Positive thinking

[Cardiac]

We lose Dansby and D-weed and our run game isn't gonna suffer?? Don't get that logic at all...
Opposing teams will figure out quickly how to get mismatches against our LB's with their TE's and RB's slipping out if the backfield. It won't be pretty. I see us having to blitz way more than we would like in order to get pressure and move the.QB around, as well as to help against the run.. Which will create opportunities for the opposing offense...

Our offense better be improved...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well D-Weed and LOS were never know as great run stuffers. Not saying they didn't contribute but Minter will be an upgrade over them in run Defense.

Yes they RB's slipping out to the flats and short WR crossing routes may be exploited more but the DB's have been upgraded so the passing D overall should be improved.

Bowles already blitzed more than any other team so I'm not worried about that except to say the D-Weed was an incredible blitzer and Los was pretty good himself.

No way the Offense doesn't improve. A real LT, legit speed burner WR's, Coop at LG, upgraded TE's and a QB who fully understands BA's Offense. Oh wait, I forgot to mention that Juke will have a "break out" year.

 

[52brandon]

great OP. I share the outlook. Stated something similar in a different thread. Our roster dropped off sharply at ILB. But I think every other spot has been positively addressed. At the very least they remain the same

First D (since that's where we just took the biggest hit):

D-Line:
RETURNING
-Darnell Dockett - ELITE. Returning. Getting older, but not yet old
-Calais Campbell - ELITE. Returning. In his prime. Getting better still
-Dan Williams - GREAT. Returning. In his prime. I'm not very good at evaluating NTs based on what they do. But considering our D rank, especially against the run, it's hard for me to have anything but a high opinion of him. And he seems to only be improving
-Alameda Ta'amu - GOOD. Returning. Young. Did a fantastic job rotating with Williams. #1 run D is a stat that reflects that
-Kareem Martin - ROOKIE. Superb athlete coming out of college (best in combine across the board except vertical). Stats don't reflect athleticism. Will be interesting to see if our coaches can make him the player he has the ability to be. I also don't expect him to play up front much if at all this season. So he's somewhat of a moot point at the moment. But I do have hugely high hopes for his future. With Campbell mentoring, his odds of success only get better
-Ed Stinson - ROOKIE. Recovering from injury. Comes from a great program where he started 4 years on the best D. Is a more hands-on project than Martin, not the athletic freak he is either, but has the ability to be a serious contributor. Like Martin, he has a fantastic mentor, his being Dockett. It seems DD and CC both believe that the future at DE may have just been taken in this year's draft. Their belief is very encouraging to me
**all starters return and we added depth/future players. Definitely upgraded

LB:
-John Abraham - ELITE. Returning. On the decline
-Sam Acho - VERY GOOD. Young. He's been on the verge of breaking out the past couple years and it seems even Bowles believed he was gonna make that break in the very game that ended his 2013 season. Now is his "make-or-break" moment. We've all been waiting for his breakout. If it's not this year, we need to start looking for a replacement. By the end of 2013, his rank will be "great", or it will be "gone". I look forward to his success
-Matt Shaughnessy - MEDIOCRE. Returning
-Lorenzo Alexander - MEDIOCRE. Returning
-Alex Okafor - ROOKIE. Technically 2nd year, but he didn't really get to play last year. Not as removed from the game as Martin was last season, but still really didn't see any time on the field. Then opportunity knocked, and then kicked him in the teeth at the same time. This will be his chance to shine. And I think he will.
-Kevin Minter - ROOKIE. Was highly regarded when we drafted him. I have high hopes for him. And we really need him to live up to those expectations now. He will be under constant scrutiny this year because he's got some HUGE shoes to fill. I hope having a year with the playbook and coaches, along with watching those 2 has prepared him for this season
**obviously this is the biggest concern. We've got some possible talent. Nothing that's for sure. And even still, a loss of serious talent

