The calm AFTER the storm...

[slanidrac16]

I finally got to watch the game last night. It is my humble opinion that the Packers had a whole different agenda than the Cards. Here is a team that was probably better than their record last year coming into Arizona with something to prove and a coaching staff preparing their team with a plan to succeed.
Nobody is going to make me believe the Packers are that much better than the Cards. But, what they did bring Friday was intensity. That is where they clearly outmatched us. That may be sobering and it may be disturbing and it definitely is something this coaching staff will use this week in practice. I can't say enough about Rodgers. He was spot on and had an incredible game. Now I know how OUR opponens felt at times last year.

Here is the scoop of the year. The success or failure for this season is, once again, is clearly on the shoulders of the offense. We will not be winning any games this year 13-10. To anybody that thinks Bill Davis is going to somehow turn this defense into a staunch one is fooling themselves. I can only hope the get to a mindset of hitting hard and forcing turnovers. Do that and it will go a long way to help set up the offense.

One thing that was encouraging thing was you could clearly see the intensity level turned up quite a bit in the second half. I know the D was playing their second string but the sense of urgency was back. I'm sure Whiz read them the riot act at halftime.

Speaking of encoraging, what can you say about Leinart? The guy was contantly in 2 and long , 3rd and long and yet somehow found a way to get the first down. He was cool under pressure, moved well in the pocket, was pinpoint with his accuracy and stayed calm in the face of every setback whether it was a dropped pass or a penalty. He did all the things you want to see from a veteran qb. His play will push Kurt to be on his game or on the bench. As we have seen, Whiz WILL play the guys that give us the best chance to win.

I think many of us fans have been a bit complacent too. I'm as guilty as any who kind of thought us winning the West was a given. Many of us have been giddy and caught up in last years fairytale. However, unless the NFL awards us 2 or 3 wins because of last years success, you can bet this year is going to be a roller coaster of ups and downs, tears and cheers, knock down drag out season. We are a good football team with the ability to score points in bunches. That is not going to happen all the time so it's safe to say we won't go undefeated this year. We will actually lose some games along the way. We are not as bad as it appeared in the first half of the Packer game.

It will be a very difficult task to match the success this team and the fans enjoyed last year. I refuse to think about getting back to the Super Bowl. My thoughts are clearly focused on winning our divisional games and repeating in the West and it all starts on 9/13.

So, let's all take a step back and a deep breath. Let's learn from this, both fans and players, that we cannot simply step on the field and win games. Warner is not going to complete every pass and be correct with every decision. Fitz will drop a pass, well maybe, and things are not going to always go our way. The defense is what it is. We can only hope it is adequate.

Fasten your seatbelts gang. Have a 12 pack and the valium within reach.

 

[legend]

Nice piece. Spot on Slanidrac. Thanks!

 

[Crazy Canuck]

Good read and take, thanks.

 

[Catfish]

Good read Slanidrac----you are correct in the assumption that we will be forced to play exceedingly well to win the majority of our games. Every opponent will use us as a barometer to guage where they are, and where they yet have to go, when they play us. We WILL get our opponent'l 'A' game each week.

 

[Russ Smith]

the one positive thing I can add about the defense is that as we've all seen for years as Cards fans, when your offense turns the ball over repeatedly, it makes your defense look worse than they really are. When the offense turns it over that much in a game where the defense IS horrible, you get a first half like we had against the Pack.

part of the reason we were so good down the stretch last year was we weren't making a ton of turnovers, and we were forcing turnovers, when you do that you look really good, like Green Bay did against us.

I am concerned about the lack of pass rush and the big plays the secondary allowed again.

 

[JeffGollin]

Interesting take - and one presented by Coach Wiz after the game. But I'm sorry, I can't fully buy it.

The objective of every assignment by every player on every play in every series of every quarter and every half of every game is:

To execute perfectly.

It doesn't matter who's in there or "what the other team's agenda is", you bust your butt to win every personal battle within a battle within a battle."

The 15 penalties we were flagged with didn't result from "Green Bay having a different agenda." It was because various guys failed to execute.

Until each Cardinal player focuses on perfection on every play, every season will be "roller coaster time." (That, unfortunately, continues to be our MO).

Maybe our team under Coach Wiz will still be resiliant enough to win (as it did last year).

Or maybe not.

But there should be one agenda - competing hard, focusing entirely and executing perfectly. Every time.

 

[NeverSayDieFan]

EXCELLENT POINTS! Slan...

