I'll never forget the 2007 game in Baltimore. I was there in the stands with both my sons, a few days removed form a heart procedure. My wife didn't want me to go, but I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity. Leinart was our starter in that game, and the Ravens D embarrassed him in the 1st half. We were down like 17-3 at the half, and it should have been far worse. The Ravens D was flying all over the field & I was just trying to keep my blood pressure down. Whiz has Warner start the 2nd half & what a 2nd half it was. If not for a bs call on AW, we would have won that game. Boldin just absolutely took it to the Raven's D. It wasn't just the yards, it was how he did it. He ran over some of the meanest defensive players that the NFL had at the time. We lost, but I just knew that if we played Warner moving forward, we had a chance every week to win.
We've all gone back & forth as to who to blame for the Boldin/Haley sideline incident. The fact remains, these were two very determined & very intense competitors. Without either of them in 2008, we probably don't reach the heights that we did. To this day, I still respect both of them for their contributions to the AZ Cardinals during their stay. Culture is so important to winning. As evidenced by that interview, Boldin was so critical to the culture change that led to the successful seasons in the Whiz/Warner/Fitz/Boldin era. I see some that desire to win with K1 now. Let's just hope that there's a culture of winning brewing in AZ right now. I think there is. We'll wait to see!
