Cardinals report: Notes, quotes, anecdotes Jan. 29, 2004
Inside slant | Strategy and personnel --From the Was-It-Something-I-Said Department: TE coach Pat Flaherty, hired only a couple of weeks ago by new coach Dennis Green, has left to take the offensive line coaching position with the New York Giants.
How does that happen? The Cardinals evidently announced Flaherty's hiring after he had agreed to terms, but before he actually signed a contract -- which evidently he never quite got around to doing before quickly changing his mind and going to work for Tom Coughlin in the Big Apple.
It is the first little embarrassment in the new Green regime, but the sort of snafu that has been standard operating procedure around Tempe since 1988.
--Green quickly landed on his feet by hiring Mike Wilson, who is not a member of the Beach Boys but a former member of the San Francisco 49ers, and has four Super Bowl championship rings to prove it, to coach tight ends. Green was an assistant with the 49ers during part of Wilson's playing days.
--Green tapped into his networking roots to complete his staff -- assuming nobody else leaves before signing a contract. Mike Kruczek, former head coach at Central Florida, is the new quarterbacks coach. Among Kruczek's claims to fame was recruiting and developing QB Daunte Culpepper, whom Green eventually drafted while coaching the Minnesota Vikings.
--The accolades continue to pour in for rookie WR Anquan Boldin. The latest is his selection as the Sporting News 2003 Rookie of the Year. Boldin set rookie records for receptions (101), yards (1,377) and touchdowns (8). He finished third in the NFC in total receiving after leaping onto the NFL radar screen with a 217-yard, two-touchdown performance in Week 1.
Boldin also was named AP Offensive Rookie of the Year and he is the only rookie chosen to either team this year in the Pro Bowl.
Boldin received 18 first place votes from 22 NFL pro personnel directors in the TSN poll.
--RB Damien Anderson, the team's third back, was released from a hospital after being seriously injured when ejected from the SUV he was driving during a rollover accident. He lost his spleen, suffered liver damage and a collapsed lung. Anderson was sedated and in intensive care for nearly two weeks. His agent says that Anderson is expected to make a full recovery and be available to take part in off season workouts that begin March 1.
Anderson, however, still might face legal problems. Toxicology results have not yet come back. He could face charges if found to have been impaired. His two brothers were riding with him and both received injuries, although less serious than Damien's. They, too, are now out of the hospital.
--Before heading home to Boston for some offseason R&R, C Pete Kendall offered what he thinks needs to be done to bring the team back:
"We need to find dynamic difference makers, whether it be a shutdown corner, or an outstanding pass rusher, or a legitimate deep threat to complement Anquan (Boldin, rookie Pro Bowl WR) on offense. Those guys might be on this roster, and if they are, I can't wait for them to emerge. And if they are on somebody else's roster or in the college program, I say Godspeed in finding them and bringing them here."
--New defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast is from a family that sold a parcel of land in Glendale, Ariz. to the team for its new stadium, a retractable-roof facility to open for the 2006 season and host the 2008 Super Bowl. Pendergast seems almost embarrassed by the coincidence of that piece of history as he goes into his new job. There is no connection between the land sale and his hiring, but he won't comment on his family's involvement in helping get the stadium built.
--Former Defensive coordinator Larry Marmie, who was with the team for seven seasons, was hired as defensive coordinator by the St. Louis Rams.
--Given the chill in Sun Devil Stadium on game days from a community totally disconnected from a team that rarely won, it is only appropriate that the team announced it will freeze season-ticket prices ... Until March 1.
Rarely did the team have the 73,000-seat facility more than half full and once again was a distant last in the league in attendance.
After March 1, modest 2004 increases of $2-$5 on six seat categories and no increase on the least expensive category will bring the Cardinals' average ticket price to $50.55, still approximately $19 below the league average.
It might not be a bad buy for anyone who likes pro football because the home opponents include Super Bowl-bound New England and last season's Super Bowl champion, Tampa Bay, which is loaded with former Cardinals players such as DE Simeon Rice, RB Michael Pittman and RB Thomas Jones.
And just to show that it's not a total waste of time to go to a Cardinals home game, the team is sending a season-ticket holder from Chandler, Ariz., to Hawaii for the Pro Bowl. Jim Golotko won two round-trip plane tickets, two nights' lodging and two game tickets in a contest. The bad news is he had to sit through another futile season of Cardinals games to get them.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"In my 10 years with Minnesota, I never fined a player one time -- I cut a lot of them that thought they were going to get fined." -- New Cardinals coach Dennis Green, on restoring discipline.