Safety:
-Tyrann Mathieu - ELITE. Young. A fantastic talent that really emerged as a play-maker last season that is coming off a very serious injury. His health is questionable coming into this season. His heart and talent though leave nothing to be desired.
-Rashad Johnson - GOOD. In his prime. Has actually been improving noticeably over the past couple years. He was a slow starter but has been impressive the last couple years.
-Tony Jefferson - DECENT. Young. He was an absolute unknown last year. He was undrafted and came in and held his own in this elite defense. On a very limited basis but still
-Deone Bucannon - ROOKIE. I am most excited for this addition. I think this kid will be our missing link in the pass game. I think he has the physical tools for the job and between his coaches and teammates, he will learn the position very efficiently. Being a captain for 3 years says a lot of his character and ability to lead. I think we got our franchise SS in this guy. (sidenote: I think we were extremely lucky that we were able to trade down in the draft, still get the S we wanted and were able to add a speed WR that's been really impressing coaches himself thus far)
**aside from losing Bell, who technically may still come back (doubtful), everyone is returning. And we added a great talent on Bucannon. If Mathieu comes back the same person he was, and I believe he will, our D will be even more vicious than it was last year

Cornerback:
-Patrick Peterson - ELITE. Prime. Not much to say about the guy. If he's not the best in the NFL, he's only slightly in 2nd
-Antonio Cromartie - ELITE. Getting old. He was at the top of the league for a long time. He's on the decline, but he's still an elite player. He had a hip issue last year, but they say it's been fine. If he's healthy, our CB corps improved incredibly.
-Jerraud Powers - GOOD. In his prime. He was our #2 starter last year, now he moves to slot/#3. Where he is said to fit perfectly.
**We retain our top 2 and added a career Pro Bowler. We were very good last year. Now we're significantly better


on a smaller scale, our ILB corps is in trouble. Our relationship with Daryl Washington going forward is in trouble. But on a larger scale, our roster is strong. Very strong. This is still a dominant defense. We're missing our #1 ILB for a year, but we can still win a home SB

 

[Card'em]

Maybe We Find the Kurt Warner of LB's

Well if we really want to be positive, let's turn to some not too distant football history for inspiration and hope.

In 1999 after the St. Louis Rams lost their prize free agent acquisition at QB, Trent Green, to a torn ACL in a pre-season game, they had virtually no depth at backup QB and had to turn to an unknown Arena Football backup QB named Kurt Warner.

Everybody knows what happened. Kurt Warner turned in an MVP season and became one of the great players of his day. Sure it's a long shot, but the point is that we never know.

What player currently on the Card's roster or soon to be added will be the next "Kurt Warner" of LB's? Maybe it will be Kevin Minter, or Kenny Demens, or a rookie free agent. Long shots-sure, impossible-no.

Keep the faith Cardinal brethren. With BASK something good happen.

 

[conraddobler]

The Cardinals are God's proof positive thinking has it's limitations.

It'd be insanely more accurate throughout all of recorded history to expect the worst with this team.

I expect this season to be a disaster and much worse than most rose colored fans glasses would believe.

The worst thing we could do is pressure Carson Palmer to carry the team, if he gets any looser with the football Bruce A is going to have a cardiac on the field.

We lost all hope of covering a TE with a linebacker now. We will get lit up in our division.

7-9 best case scenario and as always I pray I am wrong but I think 6-10 is orders of magnitude more likely than 10-6.

10-6 with this situation has to put you in the catbirds seat for COTY

 

[52brandon]

The Cardinals are God's proof positive thinking has it's limitations.

It'd be insanely more accurate throughout all of recorded history to expect the worst with this team.

I expect this season to be a disaster and much worse than most rose colored fans glasses would believe.

The worst thing we could do is pressure Carson Palmer to carry the team, if he gets any looser with the football Bruce A is going to have a cardiac on the field.

We lost all hope of covering a TE with a linebacker now. We will get lit up in our division.

7-9 best case scenario and as always I pray I am wrong but I think 6-10 is orders of magnitude more likely than 10-6.

