Harry
ASFN Consultant and Senior Writer
I watched Neil Lomax get his career cut short by sacks. One year he got sacked 61 times. The next good Cards’ QB, Jake Plummer got sacked around 50 times in each of his first 2 years. However despite that abuse Plummer led the Cards to a playoff win over the Boys. However the beating he took caused him to develop happy feet and he was never that good again until he moved to Denver. Then came Kurt Warner. His playoff numbers are great. He actually got the Cards to a Super Bowl and almost won it. Sitting on the Cardinal bench he learned if he wanted to win game he had to get rid of the ball quickly. As one of the game’s best readers of defenses he overcame his weak offensive line and eventually became a winner. However he paid a terrible price physically. The NFL started tracking QB hits in 2009. Warner was hit 93 times his final season. It’s true that the Saints’ hit, not on a rush, was the final blow but the fear of future abuse caused him to retire when he could still have won. Lastly Carson Palmer once again made the Cards Super Bowl contenders. He wasn’t sacked as much, 40 tops, but in both 2015 he was hit 103 times. In 2016 Cards’ QBs were hit an incredible 127 times. That was mostly Palmer. In 2017 Cards’ QBs were hit 123 times. Palmer only lasted long enough to play 7 games. His career was over.
I present all this because most likely the Cards will start a fragile QB, Sam Bradford. The recently drafted QBOTF already has been concussed twice at least. My belief was that if you were going to put Bradford on the field the Cards owed him the best line possible. I didn’t mourn the loss of Veldheer & Watford. They were mediocre at best. If Pugh holds up physically (a very big if) he’s an upgrade. Iupati has never been good at QB protection. Andre Smith has bad wheels and his own concussion problem. He’s a decent player but the odds are he won’t play more than half the time. It would also help to have a couple of sound blocking tight ends and backs capable of picking up rushers running free. Do the Cards really have a plan for protecting these QBs? They did little to secure a premier blocker in the draft that was capable of providing immediate assistance. So it would seem inevitable Bradford will not last the season. Rosen is capable of playing early in his career, but do they dare use him? He’s not elusive. Remember they play the Rams twice. They delight in knocking out Cardinal QBs. It seems unlikely a solid blocker can be acquired this late in the process. I like the skill set of both Bradford and Rosen. Both can be winners, but they have to be on the field to accomplish that task.
The Cards have a modest history of success. Much of what they had was short circuited by a failure to protect the QB. I’d hate to see them finally get a QBOTF only to watch them destroy his future. I would have preferred to see them sacrifice a balanced offense to instead acquire the best QB protection possible. They can run with DJ, but I’m not sure the QB will be able to hide.
I present all this because most likely the Cards will start a fragile QB, Sam Bradford. The recently drafted QBOTF already has been concussed twice at least. My belief was that if you were going to put Bradford on the field the Cards owed him the best line possible. I didn’t mourn the loss of Veldheer & Watford. They were mediocre at best. If Pugh holds up physically (a very big if) he’s an upgrade. Iupati has never been good at QB protection. Andre Smith has bad wheels and his own concussion problem. He’s a decent player but the odds are he won’t play more than half the time. It would also help to have a couple of sound blocking tight ends and backs capable of picking up rushers running free. Do the Cards really have a plan for protecting these QBs? They did little to secure a premier blocker in the draft that was capable of providing immediate assistance. So it would seem inevitable Bradford will not last the season. Rosen is capable of playing early in his career, but do they dare use him? He’s not elusive. Remember they play the Rams twice. They delight in knocking out Cardinal QBs. It seems unlikely a solid blocker can be acquired this late in the process. I like the skill set of both Bradford and Rosen. Both can be winners, but they have to be on the field to accomplish that task.
The Cards have a modest history of success. Much of what they had was short circuited by a failure to protect the QB. I’d hate to see them finally get a QBOTF only to watch them destroy his future. I would have preferred to see them sacrifice a balanced offense to instead acquire the best QB protection possible. They can run with DJ, but I’m not sure the QB will be able to hide.
