It's Time

[Harry]

Did last week's game signal a maturing of this team? Today will tell. We know now what was hanging over the Saints last week, so throw out that game. If the Cards come ready to win; they can. The key to the game will be Levi Brown. The Cards' GM stepped up to defend him. Let's see if he can still defend him after this week.

Cards win 31-28.

 

[Totally_Red]

Did last week's game signal a maturing of this team? Today will tell. We know now what was hanging over the Saints last week, so throw out that game. If the Cards come ready to win; they can. The key to the game will be Levi Brown. The Cards' GM stepped up to defend him. Let's see if he can still defend him after this week.

Cards win 31-28.

Two keys really. Levi Brown AND the Cardinals front seven on defense. After reading that PFT piece about the Panthers giving up 5.0 ypc on the defensive left side, Brown and Deuce Lutui have to open up holes for the ground game. And the Cardinals defense has to make the Panthers one-dimensional on offense by snuffing their ground game.

 

[CardNots]

Did last week's game signal a maturing of this team? Today will tell. We know now what was hanging over the Saints last week, so throw out that game. If the Cards come ready to win; they can. The key to the game will be Levi Brown. The Cards' GM stepped up to defend him. Let's see if he can still defend him after this week.

Cards win 31-28.

I'm with ya Harry! On the other hand, It's getting old that every game seems to be a new hill we must climb before people believe in this team.

 

[Shane]

Other than the stupid penalty Levi has been decent.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Other than the stupid penalty Levi has been decent.

i thought he was awful today. turnstile.

and you know what? the dude isn't even a dominant run blocker. he's a "catcher." watch him. he NEVER initiates a blow. he catches the defender and then tries to dance with him, either running or passing. and he just flat out sucks ass. i MEAN SUCKS! instead of AP? puh-lease. dude sucks.

 

[hepcat]

i thought he was awful today. turnstile.

and you know what? the dude isn't even a dominant run blocker. he's a "catcher." watch him. he NEVER initiates a blow. he catches the defender and then tries to dance with him, either running or passing. and he just flat out sucks ass. i MEAN SUCKS! instead of AP? puh-lease. dude sucks.

Charles Johnson beat him two times to my memory. One pass was batted down and one was a big sack.

 

[az1965]

Other than the stupid penalty Levi has been decent.

...and the two sacks... otherwise he was great

 

[SuperSpck]

This feels like shades of Leonard Davis. He's too slow to be a tackle on a team that passes as much as the Cardinals do. He needs to be moved inside to guard if this is going to be the team identity. In a run heavy offense he'd be a little less noticeable.

Unfortunately, that's not a move a team can make in the middle of the season with any success.

 

[Chopper0080]

49 pass plays, the majority on an island with no help nd 2 sacks...I will take it.

 

[Mitch]

49 pass plays, the majority on an island with no help nd 2 sacks...I will take it.

I totally concur.

 

[TJ]

49 pass plays, the majority on an island with no help nd 2 sacks...I will take it.

Im not concerned about the pass protection, its the run blocking that bothers me

 

[Duckjake]

A first round, top 10 draft pick needs to be better than adequete. Our offense would be just as productive with an Oline of Gandy,EBrown,Sendlein,Latui and Wells.

Thankfully the Cards didn't put Levi at Left Tackle.

 

[Cheesebeef]

49 pass plays, the majority on an island with no help nd 2 sacks...I will take it.

do you take all the times Warner got knocked on his ass as well? The guy was awful today, like he's been most of his career.

I texted this to Ouchie earlier that it's pretty weird times when a Cardinals fan isn't happy enough to have the highest scoring O in the league, but my god, if they had actually drafted AP and just gotten any run of the mill T (which at this point is at least as good as Levi), this offense wouldn't just be as good as they are now, they could possibly be the best offense of all time, just as good as the Greatest Show on Turf. I mean, an actual running threat to go along with this passing attack? I don't care how mediocre our D is on the road, the offense would be beyond unstoppable. sigh.

 

[Totally_Red]

A first round, top 10 draft pick needs to be better than adequete. Our offense would be just as productive with an Oline of Gandy,EBrown,Sendlein,Latui and Wells.

Thankfully the Cards didn't put Levi at Left Tackle.

I thought it was b.s when they said he was on Joe Thomas' level at the time. In hind sight, it was a gigantic reach for a need pick. He is NOT dominant in the run game and gets Warner hit way too often in the passing game. It's year two and he should be getting better, but instead he seems to be leveling off at mediocrity.

The sad thing is that Leonard Little and Patrick Kerney are already licking their chops in anticipation.

It will be an interesting offseason if Ron Wolfley is correct about Brandon Keith's potential.

 

[Chopper0080]

To be honest, we haven't run enough for any of our offensive linemen to be good at run blocking. Run blocking for offensive linemen is like passing for quarterbacks. The earlier that you do it in a game the quicker you get into a rhythem and, generally, the more successful you are at it.

Levi Brown has been decent NFL RT, especially since he has been playing out of his strength. Yes, he hasn't performed like a Top 5 pick but he has upgraded our offensive line and has argueably out performed D Ferguson who was taken higher than he was. Blame Graves if you hate that Brown was the #5 pick but don't let it blind you to what he is doing on the field which is playing decent football.