10-6 with this situation has to put you in the catbirds seat for COTY

We really only downgraded at 2 spots. 1 is replaced by a highly regarded draft pick with a full year with the playbook and coaches. Everywhere else is equal or better. But it's impossible to say how they do in regular season until tjey actually play

 

[conraddobler]

We really only downgraded at 2 spots. 1 is replaced by a highly regarded draft pick with a full year with the playbook and coaches. Everywhere else is equal or better. But it's impossible to say how they do in regular season until tjey actually play

I was just doing negative / positive mojo.

Too many optimistic people upset the football gods. I was trying to tamp that down a bit and joke at the same time.

I don't really expect disaster but I don't expect to win the SB either.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

You want positive?

Easy.

I am excited to see our offensive line in action.

How is that for positive?

In paper the Cardinals should be competitive.

I am looking at the DWaste situation like he got hurt never to play again. Cause that could have just as easily happened.

Got 22+ other players on the team.

Lets see what they can do.

Sent from my free Superphone

 

[52brandon]

I was just doing negative / positive mojo.

Too many optimistic people upset the football gods. I was trying to tamp that down a bit and joke at the same time.

I don't really expect disaster but I don't expect to win the SB either.

lol, I'd say fair enough. But I don't much care for the FB gods, since they don't much care for us...

 

[Matt L]

Does anyone else think there is a chance that we played a little over our heads last year and expecting to win 9 games or more in 2014 may be setting ourselves up for disappointment?

 

[Jetstream Green]

I look at what Arians did with the Cards and the Colts... damn good coach, I trust him

 

[52brandon]

Does anyone else think there is a chance that we played a little over our heads last year and expecting to win 9 games or more in 2014 may be setting ourselves up for disappointment?

No. Because I believe our consistent play occuured over the latter part of the season. When we played better. I think we're more likely in position for overall improvement, not decline

 

[kerouac9]

Does anyone else think there is a chance that we played a little over our heads last year and expecting to win 9 games or more in 2014 may be setting ourselves up for disappointment?

I don't know if it's this so much as that we played a weak schedule outside our division. The NFC South had one good team (Carolina didn't turn things around until halfway through the season), and the AFC South had the Colts and burning heaps of dung everywhere else.

Because Carolina and Tampa Bay turned it around some late in the year, our strength of schedule doesn't look so bad, but we were still 2-4 in the division, and while a lot of people here think that we "basically" beat San Francisco, we lost to them twice.

I think that the question for 2014 is whether we improved enough to stand up to the next level of competition. The AFC West had three playoff teams last year. The NFC East should still be pretty terrible.

But we have to win games in division. Particularly at home.

 

[Russ Smith]

I don't think we're going to fall of a cliff but it's not going to be easy to replace D Wash and Dansby and of course HB at least part of the year. I think Cromartie makes us better, I hope taking Bell out of the equation improves the secondary but then Bucannon is known for run support not coverage.

I think the DL will still be good, it would be a godsend if Okafor could rush the passer he did his last year in college but that was the only year he ever did much in terms of pass rush and he was hurt most of last year so no idea what to expect. Hopefully Abraham holds up he's getting old but he was fantastic last year 2nd half of the year.

But the reality is 3 of our better players on the defense won't be there and with HB we have no idea how he'll play when he comes back that was a major injury.

I think the defense likely suffers a bit, I do think the offense will be better it could actually be much better.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

I think the defense likely suffers a bit, I do think the offense will be better it could actually be much better.

Offensive line is already much better, IMO.

That should trickle down to every facet of the offense.

I also am expecting a HUGE year out of Larry Fitzgerald, just a hunch.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

But we have to win games in division. Particularly at home.

Agreed, 100%

The cool thing about those games ? They are going to be fun to watch.

 

[Russ Smith]

Offensive line is already much better, IMO.

That should trickle down to every facet of the offense.

I also am expecting a HUGE year out of Larry Fitzgerald, just a hunch.

