Why is everyone on the get rid of Pendy wagon? Last year he was some kind of super coach bringing the teams overall defensive rating to 8th in the league. Whne the offense finnaly started clicking with Matt and the offense held the ball so the defense wasn't playing 35-40 minutes they got better.
The facts don't really support this claim. If my calculations are correct, from the first four games (with Warner at QB) to the last 12 (with Leinart), the Cardinals' time of possession actually decreased from 30:24 to 29:25. There were only two games when the defense was on the field more than 35 minutes, and those were with Leinart at QB (@ Oakland & Minnesota). With Warner at QB, the defense allowed 24 points and 376 yards per game (which over 16 games would've been dead last in the league), while with Leinart at QB the defense allowed 24.4 points and improved slightly to 341 yards per game (which would've ranked 25th). (I didn't subtract out points allowed by the offense and special teams.)
If you re-do the analysis using the first 9 games (including the 8-game losing streak) vs. the last 7 games (4-3 record), the Cardinals' time of possession did increase slightly from 29:19 to 30:07, but there wasn't much change in the performance of the defense - 24.7 points and 354 yards per game in the first half (29th), vs. 23.7 points and 344 yards per game in the second half (27th).
Over the three years of the Green - Pendergast regime, the Cardinals' time of posession was 30:53, 31:20, and 29:59. So whether you like Pendergast or not, being left on the field too long is hardly an excuse for poor performance by the defense in any season or any part of this season.
Just keepin' it real....
...dave