Catfish
Registered
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2006
- Posts
- 4,551
- Reaction score
- 64
Today's win, while it was two completely different halves, still gives cause for Cardinals fans to join their team, and keep on keepin' on.
Clearly both offenses coughed up the ball a lot. The Cards, did so less frequently in the second half, and the staff seemed to make some adjustments that worked better in the second half.
Yes, Palmer threw three pics. Two were terrible momentum killers, as we were about to score when they occurred. I'll not be getting all over him though, because he has fought through the wars and is still in there. For an immobile old guy who is obviously gun shy at this stage of his career, one can hardly blame him for being leery with a brand new puppy at LT, (his blind side), and a really fearsome front seven facing him today. To his credit, he seemed to settle into the game in the second half, and was getting some time to throw, though his mobility is still a big distraction, and he remembers that.
I would guess that part of that was due to the fact that we ran the ball with enough frequency, (and success), to take the edge off the rush as the game progressed. Part may also have been that we helped more in the second half, (or that he simply saw from photos of the first half that he was not in as much trouble as he thought he had been. I do not know. I only know that he did settle into the game later, and as our lead grew, he seemed to get more comfortable. In any event, his passing began to improve.
THE DEFENSE WAS AWESOME-----Dansby and Washington are going to make a very special ILB combination. The secondary seemed to feed off these two, and stepped up their game in the second half, (from one which was already solid), to one that was impenetrable. While Carolina was able to move the ball pretty well in the first half, there was little for them to have on offense in the second. They gave up yards, but not scores, and that is OK with BA.
This defense is becoming very special, very quickly, and Todd Bowles has had something to do with that, despite the bad talk he gets here on this board. His roster players are listening and learning, and they are improving EVERY week.
To be sure, we face stronger competition right away, but for all the defensive turnover, we can really find very little to fault this unit for at this time.
I thought the O-line played about as well as could be expected today, (including Brad Sowell). It did seem that as the game wore on, that they were protecting Palmer better. If it was because he discovered that they were doing better than he thought pretty much all along after the first series, than so be it. Whatever his thoughts, he got better, and the O-line did seem to also as the game wore on. One thing is sure, this O-line took some mad out on the Carolina defense as they ran the ball. While I would have liked to have seen more running, they ran enough to take the edge of the rush. Carolina had to respect the run today.
Special teams once again helped this team tremendously. Even Feely produced some long kick-offs, and nailed his FG attempts. Zastudil, and Leach were once again very good. So was the contain on kick coverage.
While there is still much to work on, especially with the offense, this team is gradually getting better. Each week there is less to harp about. This week, a double digit win over a favored opponent, even if it was at home, showed a good deal of improvement from what we had seen from them.
There is much to like about this team, (and it's staff and front office). One of those things that I like is that this staff and front office does not sit on a problem that they cannot work with. They do what they can to change what they cannot fix, and do it quickly, (especially by old standards). This team is watchable, even likable, and the best part is that one does not have to look only in one place to see the good and the fun. It is happening all over this team, and there is still more good happening than bad. That is a very good sign.
Clearly both offenses coughed up the ball a lot. The Cards, did so less frequently in the second half, and the staff seemed to make some adjustments that worked better in the second half.
Yes, Palmer threw three pics. Two were terrible momentum killers, as we were about to score when they occurred. I'll not be getting all over him though, because he has fought through the wars and is still in there. For an immobile old guy who is obviously gun shy at this stage of his career, one can hardly blame him for being leery with a brand new puppy at LT, (his blind side), and a really fearsome front seven facing him today. To his credit, he seemed to settle into the game in the second half, and was getting some time to throw, though his mobility is still a big distraction, and he remembers that.
I would guess that part of that was due to the fact that we ran the ball with enough frequency, (and success), to take the edge off the rush as the game progressed. Part may also have been that we helped more in the second half, (or that he simply saw from photos of the first half that he was not in as much trouble as he thought he had been. I do not know. I only know that he did settle into the game later, and as our lead grew, he seemed to get more comfortable. In any event, his passing began to improve.
THE DEFENSE WAS AWESOME-----Dansby and Washington are going to make a very special ILB combination. The secondary seemed to feed off these two, and stepped up their game in the second half, (from one which was already solid), to one that was impenetrable. While Carolina was able to move the ball pretty well in the first half, there was little for them to have on offense in the second. They gave up yards, but not scores, and that is OK with BA.
This defense is becoming very special, very quickly, and Todd Bowles has had something to do with that, despite the bad talk he gets here on this board. His roster players are listening and learning, and they are improving EVERY week.
To be sure, we face stronger competition right away, but for all the defensive turnover, we can really find very little to fault this unit for at this time.
I thought the O-line played about as well as could be expected today, (including Brad Sowell). It did seem that as the game wore on, that they were protecting Palmer better. If it was because he discovered that they were doing better than he thought pretty much all along after the first series, than so be it. Whatever his thoughts, he got better, and the O-line did seem to also as the game wore on. One thing is sure, this O-line took some mad out on the Carolina defense as they ran the ball. While I would have liked to have seen more running, they ran enough to take the edge of the rush. Carolina had to respect the run today.
Special teams once again helped this team tremendously. Even Feely produced some long kick-offs, and nailed his FG attempts. Zastudil, and Leach were once again very good. So was the contain on kick coverage.
While there is still much to work on, especially with the offense, this team is gradually getting better. Each week there is less to harp about. This week, a double digit win over a favored opponent, even if it was at home, showed a good deal of improvement from what we had seen from them.
There is much to like about this team, (and it's staff and front office). One of those things that I like is that this staff and front office does not sit on a problem that they cannot work with. They do what they can to change what they cannot fix, and do it quickly, (especially by old standards). This team is watchable, even likable, and the best part is that one does not have to look only in one place to see the good and the fun. It is happening all over this team, and there is still more good happening than bad. That is a very good sign.
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His adjustments and dialing up pressure have been good enough.