Yes that's my big hope for the year that adding Cooper and the incredible Hulk will make the OL better so that we can actually do some things that require more than 2 seconds for Palmer to throw the ball. I'm hoping with a better OL Palmer will be less risky with the ball.

I have a feeling the NFL is going to pay more attention to Ellington this year now that they know how good he is, so it will be nice to have a better OL to run inside with others and to pass protect so that we can exploit defenses that might key a bit on Ellington.

If the D gives up 3-5 points more per game, we gotta hope the O picks up the slack.

 

[kerouac9]

Yes that's my big hope for the year that adding Cooper and the incredible Hulk will make the OL better so that we can actually do some things that require more than 2 seconds for Palmer to throw the ball. I'm hoping with a better OL Palmer will be less risky with the ball.

I have a feeling the NFL is going to pay more attention to Ellington this year now that they know how good he is, so it will be nice to have a better OL to run inside with others and to pass protect so that we can exploit defenses that might key a bit on Ellington.

If the D gives up 3-5 points more per game, we gotta hope the O picks up the slack.

Football Outsiders did a breakdown of all sacks by QBs and the "reason" behind them. Something like 95% of Palmer's sacks last year were due to an offensive lineman losing the battle--not guys coming unblocked, but because the OL was just losing. Hopefully Cooper can hit the ground running (based on his draft status, he better).

With Ellington, the reason why we kept putting in Mendenhall was that Ellington plays like Chris Johnson--he'll rip of a 13-yard gain, but he can't grind out yards to keep the offense ahead of down and distance (46% success rate--the same as Chris Johnson last year). Someone is going to have to be able to pick up four yards on first down consistently, even against NFC West defenses.

 

[MrYeahBut]

With Ellington, the reason why we kept putting in Mendenhall was that Ellington plays like Chris Johnson--he'll rip of a 13-yard gain, but he can't grind out yards to keep the offense ahead of down and distance (46% success rate--the same as Chris Johnson last year). Someone is going to have to be able to pick up four yards on first down consistently, even against NFC West defenses.

“Coach, if you need one yard, I’ll get you three yards. If you need five yards, I’ll get you three yards.”

Sincerely,

Leroy Hoard



.

 

[GimmedaBall]

(1) Our Division rivals have come back to the pack in terms of talent and depth. FA and injuries have taken a toll on both the Whiners and Seahags. Cards are not the only team down LBers---the Whiners are still waiting to see the punishment vs. Aldon Smith and NV is out with a ACL. The Whiners are having to shuffle their Defensive backfield after FA. Seahags lost a lot of their rotational depth along the DL and secondary. Irwin went out with hip surgery. Look for Beastmode to slow down a little---it was evident last year toward the end of the season. Teams will be putting their best out there every week to beat the SB champs---expect the Seahags to get slobberknocked every game they play. The Rams still have not solved the #1 WR position---even after a boatload of draft picks from the RGIII trade. Bradford is coming off knee injury---who knows if he'll even be an average QB. Rams have some talent especially along their DL---I worry more about them contingent on Bradford being able to finally earn his outrageous $$$ and draft status.

(2) Five of our six Division games are in the second half of the season. We finish with three straight Division games. That's going to be some great football and the Cards just have to hang close until those final weeks to pull off a playoff spot. On the positive side, this means we have the time to get squared away on players and their roles(yeah, by then we may be looking at others out with injury---but so will the other teams). Our OL will have a chance to gel and give CP that extra time to find out deep threats, Next Man Up will have opportunity to learn their role and the system. There's an outside chance that some of our injured guys will be back by the middle of the season and ready for that inter-Division battle. We saw what happened last year when the playbook on both sides of the ball clicked for both the O and the D.

 

[GimmedaBall]

“Coach, if you need one yard, I’ll get you three yards. If you need five yards, I’ll get you three yards.”

Sincerely,

Leroy Hoard



.

That could be Jim Otis as well---a cloud of dust and three yards.

 

[Duckjake]

Positive Thinking?

