Mitch
Crawled Through 5 FB Fields
We all saw the game...we saw Warner at his absolute worst in the first half...and dang near his absolute best in the second.
We saw Cardinal WRs put up big efforts and performances...no better effort than Fitz's on a 4th and seven catching the ball and being hit three yards from the first down line and dragging his tackler and stretching out to make it...or Steve Breaston's breakout game to the tune of 122 yards...or Anquan Boldin's never quit spirit, trying everything he could to score the team's sixth TD...and paying a tough price for it on an endzone whiplashing...or Edge's and TD Tim's redzone plowings into the end zone...or, get this, Deuce Lutui's clearout blocks on all of those TDs.
We saw RT Levi Brown have an even worse day than Warner...and, like last year when he was getting beat by Patrick Kearney, the offensive coaches made NO adjustments, as in keeping the RB to his side to double team the DE...or...simply have the slot WR or TE "CHIP" the DE on their way into their patterns. Why this coaching staff is so negligent in making such adjustments is cause for real concern.
We saw the Cardinal defense do what it has consistently done ever since Clancy Pendergast had been DC:
(1) Not put any real pressure on an immobile QB.
(2) Not show any ability whatseover to defense screen passes or reverses.
(3) Leave WRs and TEs ridiculously wide open versus their "soft zones."
(4) Have basically more than half the starters pull no-shows. Today's culprits? Dockett, Smith, Robinson, LaBoy, Dansby, Hayes, Green and Rolle. Pathetic effort from all of these guys...and there are 56 points on the scoreboard to prove it...yeah, yeah, yeah, they had short fields to defense due to TOs...BUT...just when the offense gave the Cardinals a slight window of hope, the defense folded like a house of cards in a blustery wind...and two weeks in a row there has been nothing but piss poor tackling, no emotion and playing possum. These guys flat out don't deserve paychecks.
What one has to wonder about Whiz and his staff is the kind of preparation they have put into this season. Here are the questions:
(1) There clearly is friction between Kurt Warner and the coaching staff. Warner wants to open the offense up and play hurry-up, the coaches want a more conservative approach, which includes implementing a smashmouth style running game. The coaches are leery that in a wide open offense, Warner will turn the ball over...and their concerns certainly were confirmed today...but when the coaches tried to pound the ball versus the Jets today, it only worked once Warner got the defense on its heels in the second half.
It seems like the Cards are stuck between a rock and a hard place here....Warner made his case for the hurry-up in the second half, passing for over 400 yards and generating 35 points...but obviously caused the coaches more concern vis-a-vis the first half turnovers.
Warner will tell you that he needs to get in a rhythm and that the playcalling hasn't allowed as much for that...but the problem is, he makes critical errors simply by the fact that for some reason he stubbornly refuses to throw the ball out of bounds when he can't find an open receiver. Even worse, today he put the ball on the rug repeatedly...either he has to finally start throwing the ball away or he cannot make a strong enough case to pass more often.
The coaches wanted Matt Leinart to start...and that hasn't helped the team's offensive identity. One has to wonder whether Leinart would still be the starter if the Cardinals did what they had intended to do this off-season by adding a true homerun threat at RB. Otherwise, the running game for the Cardinals has remained rather pedestrian, even though Edge is running hard...he's till not instilling fear in opposing defenses and DCs. Hightower is young and promising, but he's not ready to take on the full onus. Arrington has the breakaway speed the team lacks, as we saw in the last pre-season game, but he has yet to see the field in 4 games.
The coaches have either got to let Warner do his thing and realize that when any team opens the offense up, there may be more turnovers...but it's a risk reward scenario, because of the 35 points we saw go up in the second half...and the coaches would have to hope that the defense could somehow play clutch football just when the team needs them to.
As for the defense...the situation there is much more troubling, and is down-right disturbing. And this may come as a suprise, but the blame here belongs more to Whiz than anyone else. Whiz, this off-season, should have pulled Pendergast into film sessions and told him, "Hey, man, I'm an old OC and here's what I see about your defesne and how to beat it...I see that I can run screens and reverses with the greatest of ease...I see that none of your edge people play contain...and I see that your soft zones allow for even mediocre QBs to have big days, because so many receivers are left WIDE OPEN, even Pro Bowlers like Chris Cooley and Antonio Gates."
What we are now seeing is that NO progress has been made from year one to year two on defense. In fact, in some ways, this year's defense may be even worse, probably because their weaknesses are so easy to spot on tape that there's an easy to read book on how to beat the Cardinals' defense.
What should Whiz do now? Can he do anything?
If he wants to turn the thing around, he cannot wait another day. Either he has to insist to Pendergast that the whole base defense change to include offering DE/OLB contain, screen blow up coverage and sticky man coverage downfield...OR...he has to realize that Pendergast is ill-equipped to coach this kind of defense, and thus would have to let him go...which would beg the question as to who would take over...is anyone ofn the staff qualified to be a DC? Or, is there an unemployed 3-4 coach who can come in immediately and take over?