To me, the pre-season is a "GLORIFIED" scrimmage. As they say, you better be ready when the REAL bullets start flyin'. While I EXPECT the offense to be able to score, and I luv' this part...BECAUSE of the way we've been built...WE CAN SCORE AT ANY TIME! NO GAME is EVER OUT OF REACH! Now, the D on the other-hand is going to struggle at times. Whenever there's a change in coaching philosophy there's going to be "growing pains". Players that are "thinking" when they should be "reacting" are usually a step slower to the ball. I expect the D to get better as the year progresses. BUT, I TOTALLY BELIEVE that this game will be used as a strong reminder. Show up, and go thru the motions, and you'll watch the other team make you look pretty bad! Looking forward to the season....And THANKS again for your insights, Slan. GO CARDS!!

 

[TJ]

Hey you stole the Valium idea from me!!

Anyways, I agree 100% with you. Bright minds think alike.

The play of the Cardinals Friday was inexcusable. They treated the game as if they were thinking of hitting Salties afterward. However, it was evident that the Packers opened their entire playbook against the Cards. Whis is a smart coach. He knows that we play the Pack in the regular season and it would be foolish to give them physical practice time against our offense. Also, Breaston and Boldin were held out. Those are two weapons that were left in the closet that could be unveiled in Week 17.

I also agree that the D is not going to be the decisive factor on this team. What I hope is that they play with some discipline and don't allow the deep ball on every play. 36 passing TDs allowed this season would be inexcusable and will not get us into the Superbowl again. If we can average around 19 ppg, that would appease most of us. I stick behind my conservative 10-6 prediction.

Furthermore, although Warner is fully entrenched as the starter, he needs to know that the man he supplanted last season is right behind him in his rearview and isnt the same kid holding a beer bong for some co eds. He looks like a solid, legitamet NFL QB that is ready to take the reigns again. Don't read into this statement thinking that I want Leinart as our starter because I would rather have an HoFer leading this squad, but he needs motivation just like Leinart needed motivation keeping his #2 status.

I beg of you guys to realize that this is just preseason. We are still 0-0 in the regular season.

 

[seesred]

I'm not sure who's defence that played Friday night was. If it was a Cardinals RED defense playing in the west division of the NFC, then we are dead. Our so called stars Wilson, Dockett, Dansby, DRC, did little or nothing to change what was happening on the first drive and kept playing that way till it was time to rest them. I hope this is not the same team that got killed towards season end last year.

On Offense it was worse. Sure we were missing two starting Wide outs, but, Kurt looked like the Kurt of two years ago with fumbles and badley thrown passes. A good piece of news here our running game looks like a nfl running gamer! Yea! Our line did okay most of the time. It is also true that our second and third teams looked pretty good against thier second and third teams. However they wont be able to help much once the gun sounds. Most will be gone. Some on practice squads others will sign with other teams and the final 53 will emerge most started or played in the first half Friday night.

Now Friday nights belong to High school teams. Maybe we played to the schools level not knowing we should have graduated a long time ago. What ever it was, it belongs in the what is it really going folder. I guess we will see on opening day against a very improved Niners team. I hope I'm wrong but I am worried!

GBR
40

 

[Buckybird]

Thx slanidrac for the right up. I said all offseason that this defense needed big improvements at the edge rushers and at FS. We still have the same pieces in place defensively except for a new DC, new scheme and Calais. So anyone who was expecting differant results only looked at what we accomplished in the postseason. That lack of rushers and safety play led to our defeat in Tampa on the final drive and nearly cost us the NFC championship.

Rolle cannot play FS at all!!! If the Cards resign him to big $$$ next offseason it will be a huge mistake. Rashad Johnson better be ready to play as a rookie because he will be thrown into the fire allowing Rolle to play the slot. Hopefully he lives up to the hype this year because we need him bad.

The most alarming aspect of this team is its ability to get motivated. Regardless if we gamplanned for GB or not these players have to find a way to motivate themeselves. Wiz can only use his tricks to inspire these guys so many times because eventually the same old tricks don't work. You have to be ready to play football in the big boys league every week regardless if its practice, preseason or the games that count.. Didn't they learn this lesson last season? Obviously not!!! Maybe some guys on this team were spoiled by their success last season. Last season is last season, so they need to strap the helmets up tightly every week because teams will be up for the Cards this year.. If they try to turn it on and off this season we will be sitting home for the playoffs. Very alarming to me.

 

[WildBB]

I finally got to watch the game last night. It is my humble opinion that the Packers had a whole different agenda than the Cards. Here is a team that was probably better than their record last year coming into Arizona with something to prove and a coaching staff preparing their team with a plan to succeed.
Nobody is going to make me believe the Packers are that much better than the Cards. But, what they did bring Friday was intensity. That is where they clearly outmatched us.

I agree whole heartedly. There hasn't been a team come into the new stadium in the past two years, that I can remember and totaly flat out were more physical than the Cardinals. You can't let that happen on your home field. You need to raise the intensity level and keep the flags off the field. Not only were the Packers physical, but they kept the penalties down, so they also played smart football.

We should never come out at home and be out "intensitied" - ever.