Our QB is Carson Palmer and his backup is Drew Stanton instead of Kevin Kolb, Double Dunce Skelton, and Ryan whateverhisname is.

 

[kerouac9]

(1) Our Division rivals have come back to the pack in terms of talent and depth.

Sorry, but a post like this, when no one has played any games, and the last time we saw our division rivals they were playing in the NFC Championship game and winning the Super Bowl, this goes from "positive thinking" to "wishful thinking."

Particularly when it comes to the San Francisco 49ers, who are getting a ton of help from their 2013 draft class of redshirted prospects like Marcus Lattimore and Corey Lemonier.

This may be true, but I doubt it right now. We aren't going to become competitive in the division by waiting for these teams to fall back to the pack (how'd that work out for Detroit and Minnesota, who have spent the last decade waiting for Green Bay to fall back to the pack?). We're going to have to make a quantum leap forward in order to achieve our goals.

 

[Duckjake]

I don't know if it's this so much as that we played a weak schedule outside our division. The NFC South had one good team (Carolina didn't turn things around until halfway through the season), and the AFC South had the Colts and burning heaps of dung everywhere else.

Because Carolina and Tampa Bay turned it around some late in the year, our strength of schedule doesn't look so bad, but we were still 2-4 in the division, and while a lot of people here think that we "basically" beat San Francisco, we lost to them twice.

I think that the question for 2014 is whether we improved enough to stand up to the next level of competition. The AFC West had three playoff teams last year. The NFC East should still be pretty terrible.

But we have to win games in division. Particularly at home.

I have to keep reminding myself that the Cards were only 3-5 vs teams that finished with a winning record as well as being 2-4 in the Division. Benefited greatly from the collapse of Atlanta and Houston.

These guys have burned me so many times that the optimism has a hard time getting past the scar tissue.

 

[Buckybird]

Sorry, but a post like this, when no one has played any games, and the last time we saw our division rivals they were playing in the NFC Championship game and winning the Super Bowl, this goes from "positive thinking" to "wishful thinking."

Particularly when it comes to the San Francisco 49ers, who are getting a ton of help from their 2013 draft class of redshirted prospects like Marcus Lattimore and Corey Lemonier.

This may be true, but I doubt it right now. We aren't going to become competitive in the division by waiting for these teams to fall back to the pack (how'd that work out for Detroit and Minnesota, who have spent the last decade waiting for Green Bay to fall back to the pack?). We're going to have to make a quantum leap forward in order to achieve our goals.

Absolutely k9!

IMO the niners & hawks are probably better talent wise than last year! I don't think we gained any ground & we probably lost ground to everyone in our division, especially when you subtract the two #58's

 

[GimmedaBall]

Sorry, but a post like this, when no one has played any games, and the last time we saw our division rivals they were playing in the NFC Championship game and winning the Super Bowl, this goes from "positive thinking" to "wishful thinking."

Particularly when it comes to the San Francisco 49ers, who are getting a ton of help from their 2013 draft class of redshirted prospects like Marcus Lattimore and Corey Lemonier.

This may be true, but I doubt it right now. We aren't going to become competitive in the division by waiting for these teams to fall back to the pack (how'd that work out for Detroit and Minnesota, who have spent the last decade waiting for Green Bay to fall back to the pack?). We're going to have to make a quantum leap forward in order to achieve our goals.

While you don't count on teams falling back to the pack, when it happens, it happens. And it is happening to both the Whiners and Seahags. There is a talent drain due to FA and injuries for both teams. Check their roster turnover yourself if you don't believe it.

In addition, you are way more positive about Lattimore and other injured players signed by the Whiners than even some of the Whiner writers:
http://www.ninersnation.com/2014/6/1/5770132/49ers-red-shirt-strategy-spreading-but-remains-a-question-mark

We don't need a quantum leap. We need to stay healthy. We meet or exceed our Division rivals in a number of positions and that will be the basis for the Cards competing this year for a playoff spot. Pass the Kool-Aid pitcher.