Pre-season thoughts overall.

[Chopper0080]

Some of you seem to confuse what matters in the preseason and what doesn't.

Mental play matters in the preseason. Is your team focused, lining up correctly and not giving the other team extra plays. This is the mental aspect of football and a good team should have that as part of it's identity. Arians preached it, but I never saw it.

Physical play matters in the preseason. Your ability to push the line of scrimmage on both offense and defense is something that, again, should be part of your team's identity. Arians preached it, but I never saw it.

Your ability to rush the passer matters in the preseason. This is just about being quicker on defense than your opponent is on offense. We did not any ability to get pressure on the QB in the preseasno which means will probably have to blitz during the season to try and create pressure on the QB. Ugh, new regime, same issue.

The results in the preseason are what does not matter. Dropping picks, not recovering fumbles, missing sacks, and poor offensive timing do not matter. Those things are correctable and are to be expected. The rest however, those do matter and I am concerned.

 

[cardncubfan]

I've been worried since the day BA fired Ray Horton...and then he hires a DC who's teams really haven't had very good defenses. Our strength may have become a weakness, given the frightful play I watch in preseason.

This is his first DC job in the NFL. He was an interim DC with Eagles last year for the last 8 games or so.

 

[Bodha]

In order to be worried, you had to have high hopes to begin with.

Im not worried because everything is going perfectly to my expectations.

- our O line is improved only because it couldnt get any worse.
- Defense overall has taken a step back with loss of Horton
- RB play will/ has improved with better backs+ better Oline. But still not great
- Carson is Carson. Hes the best QB we've had since Warner, but still the 4th best QB in the division.

expect: 5-11 season
best case: 8-8

ultimate best case - #1 pick and Draft Teddy Bridgewater. BA takes young QBs and molds them into greats. CP is an old QB set in his ways. Teddy + BA could be a glorious new era in AZ.

 

[HotSauce]

In order to be worried, you had to have high hopes to begin with.

Im not worried because everything is going perfectly to my expectations.

- our O line is improved only because it couldnt get any worse.
- Defense overall has taken a step back with loss of Horton
- RB play will/ has improved with better backs+ better Oline. But still not great
- Carson is Carson. Hes the best QB we've had since Warner, but still the 4th best QB in the division.

expect: 5-11 season
best case: 8-8

ultimate best case - #1 pick and Draft Teddy Bridgewater. BA takes young QBs and molds them into greats. CP is an old QB set in his ways. Teddy + BA could be a glorious new era in AZ.

Gee. That pretty much sums it up for me.

 

[Buckybird]

This is his first DC job in the NFL. He was an interim DC with Eagles last year for the last 8 games or so.

And? The Iggles got worse when he became the interim DC.

The defensive teams he was on the coaching staff of in Cleve, NYJ, Dallas & Mia were all middle of the pack even though the Cowpies D led by Parcells was slightly better.

Btw he was a DC in college at Morehouse & Grambling and average & bad in Grambling...so he does have a history.

And the defense he's been coaching in Arizona for 4 preseason games thus far have been atrocious, so stop pretending all is well with our defense...I just call it like I see it. I think we're in a world of trouble because I don't think the scheme fits the players as well as Hortons did.

 

[Bodha]

ultimate best case - #1 pick and Draft Teddy Bridgewater. BA takes young QBs and molds them into greats. CP is an old QB set in his ways. Teddy + BA could be a glorious new era in AZ.

Teddy put up 5 TDs today in Loui's opener


just FYI

 

[THESMEL]

I don't know what the hell we have, CP is an upgrade, Mendenhall is an upgrade, BA is an upgrade maybe? I mean he expects to pass even more! I expect 3 and outs, sacks and turnovers on a biblical scale- Hope i'm surprised with fundamentally sound football- but The Oline will be put in their hell scenario- and will blamed for bad blocking - when it is surely pass like your hair is on fire play calling.

We are fundamentally weak , didn't really practice tackling?????? running???? concentrated on practicing big plays and 3rd and long- Likw we should expect a whole bunches of 3rd and longs-

I'm ready for some football- we have a weak schedule through the 1st 1/4 of the season Lions and panthers at UP- Saints should be a gage-for the killer stretch in the middle. Lead follow or get the hell out the way- I hope we can come together and play within NFL norms until we get our feet under us- But I don't expect it-

We started great record wise last year- but looked like poo doing it. I would rather see wins that grow better game by game- one game at a time.

 

[ajcardfan]

All right I have had a couple tonight. I remain it's going to be a fun year.

GBR
40

Of what, tabs of LSD? No offense, but no amount of alcohol could make me think we are going to win the division.

 

[D-Dogg]

I thought..meh.

Meh happened.

I wondered if we were meh.

meh we seemed.

I observed some mehness in the meh of our squad.

Meh, I assumed.

Meh, we are ****e again.

Meh, I thought.


Meh.



Anything new here, really??

 

[Denny Green Fan]

In order to be worried, you had to have high hopes to begin with.

Im not worried because everything is going perfectly to my expectations.