Inside slant | Strategy and personnel --From the Was-It-Something-I-Said Department: TE coach Pat Flaherty, hired only a couple of weeks ago by new coach Dennis Green, has left to take the offensive line coaching position with the New York Giants.
How does that happen? The Cardinals evidently announced Flaherty's hiring after he had agreed to terms, but before he actually signed a contract -- which evidently he never quite got around to doing before quickly changing his mind and going to work for Tom Coughlin in the Big Apple.
It is the first little embarrassment in the new Green regime, but the sort of snafu that has been standard operating procedure around Tempe since 1988.
--Green quickly landed on his feet by hiring Mike Wilson, who is not a member of the Beach Boys but a former member of the San Francisco 49ers, and has four Super Bowl championship rings to prove it, to coach tight ends. Green was an assistant with the 49ers during part of Wilson's playing days.
--Green tapped into his networking roots to complete his staff -- assuming nobody else leaves before signing a contract. Mike Kruczek, former head coach at Central Florida, is the new quarterbacks coach. Among Kruczek's claims to fame was recruiting and developing QB Daunte Culpepper, whom Green eventually drafted while coaching the Minnesota Vikings.
--The accolades continue to pour in for rookie WR Anquan Boldin. The latest is his selection as the Sporting News 2003 Rookie of the Year. Boldin set rookie records for receptions (101), yards (1,377) and touchdowns (8). He finished third in the NFC in total receiving after leaping onto the NFL radar screen with a 217-yard, two-touchdown performance in Week 1.
Boldin also was named AP Offensive Rookie of the Year and he is the only rookie chosen to either team this year in the Pro Bowl.
Boldin received 18 first place votes from 22 NFL pro personnel directors in the TSN poll.
--RB Damien Anderson, the team's third back, was released from a hospital after being seriously injured when ejected from the SUV he was driving during a rollover accident. He lost his spleen, suffered liver damage and a collapsed lung. Anderson was sedated and in intensive care for nearly two weeks. His agent says that Anderson is expected to make a full recovery and be available to take part in off season workouts that begin March 1.
Anderson, however, still might face legal problems. Toxicology results have not yet come back. He could face charges if found to have been impaired. His two brothers were riding with him and both received injuries, although less serious than Damien's. They, too, are now out of the hospital.
--Before heading home to Boston for some offseason R&R, C Pete Kendall offered what he thinks needs to be done to bring the team back:
"We need to find dynamic difference makers, whether it be a shutdown corner, or an outstanding pass rusher, or a legitimate deep threat to complement Anquan (Boldin, rookie Pro Bowl WR) on offense. Those guys might be on this roster, and if they are, I can't wait for them to emerge. And if they are on somebody else's roster or in the college program, I say Godspeed in finding them and bringing them here."
--New defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast is from a family that sold a parcel of land in Glendale, Ariz. to the team for its new stadium, a retractable-roof facility to open for the 2006 season and host the 2008 Super Bowl. Pendergast seems almost embarrassed by the coincidence of that piece of history as he goes into his new job. There is no connection between the land sale and his hiring, but he won't comment on his family's involvement in helping get the stadium built.
--Former Defensive coordinator Larry Marmie, who was with the team for seven seasons, was hired as defensive coordinator by the St. Louis Rams.
--Given the chill in Sun Devil Stadium on game days from a community totally disconnected from a team that rarely won, it is only appropriate that the team announced it will freeze season-ticket prices ... Until March 1.
Rarely did the team have the 73,000-seat facility more than half full and once again was a distant last in the league in attendance.
After March 1, modest 2004 increases of $2-$5 on six seat categories and no increase on the least expensive category will bring the Cardinals' average ticket price to $50.55, still approximately $19 below the league average.
It might not be a bad buy for anyone who likes pro football because the home opponents include Super Bowl-bound New England and last season's Super Bowl champion, Tampa Bay, which is loaded with former Cardinals players such as DE Simeon Rice, RB Michael Pittman and RB Thomas Jones.
And just to show that it's not a total waste of time to go to a Cardinals home game, the team is sending a season-ticket holder from Chandler, Ariz., to Hawaii for the Pro Bowl. Jim Golotko won two round-trip plane tickets, two nights' lodging and two game tickets in a contest. The bad news is he had to sit through another futile season of Cardinals games to get them.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"In my 10 years with Minnesota, I never fined a player one time -- I cut a lot of them that thought they were going to get fined." -- New Cardinals coach Dennis Green, on restoring discipline.