Lastly, and so many of us have been talking about this for severa years now...the issue of Neil Rackers as FG kicker is all the more moot today, as Rackers blew it again...if his kick was a 53 yarder and he would have to kick it lower then we could give him some slack, but, a 37 yarder kicked so low?
If Rackers makes that FG and the Cardinals go up 3-0, who knows what happens from there.
The missed, er, blocked field goal was the play that changed the game.
Now...Rackers is so good at kickoffs and especially good at on-side kicks...he is WORTH a roster spot just for those...certainly more that a player like Oliver Celestin (whose one big contribution today was a face mask penalty, on one of the more ridiculous kicking decisions we have ever seen...with a 15 yard penalty to work with, the ideal time to try another on-side kick OR kick the ball out of the end zone, instead Rackers pooches is all the way down to the 20 yard line and the Cards end up where they would have been on an on-side kick anyway if they didn't make it...and while we're talking about on-side kicks...what another beauty Rackers kicked that was fielded by Ralph Brown...who was so close to the line, why in the world didn't Whiz challenge the ruling? At that point, the only chance to still win was hinging on it.).
But, back to the off-season preparation and thinking...how many times are the Cardinals going to allow themselves to get set back by missed field goals?
Ever since Whiz punted at Washington (who beat the Cowboys today on the road, BTW), down 7 with 4th and 4 at midfield and 2:32 seconds left, he has started to look like Dennis Green and his team is playing like a Dennis Green Cardinal team...a team afraid to win, period.
And Whiz's sideline demeanor has been nearly as sedate as Green's (late reactions, pissed off glares and no coaches challenges when ones are needed)...which has extended into a lack of urgency on the part of his team and pissed off play-calling from the OC, who apparently thinks the way to respond to the other team's TD is to pound the ball for one yard a time into the line and set your QB up with a third and long. The other resembalnce is the playcalling in the redzone...very Green-esque the past two games...the Cardinals had two consecutive trips to the red zone in the first quarter and they took ONE shot at the end zone, an ovethrown fade to Fitz, that's it. Why not throw 3 fades to Fitz in a row? Has anyone stopped that play yet when the ball was anywhere near Fitz?
The bottom line is...teams can't play afraid to lose, especially on the road. Early in this game the Cardinals had all the breaks...how about Dockett being off-sides on Okeafor's interception (which is still hard to believe he didn't return for a TD...will you un-hitch the piano and Bud keg, Chike, geesh)? How about Hood's non-call on the deep bomb he was toasted on and he came back to interfere with?
One thing Whiz was last year...not afraid to win...as just when momentum was slipping away in games or teetering he would go for a key 4th down or pull off a fake punt or something. This year, he's an enigma.
We saw Cardinal WRs put up big efforts and performances...no better effort than Fitz's on a 4th and seven catching the ball and being hit three yards from the first down line and dragging his tackler and stretching out to make it...or Steve Breaston's breakout game to the tune of 122 yards...or Anquan Boldin's never quit spirit, trying everything he could to score the team's sixth TD...and paying a tough price for it on an endzone whiplashing...or Edge's and TD Tim's redzone plowings into the end zone...or, get this, Deuce Lutui's clearout blocks on all of those TDs.
We saw RT Levi Brown have an even worse day than Warner...and, like last year when he was getting beat by Patrick Kearney, the offensive coaches made NO adjustments, as in keeping the RB to his side to double team the DE...or...simply have the slot WR or TE "CHIP" the DE on their way into their patterns. Why this coaching staff is so negligent in making such adjustments is cause for real concern.
We saw the Cardinal defense do what it has consistently done ever since Clancy Pendergast had been DC:
(1) Not put any real pressure on an immobile QB.
(2) Not show any ability whatseover to defense screen passes or reverses.
(3) Leave WRs and TEs ridiculously wide open versus their "soft zones."
(4) Have basically more than half the starters pull no-shows. Today's culprits? Dockett, Smith, Robinson, LaBoy, Dansby, Hayes, Green and Rolle. Pathetic effort from all of these guys...and there are 56 points on the scoreboard to prove it...yeah, yeah, yeah, they had short fields to defense due to TOs...BUT...just when the offense gave the Cardinals a slight window of hope, the defense folded like a house of cards in a blustery wind...and two weeks in a row there has been nothing but piss poor tackling, no emotion and playing possum. These guys flat out don't deserve paychecks.
What one has to wonder about Whiz and his staff is the kind of preparation they have put into this season. Here are the questions:
(1) There clearly is friction between Kurt Warner and the coaching staff. Warner wants to open the offense up and play hurry-up, the coaches want a more conservative approach, which includes implementing a smashmouth style running game. The coaches are leery that in a wide open offense, Warner will turn the ball over...and their concerns certainly were confirmed today...but when the coaches tried to pound the ball versus the Jets today, it only worked once Warner got the defense on its heels in the second half.
It seems like the Cards are stuck between a rock and a hard place here....Warner made his case for the hurry-up in the second half, passing for over 400 yards and generating 35 points...but obviously caused the coaches more concern vis-a-vis the first half turnovers.