- our O line is improved only because it couldnt get any worse.
- Defense overall has taken a step back with loss of Horton
- RB play will/ has improved with better backs+ better Oline. But still not great
- Carson is Carson. Hes the best QB we've had since Warner, but still the 4th best QB in the division.

expect: 5-11 season
best case: 8-8

ultimate best case - #1 pick and Draft Teddy Bridgewater. BA takes young QBs and molds them into greats. CP is an old QB set in his ways. Teddy + BA could be a glorious new era in AZ.

The Raiders Jets and Jags will be picking before us for sure in my opinion. Can I interest you in Tajh Boyd?

 

[MadCardDisease]

I will be blunt, I am worried.

I understand the the schemes are light and it doesn't mean much as a whole, but this pre-season has really crushed any optimism I had. And again, it wasn't our play, it was HOW we played.

Arians preached accountability.
-I saw a preseason full of the same mental mistakes that have haunted us for years.

Arians preached a big, physical defense.
-I saw a slow, weak defense that got pushed around at will.

Arians preached an offense that would maximize the TE position.
-I saw our TE position as one of the worst on our roster.

Arians and Keim preached this as the dawning of the new Cardinals.
-All I saw was the old Cardinals with moderately better QB play.


After all of the offseason moves, I still saw an offense without an identity and a defense that still couldn't stop the run and no longer could stop the pass. Maybe I am seeing what I have feared I would be seeing, but this has been just brutal. Maybe when turning over almost the entire roster, Keim and Arians turned over the wrong parts?

Maybe while we were cutting Adrian Wilson for Yerimiah Bell we should have been trading for Brandon Albert and cutting Levi Brown?

Maybe instead of adding guys like Matt Shaughnessy, Frostee Rucker and Jasper Brinkley we should have been adding TEs which our offense seems to revolve around and depend on?

Some had been saying this for years, and I will reiterate it further. Maybe instead of adding ILBs and RBs which seem to be a dime a dozen around the league we start adding rush linebackers, offensive linemen and tight ends which seem to be most scarce?

Maybe I am not supposed to, but heading into another season with Levi Brown, Daryn Colledge, Lyle Sendlein, no running game, no TE, and no legitimate pass rusher, I still don't see a plan.

I'm not too concerned becasue I see this as a rebuilding year. A complete new staff with half of the team being new additions. I don't expect instant cohesion.

I think the preseason went as expected.

Arians preached the deep ball on offense.
-We got a lot of deep balls

Arians preached an offense with multiple TEs and a single RB.
-I thought our running game looked the best it has in years

Arians preached a defense that would generate turnovers.
-The Cardinals lead the preseason in turnovers

Sure there were a bunch of miscues during the preseason. However that is what the preseason is for. Especially for a team with so many new players learning a completely new system.

Do I think the Cardinals are playoff bound. Not even close. However I do think they will be entertaining and give us solid hope for the future.

 

[john h]

Team

As for my expectations? I had a thread up this time last year that I was having a hard time getting excited about the 2012 Arizona Cardinals. I'm having less of a hard time getting excited about this group, if only because it looks like we'll be running a high-risk offense that won't blow any teams out, but could create some really entertaining losses that we haven't seen since Kurt Warner was playing for Dennis Green.

This defense is going to be stinky. Catfish and others are going to have to, IMO, eat some crow after talking about how committed this team was to beefing up against the run for the last six months.

Up until about a month ago I did not have any good expectations at all. Just today I was listening to a sports talk show with a former NFL player turned commentator. He said there were two teams he thought might surprise people. Detroit and the Cards. He of course mentioned having a QB for the first time in some time and he really likes our new head coach. I have heard other comments like this for a month or more. These guys make a living doing this and certainly know a lot more than me. After our preseason I am coming around to thinking we may be much better than I expect. The biggest problem I see is we play SF and Seattle twice each. If we can get a few good bounces of the ball I can now see us winning 9 games. We are going to need a little luck thrown in but it is doable IMHO. I sure did not feel this way for the past two years. To bad we lost Cooper but other teams are losing players. The one guy we cannot afford to lose is our QB. Winning our first game would go a long way to make this happen but St Louis is on the rise so that will be tough.

 

[moosehead]

Arians preached a big, physical defense.
-I saw a slow, weak defense that got pushed around at will.

I'm curious to see the difference now that the preseason is over. Driving home Wednesday night I happened to catch Calais Campbell on The Big Red Rage. He was asked what one word described their defense and he said "physical". He was asked what word described their defensive philosophy and he said "attacking". He elaborated and I'm paraphrasing - people thought they blitzed a lot under Coach Horton? They have a lot more blitz packages under Coach Boyles. He said he expects they will be coming with some kind of blitz nearly every play. He said you will see more plays with him lined up on the outside, coming off the edge.

Things that make you go "Hmmmm". I guess we'll see on Sunday

 

[BullheadCardFan]

They have a lot more blitz packages under Coach Boyles. He said he expects they will be coming with some kind of blitz nearly every play. He said you will see more plays with him lined up on the outside, coming off the edge.

Interesting. It would be nice if the D was holding back and we see some pressure starting Sunday. We will see.

 

[JeffGollin]

... I guess we'll see on Sunday

Thankfully.