 

[WildBB]

Thx slanidrac for the right up. I said all offseason that this defense needed big improvements at the edge rushers and at FS. We still have the same pieces in place defensively except for a new DC, new scheme and Calais. So anyone who was expecting differant results only looked at what we accomplished in the postseason. That lack of rushers and safety play led to our defeat in Tampa on the final drive and nearly cost us the NFC championship.

Rolle cannot play FS at all!!! If the Cards resign him to big $$$ next offseason it will be a huge mistake. Rashad Johnson better be ready to play as a rookie because he will be thrown into the fire allowing Rolle to play the slot. Hopefully he lives up to the hype this year because we need him bad.

I think Rashad will deliver if put in the right situations. He'll be a very important factor for us this year allready. He'll need to be ready maybe sooner than we'd like, but I think if anyone can, this kid can come in and make plays back there.

 

[CtCardinals78]

Nice write up slan. I think last season's run has really accomplished 2 things regarding fans:
1) Made fans trust the coaching staff/FO a lot more and is less likely to jump to conclusions
2) Tempered fans reactions a lot.

IF this game happened last preseason I really believe the reaction would have been much more extreme. Some would have been calling for coaching changes, players to be cut and so forth.

The reality is that it is a preseason game, hopefully the players learn from it AND the fact of the matter is that GB should be a MUCH improved team and it is not out of the realm of possibility that they COULD be a Super Bowl contender, especially if they get some playoff games in GB. This team is largley intact from the NFCC game that they barely lost two seasons ago.

 

[Totally_Red]

Good analysis and insights

I agree wholeheartedly that the Cardinals are an offense-driven team that can't really afford to turn the ball over. What made 'us' successful last season was an incredible performance in the red-zone. With such an anemic ground attack, that was an outstanding accomplishment.

The disturbing thing about Friday night was a lackadaisical attitude on the part of several defenders, a boat-load of penalties, a ton of dropped passes, the return of 'bad Kurt' regarding turnovers, and a 'we have arrived' mentality on the part of some Cardinals with DRC being the poster child for that.

I really, really wish guys like Kurt and Q would shut up about how they could care less about the pre-season. I know that's the Edgerin James philosophy that most veterans have. It's okay to feel that way, but when you have a game like Friday night, it comes back to haunt you.

I'm not overly impressed with our division opponents. Seattle has some serious injury concerns with Jones and Trufant. San Francisco's QB situation still seems mediocre at best. And St.Louis is probably a year away from serious contention. The Cardinals window is now IMO, so hopefully Whis kicks some butt and gets these guys attention. No more movies and bowling. Just football, football, and more football from here on out.

 

[lobo]

Fasten your seatbelts gang. Have a 12 pack and the valium within reach. [/quote]

Outstanding piece sir...now lets take our mind off what we saw and watch some bears football tonight as it will be fun to see cutler running out there tonight.

 

[joeshmo]

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/nfcwest/0-9-721/Observations-from-Cardinals--exhibition-game.html

I think Sandos blog summed things up perfectly. Especially liked his first 3 points and think they are the most right on the money observations about that preseason game I have seen here or other wise.

 

[Russ Smith]

reading the comments after the ESPN story reminded me why I dislike preseason so much(other than injuries).

After every game, every board is full of the same messages, if you won you're saying our first team dominated your first team and we were in a basic defense package. If you lost, you say we were missing key players/playing
backups, and you guys were scheming while we weren't.

One guy in that thread Joe linked said the Packers were using "basic" blitz packages, I wouldn't call 4-5 corner blitzes in one half "basic", I would call it a team finding what they thought was a weakness(young RB's and communication issues on the OL) and exploiting it. They were smart enough to keep doing the same thing until we stopped it, but corner blitzes are not "basic" in the NFL, that was a simple matter of them deciding it would work against us, and it did.

 

[TJ]

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/nfcwest/0-9-721/Observations-from-Cardinals--exhibition-game.html

I think Sandos blog summed things up perfectly. Especially liked his first 3 points and think they are the most right on the money observations about that preseason game I have seen here or other wise.

Sando

It's only preseason. Enough said.

This is the most important statement in this article

 

[187]

the one positive thing I can add about the defense is that as we've all seen for years as Cards fans, when your offense turns the ball over repeatedly, it makes your defense look worse than they really are. When the offense turns it over that much in a game where the defense IS horrible, you get a first half like we had against the Pack.

part of the reason we were so good down the stretch last year was we weren't making a ton of turnovers, and we were forcing turnovers, when you do that you look really good, like Green Bay did against us.

I am concerned about the lack of pass rush and the big plays the secondary allowed again.

Those two things can go hand in hand. I too am worried about the lack of a pass rush and if we don't figure something out it could be another rough year for the secondary. But again, it's the preseason and Whiz and Billy Davis aren't going to give away any secrets this early. We weren't blitzing much and I expect that to change drastically in the regular season.

