If I had a severe case of myopia, I may agree with you right away, but I have the privilege of seeing the big picture and all the context that comes with it. One bad season with significant free agency defections won't make me think that a near Super Bowl winning coach stinks. I know you're the cyncial, piss in everyone's corn flakes type, but I tend to take a more conservative view and judge the situation when there is a bit more evidence. I am an intelligence analyst by profession.
The 5-11 season was caused by a these major factors:
1. The retirement of Kurt Warner.
2. The loss of Karlos Dansby and Bert Berry/Chike Okeafor
3. The trade and injury problems at WR
4. Cutting of Matt Leinart
Where does Whisenhunt take the blame here? 2 (the pass rush) and 4 in my opinion. Not enough draft picks have been spent to address OLB; Cody Brown, and a few late picks is not exactly the best way to address such a vital position. Sure he missed on a few picks, but by your estimation Whisenhunt must do all the scouting because obviously he has full control and all the mistakes are his own. The scouting staff obviously doesn't evaluate the players, because the fault is only on him.
Sarcasm aside, what I'm getting at is that generally the scouting staff takes input from the coach on the type of players he wants for his scheme. The scouts go out and find those players and create a list of players that fit that scheme. What we don't know is where the disconnect has been. Players like Calais Campbell, Daryl Washington, Dan Williams, and Brandon Keith have fit what Whisenhunt wants to do. But then you have picks like Alan Branch and Buster Davis that were quickly exposed as being poor fits.
<SIGH> I reserve the right to, because the proof will be substantial by that point in time. This is what I'm talking about; You're quick to dismiss the resume of the greatest coach in Cardinals history just because he has a bad season in the midst of major personnel turnover that were either inevitable (Warner/Berry/Okeafor) or were caused by inaction/poor planning by the front office (Rolle/Dansby/Boldin).
I'm a big enough man, and am humble enough to admit when I'm wrong. The question is: Are you?
Whisenhunt has made his share of mistakes, but I don't think it's fair that you admonish him for his faults, when the same crap (front office) that was in place through out the past decade continues to fail. Whisenhunt has shown that he shouldn't have full control of personnel (cutting Matt Leinart), but he's also shown he can coach this team to a Super Bowl. I've advocated that there needs to be change in the front office before this team can truly turn the corner and that Whisenhunt the coach is not the problem, but he clearly shouldn't have full control.
But you twist my words, or fail to understand what I write and constantly state that I believe Whisenhunt should receive none of the blame.
In your opinion it's clear, but other people (such as myself) see it quite differently. When I look at this roster I see a number of players that have developed. Sendlein, Keith, Campbell, Dan Williams, DRC, Rolle, Toler, Daryl Washington, Hightower, Breaston, Roberts, LSH all have all shown improvement under Whisenhunt to some extent.
On one hand you talk about the team never keeping and developing our young talent and not replacing it and you heap all of the blame on Whisenhunt. Yet when I look at the situation, I see guys like Dansby and Rolle walking and the
]front office failing to resign them. Yet you want to heap all of the blame on Whisenhunt.
Yeah we get it, you know more about football than people that have actually worked in the NFL. It's funny that you use parenthesis for "scout", when the guy has actually been employed as a scout, while you have not.
[SARCASM] Brilliant point! Grimm didn't suck when he had talent! Having lots of high picks used on your offensive line ensures success. Ask Dave Mac how that Big Red line with all the high picks worked out! Or ask Mean Joe Greene how his defensive line with 3 first round picks worked out. Guaranteed win. [/SARCASM]
Lyle Sendlein has, but we haven't exactly used many picks on the offensive over Whisenhunt's tenure. In fact ESPN posted that after drafting Levi Brown, we have used the least draft capital in the league over that span.
Levi Brown is the worst starting LT in the NFL by a wide margin. Alan Faneca was likely in the top five worst starting guards in the NFL last year. As much as I liked some of what I saw from Keith, he had like three games where he was probably the worst starting tackle in the NFL. I just don't see what you see Kerouac; the talent on this offensive line was pathetic last year.