 

[joeshmo]

Levi Brown has been decent NFL RT, especially since he has been playing out of his strength. Yes, he hasn't performed like a Top 5 pick but he has upgraded our offensive line and has argueably out performed D Ferguson who was taken higher than he was. Blame Graves if you hate that Brown was the #5 pick but don't let it blind you to what he is doing on the field which is playing decent football.

If by decent you mean allowing sacks, below average run blocking, getting the QB hit multiple times a game, dumb penalties, and so on, then sure he has been decent.

 

[RonF]

Perhaps if he would drop some weight he could move a little faster, I'm just saying.

 

[joeshmo]

Perhaps if he would drop some weight he could move a little faster, I'm just saying.

Or have the consistent mean streak that he had in college. In an interview with Grimm thats the one thing he mentioned when talking about how Brown could improve the most at. The only time we see a mean streak with Brown is when he gets a penatly.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

To be honest, we haven't run enough for any of our offensive linemen to be good at run blocking. Run blocking for offensive linemen is like passing for quarterbacks. The earlier that you do it in a game the quicker you get into a rhythem and, generally, the more successful you are at it.

Levi Brown has been decent NFL RT, especially since he has been playing out of his strength. Yes, he hasn't performed like a Top 5 pick but he has upgraded our offensive line and has argueably out performed D Ferguson who was taken higher than he was. Blame Graves if you hate that Brown was the #5 pick but don't let it blind you to what he is doing on the field which is playing decent football.

you couldn't be further from the truth.

our oline is not upgraded b/c of him. it's just not. he's still a turnstile and doesn't provide ANY punch in the run game. watch him. he's a "catcher." he catches the man he's supposed to block instead of initiating a blow. he NEVER blows his man outta the play. he's soft. and slow. and penatly prone. forget about his draft position, he's just a slightly below average tackle.

i'll blame graves for the tremendous reach, but i'll blame levi for not being a very good, much less adequate, much MUCH less dominant, offensive tackle. he excels at no part of the game and is poor in the most important part of the game for our make-up, pass protection. hence his sacks, qb hits, and false starts. awful.

 

[D-Dogg]

he NEVER blows his man outta the play.

This isn't true. He does do this. I've watched him blow his man down, move upfield and knock another guy.

HOWEVER.

He is incredibly inconsistent. He'll make a good play, then whiff on his guy twice in a row, and throw a false start into the mix. Then he'll level someone.

His bad outweighs the good, however. It's like he thinks 4 or 5 good/decent plays a game will cut it, and he lays back the rest of the game. Very little sustained aggression. Very little sustained focus.

Highly disappointed in the guy.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

This isn't true. He does do this. I've watched him blow his man down, move upfield and knock another guy.

HOWEVER.

He is incredibly inconsistent. He'll make a good play, then whiff on his guy twice in a row, and throw a false start into the mix. Then he'll level someone.

His bad outweighs the good, however. It's like he thinks 4 or 5 good/decent plays a game will cut it, and he lays back the rest of the game. Very little sustained aggression. Very little sustained focus.

Highly disappointed in the guy.

congrats D, welcome to the world of realism. seriously though, i am glad that you can finally recognize his shortcomings.

as for the blowing people off the line . . . i rewatched the cowboys game the other day and he just didn't do it once. i watched him the entire game just for that fact and not once. never. it was amazing. it's become a key for me now. he didn't really do it during the panthers game either to my knowledge, but i didn't make the fulltime effort to key on just him on sunday.

 

[D-Dogg]

congrats D, welcome to the world of realism. seriously though, i am glad that you can finally recognize his shortcomings.

as for the blowing people off the line . . . i rewatched the cowboys game the other day and he just didn't do it once. i watched him the entire game just for that fact and not once. never. it was amazing. it's become a key for me now. he didn't really do it during the panthers game either to my knowledge, but i didn't make the fulltime effort to key on just him on sunday.

I recall it early in the season. They even highlighted it on Cardinals Live. He blocked for edge, pancaked his man and edge ran off his fat ass...Levi moved up and moved another guy opening up edge to get another 4 yards.

I shook my head and thought, "why isn't he doing that every play?" It's not that the aggression or the ability isn't there...it's just not surfacing any more often than Nessie.

He's incredibly frustrating.

 

[Vermont Maverick]

49 pass plays, the majority on an island with no help nd 2 sacks...I will take it.

Just projecting here, but this would be 32 sacks over a 16 game season. Not entirely fair, but just for perspective sake. That's not acceptable, period. For the 5th pick. I hope, just like the next guy, that Levi turns out to be decent. But the fact is, we reached for him because we did not have a plan. Actually, we had a plan - pray that Joe Thomas would be there. That plan didn't work. Then we adorned him with the infamous #75. Talk about bad karma.

The Front Office is much improved, the drafting has improved, a lot has improved, but that pick stunk at the time, and still does.

 

[MadCardDisease]

I really think the entire right side of the line is questionable starting at Center. Sendline can't handle the bull rush. Lutui makes bonehead mistakes. Brown is struggling big time. We need to address these positions next offseason.

 

[Duckjake]

I really think the entire right side of the line is questionable starting at Center. Sendelin can't handle the bull rush. Lutui makes bonehead mistakes. Brown is struggling big time. We need to address these positions next offseason.

Being the UT homer that I am I hate to agree with this but its true. Sendlein is very good at being the #2 guy in a double team and at getting to the second level to block LBs but he doesn't have the size to handle the larger dlinemen.