again until his 4th quarter pass over the middle. He's still a liability in the running game...but it didn't appear at all that he was guilty of holding on the Boldin TD.
WR: C-. Fitzgerald's drop on the first series (right in the numbers), set the poor tone for the day. He certainly made some nice plays later and his TD was outstanding. Boldin is playing on half throttle because of his rehabbed knee and, as a result, is not taking over games the way he is capable of. Johnson is a ghost (although I give him credit for his TD saving tackle on the int.). Karl Williams had a nice hat trick to start the second half...and was later wide open at the 15 yard line when the Cardinals had a chance to cut into the 28-7 lead.
DL: D. A step slow all day.
LB: F. Two steps slow all day. Levar Woods is not a game player. Never has been and never will be. Raynoch Thompson is a waste of talent.
DB: F. Bonehead penalties and non-existant deep safety help were the order of the day.
ST: C-. A tad below average all day.
Coaching: F. McCown has struggled, no question. A change at QB could have and should have occurred sooner than today. What is questionable, however, is deciding and announcing the change to Shaun King at the 11th hour. The decision and the announcement should have been early in the week and King should have been given the vast majority of snaps in practice. King looked unprepared. That's the bottom line. Anfd the coaching staff looked unprepared to cater the game plan to a smaller QB...one step drops were bound to be a problem for King, for example...and cost the offense a few early chances for drives.
The defensive planning was poor because it didn't focus on shutting down Carolina's one bona fide threat in Mushin Muhammed...who basically caught the ball at will most of the day.
The offensive play calling remains a major concern. First, the first quarter 3rd and 5 draw call that resulted in an embarrassing mixup with King going one way and Josh Scobey the other. Regardless of the mixup, it was a very questionable call. Similarly, when the Cardinals had momentum and looked like they were going to cut the score to 28-14, the sweep left call to Scobey on third and 6 was absolutely mystifying, especially with all the red zone mismatches to exploit with Fitz, Boldin and Johnson.
On the positive side, the Cardinals took more shots down field in this game than the other five previous ones. One must hope that this will continue and that King and the WRs will get in sync this week.
As for clock management. King may be worse than McCown. The team's two minute drill in the red zone...took two minutes to run three plays...and resulted in a easy interception. Again, King and the offense looked entirely unprepared.
Does Dennis Green really have "his" own offensive system?...the system he has called the best in football...a sure-fire Top 5 offense...as he predicted in the pre-season. Or...was Green profitting all those years in Minnesota from having offensive coordinators like Brien Billick???...the way Green is now profitting from having Clancy Pendergast as his defensive coordinator. There is nothing about this version of Green's offense...from the schemes, to the play calling that would suggest it's anything special. Or, is this offense really Alex Woods'? Don't be surprised if Green goes out and hires an experienced offensive coordinator this off-season....because he doesn't seem to have the answers himself.
Green also deserves to be scrutinized in this contest not only for the atrocious playcalling, but for his dubious in-game decisions. It was one thing to run a sweep to Scobey on third and 6 in the red zone...but then to kick a field goal on 4th and 2, down 21 points late in the third quarter, was pointless. Then, to punt early in the 4th quarter in Carolina territory down 18 points...was also pointless. The Cardinals had to march for TDs and take 4 downs to do it whenever possible. Field goals and punts become moot when the Panthers took a 28-0 lead into the locker room at halftime.
QB: F. Hideous performance by Shaun King. Period. Was totally out of sync with the offense from the get-go. Looks just as foggy eyed as Josh McCown. No life in his eyes and very little in his play. Forget the total yards. They are meaningless. King should have played like a veteran and should have been jacked out of his mind to finally have his chance to start. Instead, he played like a rookie.
RB: C-. Emmitt was fair, but was never really a factor in the game. The only RB who was a factor was Josh Scobey, who made a handful of nice plays.
OL: C-. The pass protection was decent and, at times, quite good. The run blocking was dreadful.
TE: D. Eric Edwards made a couple of nice catches. Freddie Jones was a no-show again until his 4th quarter pass over the middle. He's still a liability in the running game...but it didn't appear at all that he was guilty of holding on the Boldin TD.
WR: C-. Fitzgerald's drop on the first series (right in the numbers), set the poor tone for the day. He certainly made some nice plays later and his TD was outstanding. Boldin is playing on half throttle because of his rehabbed knee and, as a result, is not taking over games the way he is capable of. Johnson is a ghost (although I give him credit for his TD saving tackle on the int.). Karl Williams had a nice hat trick to start the second half...and was later wide open at the 15 yard line when the Cardinals had a chance to cut into the 28-7 lead.
DL: D. A step slow all day.
LB: F. Two steps slow all day. Levar Woods is not a game player. Never has been and never will be. Raynoch Thompson is a waste of talent.
DB: F. Bonehead penalties and non-existant deep safety help were the order of the day.
ST: C-. A tad below average all day.
Coaching: F. McCown has struggled, no question. A change at QB could have and should have occurred sooner than today. What is questionable, however, is deciding and announcing the change to Shaun King at the 11th hour. The decision and the announcement should have been early in the week and King should have been given the vast majority of snaps in practice. King looked unprepared. That's the bottom line. Anfd the coaching staff looked unprepared to cater the game plan to a smaller QB...one step drops were bound to be a problem for King, for example...and cost the offense a few early chances for drives.
The defensive planning was poor because it didn't focus on shutting down Carolina's one bona fide threat in Mushin Muhammed...who basically caught the ball at will most of the day.
The offensive play calling remains a major concern. First, the first quarter 3rd and 5 draw call that resulted in an embarrassing mixup with King going one way and Josh Scobey the other. Regardless of the mixup, it was a very questionable call. Similarly, when the Cardinals had momentum and looked like they were going to cut the score to 28-14, the sweep left call to Scobey on third and 6 was absolutely mystifying, especially with all the red zone mismatches to exploit with Fitz, Boldin and Johnson.
On the positive side, the Cardinals took more shots down field in this game than the other five previous ones. One must hope that this will continue and that King and the WRs will get in sync this week.
As for clock management. King may be worse than McCown. The team's two minute drill in the red zone...took two minutes to run three plays...and resulted in a easy interception. Again, King and the offense looked entirely unprepared.
Does Dennis Green really have "his" own offensive system?...the system he has called the best in football...a sure-fire Top 5 offense...as he predicted in the pre-season. Or...was Green profitting all those years in Minnesota from having offensive coordinators like Brien Billick???...the way Green is now profitting from having Clancy Pendergast as his defensive coordinator. There is nothing about this version of Green's offense...from the schemes, to the play calling that would suggest it's anything special. Or, is this offense really Alex Woods'? Don't be surprised if Green goes out and hires an experienced offensive coordinator this off-season....because he doesn't seem to have the answers himself.
Green also deserves to be scrutinized in this contest not only for the atrocious playcalling, but for his dubious in-game decisions. It was one thing to run a sweep to Scobey on third and 6 in the red zone...but then to kick a field goal on 4th and 2, down 21 points late in the third quarter, was pointless. Then, to punt early in the 4th quarter in Carolina territory down 18 points...was also pointless. The Cardinals had to march for TDs and take 4 downs to do it whenever possible. Field goals and punts become moot when the Panthers took a 28-0 lead into the locker room at halftime.
played today.
for the 