This is the most important statement in this article

Do me a favor and don't change your avatar all season long!! I think seeing Megan Fox is the only thing that will be able to calm me down during a few rough games we are bound to have this season

 

[lobo]

This is the most important statement in this article

that makes three of us...exhibition games...eerrrrrr....preseason game are just that.....wake me up after next weeks denver game...what was KW supposed to say after the game...he was happy...the best thing that happened as he said...it was preseason and does not count and MAYBE if there are any issues get em out of the way before game 1.....

 

[WildBB]

This is the most important statement in this article

Disagree. They were totaly unfocused and sloppy. Not how you want to enter the season following the 3rd pre-season tuneup for the real deal.

Quote:
Overall, the Packers' zone blocking scheme exploited the Cardinals' sloppy play. There were also 15 penalties against Arizona.

Sloppy and unfocused. Unacceptable , even for preseason.

These are the only +'s that came out of it and salvaged a dismal showing by the first teamers.

Quote:
His two-touchdown night should buy Wells public goodwill after an injury-plagued start to his NFL career. He ran well even though he said his right ankle remained an issue. Wells might have favored the ankle on his first carry, running toward the right sideline without cutting upfield sharply.
•Leinart stepped up. Throwing for 360 yards in the second half was impressive, even against the Packers' backups. And it sure beats throwing three picks with a 2.8 rating, as Leinart did in the third exhibition game last summer. There's no doubt Leinart will keep his role as Warner's primary backup.

Now it's enough said.

 

[PACardsFan]

Obviously, the Packers gameplanned for us & were out to send a message. Conversely, the Cardinals are saving their best for the real games. I re-watched the game last night & still slept well. Granted, our depth on the defensive side of the ball needs to be addressed. Otherwise, our D will be aggressive, opportunist & much, much better once the season starts. Good teams get really bored with preseason games (look at the Colts preseason record the last 5 years). Under Whiz, I don't ever think we'll ever see a preseason record better than 1-3. I will make 2 guarantees:

1. We will come out in the opener & look very, very good. Before the game, we will hear our friends from ESPN & Fox tell us how great the Niners looked in the preseason (4-0) & how poorly the Cardinals looked. We will then proceed to beat them by 3 tds.

2. We will beat the Packers in the regular season SOUNDLY!! Our D won't forget last Friday & will keep the Pack in single digits. We won't let up & we'll score at least 30.

Take it to the bank!!!!!!

 

[Russ Smith]

Those two things can go hand in hand. I too am worried about the lack of a pass rush and if we don't figure something out it could be another rough year for the secondary. But again, it's the preseason and Whiz and Billy Davis aren't going to give away any secrets this early. We weren't blitzing much and I expect that to change drastically in the regular season.



QUOTE]


Just to be clear, I'm not overly worried at all other than it was ugly to watch.

But I think you're not being honest with yourself if you say we didn't blitz that much, AW was blitzed repeatedly, Rolle blitzed, I saw Francisco blitzing several times etc. We probably blitzed more in the first 2 games(with the 1st team defense) but we blitzed a lot in those games.

So far if the preseason can be trusted, Davis wants to blitz alot, I'm assuming because he thinks he can't get pressure without it.

That's why the big plays are such a concern, lots of blitzes and blown coverages are a terrible combination, unless you GET the QB when you blitz.
Rodgers is no sprinter, but he moves very well in the pocket and repeatedly got himself time to exploit the blown coverages.

I wasn't a huge Davis fan when he was in SF, but to be fair, anybody that doesn't think Mike Nolan was in charge of the defense, isn't being honest with themself either. That was Nolan's D and Davis took the fall for it. I was not one of the ones sad to see Clancy go, but so far it looks like we are still a player or 2 away on defense.

I also think the offense CAN be better this year, if Boldin and Breaston get healthy I think we can be even better because of the improvement in Tim and the presence of Wells.

 

[MrYeahBut]

I think as Cards fans, we all feel a bit apprehensive when we see displays such as Friday night. It's sometimes in our genes to think the worst can happen.

OT...Tomlin makes me gag. The interview with him at halftime of tonights game kicked my gag reflex into overdrive

 

[conraddobler]

It's not a good sign when you lose your first three games in preseason and get lit up in the third with starters vs starters, at home for a whole half.

Look I'm not looking for gloom and doom, it's found me, it's not a good sign, it dosen't mean the season is in the tank, it is only pre-season but it's not that easy to dismiss all that went on as if it's fine, it's not fine.

I saw some very hopefull signs in the game and some real concerns, I've also said that yes it's pre-season, and yes it's obvious people are taking us more serious now and it's also true that people like to score on us because it makes the feel good to beat the NFC champs even in preseason but it's our lack of response to it that has me the most concerned.

Hopefully the real games will start and prove this dosen't mean anything but I wouldn't be so fast to just dismiss it.