Warner will tell you that he needs to get in a rhythm and that the playcalling hasn't allowed as much for that...but the problem is, he makes critical errors simply by the fact that for some reason he stubbornly refuses to throw the ball out of bounds when he can't find an open receiver. Even worse, today he put the ball on the rug repeatedly...either he has to finally start throwing the ball away or he cannot make a strong enough case to pass more often.
The coaches wanted Matt Leinart to start...and that hasn't helped the team's offensive identity. One has to wonder whether Leinart would still be the starter if the Cardinals did what they had intended to do this off-season by adding a true homerun threat at RB. Otherwise, the running game for the Cardinals has remained rather pedestrian, even though Edge is running hard...he's till not instilling fear in opposing defenses and DCs. Hightower is young and promising, but he's not ready to take on the full onus. Arrington has the breakaway speed the team lacks, as we saw in the last pre-season game, but he has yet to see the field in 4 games.
The coaches have either got to let Warner do his thing and realize that when any team opens the offense up, there may be more turnovers...but it's a risk reward scenario, because of the 35 points we saw go up in the second half...and the coaches would have to hope that the defense could somehow play clutch football just when the team needs them to.
As for the defense...the situation there is much more troubling, and is down-right disturbing. And this may come as a suprise, but the blame here belongs more to Whiz than anyone else. Whiz, this off-season, should have pulled Pendergast into film sessions and told him, "Hey, man, I'm an old OC and here's what I see about your defesne and how to beat it...I see that I can run screens and reverses with the greatest of ease...I see that none of your edge people play contain...and I see that your soft zones allow for even mediocre QBs to have big days, because so many receivers are left WIDE OPEN, even Pro Bowlers like Chris Cooley and Antonio Gates."
What we are now seeing is that NO progress has been made from year one to year two on defense. In fact, in some ways, this year's defense may be even worse, probably because their weaknesses are so easy to spot on tape that there's an easy to read book on how to beat the Cardinals' defense.
What should Whiz do now? Can he do anything?
If he wants to turn the thing around, he cannot wait another day. Either he has to insist to Pendergast that the whole base defense change to include offering DE/OLB contain, screen blow up coverage and sticky man coverage downfield...OR...he has to realize that Pendergast is ill-equipped to coach this kind of defense, and thus would have to let him go...which would beg the question as to who would take over...is anyone ofn the staff qualified to be a DC? Or, is there an unemployed 3-4 coach who can come in immediately and take over?
Lastly, and so many of us have been talking about this for severa years now...the issue of Neil Rackers as FG kicker is all the more moot today, as Rackers blew it again...if his kick was a 53 yarder and he would have to kick it lower then we could give him some slack, but, a 37 yarder kicked so low?
If Rackers makes that FG and the Cardinals go up 3-0, who knows what happens from there.
The missed, er, blocked field goal was the play that changed the game.
Now...Rackers is so good at kickoffs and especially good at on-side kicks...he is WORTH a roster spot just for those...certainly more that a player like Oliver Celestin (whose one big contribution today was a face mask penalty, on one of the more ridiculous kicking decisions we have ever seen...with a 15 yard penalty to work with, the ideal time to try another on-side kick OR kick the ball out of the end zone, instead Rackers pooches is all the way down to the 20 yard line and the Cards end up where they would have been on an on-side kick anyway if they didn't make it...and while we're talking about on-side kicks...what another beauty Rackers kicked that was fielded by Ralph Brown...who was so close to the line, why in the world didn't Whiz challenge the ruling? At that point, the only chance to still win was hinging on it.).
But, back to the off-season preparation and thinking...how many times are the Cardinals going to allow themselves to get set back by missed field goals?
Ever since Whiz punted at Washington (who beat the Cowboys today on the road, BTW), down 7 with 4th and 4 at midfield and 2:32 seconds left, he has started to look like Dennis Green and his team is playing like a Dennis Green Cardinal team...a team afraid to win, period.
And Whiz's sideline demeanor has been nearly as sedate as Green's (late reactions, pissed off glares and no coaches challenges when ones are needed)...which has extended into a lack of urgency on the part of his team and pissed off play-calling from the OC, who apparently thinks the way to respond to the other team's TD is to pound the ball for one yard a time into the line and set your QB up with a third and long. The other resembalnce is the playcalling in the redzone...very Green-esque the past two games...the Cardinals had two consecutive trips to the red zone in the first quarter and they took ONE shot at the end zone, an ovethrown fade to Fitz, that's it. Why not throw 3 fades to Fitz in a row? Has anyone stopped that play yet when the ball was anywhere near Fitz?
The bottom line is...teams can't play afraid to lose, especially on the road. Early in this game the Cardinals had all the breaks...how about Dockett being off-sides on Okeafor's interception (which is still hard to believe he didn't return for a TD...will you un-hitch the piano and Bud keg, Chike, geesh)? How about Hood's non-call on the deep bomb he was toasted on and he came back to interfere with?
One thing Whiz was last year...not afraid to win...as just when momentum was slipping away in games or teetering he would go for a key 4th down or pull off a fake punt or something. This year, he's an enigma.
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