JIm O. didn't post the whole story about PK being cut

[NMCard]

I also have that "this could be bad...." feeling. DG seems to have some major ego.

Its not like things they have done in the past have worked. This team has needed a good shakeup for years. I have the good things are going to happen feelings.

 

[MadCardDisease]

This team has sucked so bad the last 5 years something had to be done to fix it. The supposed strenght of the team during that period hasn't even come close to living up to that billing. In fact the O-Line has played below average over that time span. I have no problem with any of the changes made on the O-Line. I'm glad changes have been made and I don't think this is the end of it!

Man I'm excited to see what this team can do on the field.

 

[Djaughe]

I'm with ya there. I don't really feel very good about today's news.
Just a gut feeling.

I'm probably gonna get flamed for this thought but this kinda cutting/signing stuff just reminds me of what buddy ryan did in his first year...I just hope DG has a smart bean counter to make sure the books are balanced in regards to the salary cap...and future players.

 

[ajcardfan]

If Kendall was the only OL cut, then he has been singled out as the problem no?? Kendall played far better than Davis, Spikes and Clement last year no??? Yet he gets cut still.

He is healthy, was the best C on the roster and according to his agent maintained a low profile through the practice-gate.

So to me, he has been the only one held responsible for the crap play last year when he was far from the worst.

Well, still doesn't change the fact you're the only one who said it.

I don't think he was the worst lineman last year. I think Green was serious last night when he said he thought Step was ready to go. So, maybe he likes the depth at center better than tackle and still could get needed cap space. Will it work out? I have no idea.

 

[CardLogic]

Between Fitz's ridiculous contract and Green's circus in handling players...
I dunno. This isn't quite a comfortable feeling I have.


Bizzaro world. Beautiful this time of year.

I would have thought that somehow you would be perfectly comfortable in Bizzaro!

 

[40yearfan]

I'm probably gonna get flamed for this thought but this kinda cutting/signing stuff just reminds me of what buddy ryan did in his first year...I just hope DG has a smart bean counter to make sure the books are balanced in regards to the salary cap...and future players.

Hopefully Mr. Graves and M. Bidwill are handling this aspect. I think Rod has a cap plan and has been following it very well although I'm not sure how the Fitz bonus will fit into it. Time will tell.

 

[ajcardfan]

I also have that "this could be bad...." feeling. DG seems to have some major ego.

Of course he has a major ego. Only a major ego can actually believe that they will turn the Cardinals into winners. Buddy Ryan had an ego too. He turned out to be a disaster, but his ego alone got us to 8-8 and in contention for the playoffs in December in his first season. Which, as much as I hated Ryan, is the second best season we've had in Arizona. I just hope Green is much smarter in his player evals than Buddy was.

 

[SECTION 11]

I would have thought that somehow you would be perfectly comfortable in Bizzaro!

I have a cabin there. Great for the summer.

 

[Russ Smith]

Well, still doesn't change the fact you're the only one who said it.

I don't think he was the worst lineman last year. I think Green was serious last night when he said he thought Step was ready to go. So, maybe he likes the depth at center better than tackle and still could get needed cap space. Will it work out? I have no idea.

I sort of agree with cubbie though. Let's face it since last year the ol has gone left to right from Shelton, Spikes, Kendall, Davis, Clement to Davis, Wells, Stepanovich, Spikes, Clement.

In my mind Clement was our worst OL last year, he's unchanged. Spikes was 4th, he's still starting just changing sides, Davis was 3rd, still starting changing sides and positions. So in my mind Green has replaced the 2 best OL's from last year with a 4th round rookie and a late round 2nd year player who looked awful when he played last year.

So to me the cutting of kendall is just a bit hard for me to believe as a football decision about who's better, it's got to be about money, or personality or something else. Maybe I'm wrong but I thought we needed more guys like Kendall(who played better than their talent level) ?

I do like Step, he's a tough kid, I just hope he's ready to go because if he's the starter there's a lot of pressure on him.

 

[Shane]

I'm with ya there. I don't really feel very good about today's news.
Just a gut feeling.

 

[john h]

The Arizona Cardinals today announced that the team has released veteran offensive linemen PETE KENDALL and KENDRICK ROGERS.

A veteran of eight NFL seasons, Kendall joined the Cardinals as an unrestricted free agent in 2001. He started 23 games at left guard in his first two seasons with Arizona before moving to center last season and started the first 13 games of the year at that position. Kendall originally entered the league when he was selected by Seattle in the first round of the 1996 Draft out of Boston College. He appeared in 76 games (75 starts) with the Seahawks from 1996-2000 before signing with the Cardinals the following March.

An offensive tackle out of Alabama A&M, Rogers spent the 2002 season on the Cardinals practice squad and was on the 53-man roster for eight games in 200 but did not see any action before a wrist injury led to his placement on the Injured Reserve list in November.

“It became clear to me that we had to make some more changes on the line,” said Head Coach Dennis Green. “That chemistry was not very good at all. I would be naïve to think that was going to change just because I was here.”

With the release of Kendall, Green announced that the Cardinals starting center would be rookie Alex Stepanovich.

“He comes from Ohio State, a program where guys are ready to go,” said Green of the rookie center. “As you know I said before the draft we wanted guys who were ready to go, ready to play. Alex fits that.”

"I've done my best to get the offensive line to understand what it is going to take to play as a unit and I don't think that has happened yet," continued Green. "I think by bringing a fresh player out of Ohio State who is used to winning, I know what he wants to do. Now those older guys have to figure out how they want to do."

Green is really sitting himself up to be a major hero or goat. Various articles in some of the major sporting papers note is talking a lot without the players to backup the talk. All I can think of is Buddy and his "you got a winner in town". For us to be good there are just to many things that would have to fall in place from QB to DB to DL to OL. It sure looks more and more like a 5 win season to me and that is if the ball bounce our way.

 

[ajcardfan]

I sort of agree with cubbie though. Let's face it since last year the ol has gone left to right from Shelton, Spikes, Kendall, Davis, Clement to Davis, Wells, Stepanovich, Spikes, Clement.

In my mind Clement was our worst OL last year, he's unchanged. Spikes was 4th, he's still starting just changing sides, Davis was 3rd, still starting changing sides and positions. So in my mind Green has replaced the 2 best OL's from last year with a 4th round rookie and a late round 2nd year player who looked awful when he played last year.

So to me the cutting of kendall is just a bit hard for me to believe as a football decision about who's better, it's got to be about money, or personality or something else. Maybe I'm wrong but I thought we needed more guys like Kendall(who played better than their talent level) ?

I do like Step, he's a tough kid, I just hope he's ready to go because if he's the starter there's a lot of pressure on him.

Russ, I'm not saying the decision was all football. I'd have cut Clement too before Kendall. Someone posted an analysis of Green not too long ago that he has a history of making personnel moves that outsiders think are gambles. This is definitely in that category. Let's hope he's right.

 

[Russ Smith]

Of course he has a major ego. Only a major ego can actually believe that they will turn the Cardinals into winners. Buddy Ryan had an ego too. He turned out to be a disaster, but his ego alone got us to 8-8 and in contention for the playoffs in December in his first season. Which, as much as I hated Ryan, is the second best season we've had in Arizona. I just hope Green is much smarter in his player evals than Buddy was.

Yes and no AJ, remember Buddy took a 7-9 team with a good offense and turned it into an 8-8 team without a good offense. If he'd just not tampered with the O that year we may have won 10-11 games.

Deserves a lot of credit for revamping the defense and signing some big names, Joyner and Simmons, but he destroyed the offense in the process. I have very little doubt that Bugel could have won 8 games if he'd been back although I don't think he would have had the same effect on the defense or on signings.

I am still happy we signed Green but I am getting a bit leery, at some point making changes for shock value ceases to work and then it comes down to football ability, I'm just not sure I agree that Wells and Step are better players than Shelton and Kendall and I know for a fact that Clement is NOT a better player than either one of them so why is he the Teflon man?

I almost think Green looked at film of the last 2 years and said "man they're spending tons of money on an OL that's not very good, I can have a not very good OL for a lot less money and spend it elsewhere." the problem is if he wanted to do that, he should have traded Shelton, not benched him.

But again, I think Green is our best coach in years, I'm just getting nervous about some of his personnel decisions.

 

[ajcardfan]

Yes and no AJ, remember Buddy took a 7-9 team with a good offense and turned it into an 8-8 team without a good offense. If he'd just not tampered with the O that year we may have won 10-11 games.

Oh, I remember it well. Buddy ripped the offense apart much more severely than Green has done. At least until this point. But, it's not like he's tampering with a top ten unit on either side of the ball. We were dead last in points scored and points allowed last year, by wide margins, so I'm willing to give him more leeway than Buddy.

For now. He has until game 8 before I rip him.

 

[Russ Smith]

Russ, I'm not saying the decision was all football. I'd have cut Clement too before Kendall. Someone posted an analysis of Green not too long ago that he has a history of making personnel moves that outsiders think are gambles. This is definitely in that category. Let's hope he's right.

Getting way out on a tangent here but not being a Viking fan I can't really say if Green did this before and if it worked. The goal is to have the best team you can have, and have a plan to sustain that(so you don't throw all your eggs into a one year basket).

Point being, Green may have done this before, won enough games that people forgot, but still may not have "been right"? Ie you cut a guy because you think he's hurting your chemistry, but in a crucial game, the guy who replaced him misses a key block, your QB gets sacked, fumbles, and you lose the game. At the end of the year if you win enough games everyone says see DG was right, but you may overlook the fact that if he had not cut that one guy, you might have won that crucial game and won another game?

I guess that's all I'm saying, i will never agree with all of anybody's moves, but I think Green is in a great spot because he's replacing a group that was so incompetent, that he can make several "bad" decisions, and still win enough more games than Mac did that people will be happier about that than they are angry with the cutting of Kendall and demotion of LJ and Shipp.

 

[Redheart]

...will be happier about that than they are angry with the cutting of Kendall and demotion of LJ and Shipp.

Kendell is gone. I am still waiting for the other shoe to drop on LJ and Shipp...my bet is they will be starting AND performing well before the home opener.

 

[BW52]

According to most of the board though, it is brilliant and good riddance. I think this is moronic too.

Agree.Dumb move.If any worthless OLinemen are getting the boot why not Anthony Clement? How many years is that overpriced underperforming Rt going to get? :shru g: