Mitch
Crawled Through 5 FB Fields
It appears that the Cardinals have spent the off-season focusing on trying not only to improve the offensive personnel, but to cater the personnel more strictly to its identity as a fly-around pass happy bevy of birds.
Mike Miller is now very much in charge of the offense---and he wants to open the field up even more than in the past---and it looks like he will get his wish.
Russ Grimm was re-signed, but is no longer a co-coordinator of the offense, yet another signal that a smashmouth running game is no longer a priority---and while he remains an outstanding coach of guards and centers, his work coaching the tackles throughout his tenure as the o-line coach in Arizona has been unsteady, and at times glaringly suspect. Hopefully, the improvement Levi Brown made down the stretch last year at left tackle, will be a signal of better tackle play to come.
The Cardinals' promotion of John McNulty to QB coach is another very telling factor in the evolution of the offense. The Cardinals prevented McNulty to become the Bucs' new offensive coordinator under his Rutgers' colleague and friend, Greg Schiano. McNulty will have a very prominent role this year and will be at the center of the highly anticipated QB decisions.
Newly added WR coach Frank Reich will also be a major factor, as he will try to impart some of the Colts' offensive passing game wisdom to Miller and McNulty.
There are a number of chefs in the kitchen---which can be a great thing, or a deterrent---which head Coach Ken Whisenhunt will have to pay close attention to. Whisenhunt might have a difficult time keeping all the coaches happy, as there will likely be major differences in opinion, especially if the offense struggles once again out of the gates.
As for the QB situation, this much we know---Whisenhunt has insisted that Kevin Kolb and John Skelton go into camp in an even competition for the starting job.
Kolb will need to convince the coaches that he is healthy and that he is going to show improved presence and toughness in the pocket.
Skelton will need to convince the coaches that he can have a hot hand early in games and that he can be consistently accurate on the vast majority of his throws.
As a result---with 5 pre-season games to work with and important questions to answer, the pre-season game performances will matter a great deal. The coaches will want to see how well Kolb holds up under pressure and they will want to see how accurately Skelton throws the ball.
My own sense is that Skelton, because of his size, toughness, big arm and 8-4 record (with six 4th quarter comeback wins) has the edge and has had it all along---but seeing as the team is paying him a fifth rounder's rookie salary, the organization felt it could and should hold on to Kolb in the hope that he would validate the costs and relatively blind faith it took to acquire and sign him long-term.
The most pressing question is how a player who felt the effects of a season-ending concussion for an alarming seven to eight weeks---on the heels of a concussion which cost him the Philly QB job---would suddenly show improved toughness in the pocket. If Kolb does, he will quickly enamor everyone in Arizona---mostly because financially he doesn't really HAVE to. Kolb has been paid a king's ransom in his six years in the NFL---he has already made in excess of $40M---despite the fact that in five years he has played the majority of snaps in a mere 17 games---and his team's record in those games: 6-11.
With all the commotion this off-season about concussions, no one could blame Kolb for being cautious, even to the point of considering more time on the DL or retirement.
Another reason to suspect that Kevin Kolb's days with the Cardinals (and quite possibly in the NFL) are numbered is the fact that the Cardinals drafted QB Ryan Lindley---
The thing is---the coaches like the incumbent #3 Rich Bartel---they think he's smart, mobile and reasonably accurate, thus, it's not like the coaches want to replace him---and because he has NFL experience, they would feel fine if they had to use him in a pinch.
The selection of Ryan Lindley is somewhat of a curious one in that the rap on him is his accuracy. In essence, he is very similar to John Skelton---as he possesses good size, functional mobility and a big, strong arm.
This is again where the promotion of John McNulty comes very much into play, as McNulty is a stickler about footwork and its link to passing accuracy. McNulty has already been hard at work in drilling the QBs with the fundamentals.
If Kolb and/or Skelton lights it up big-time this year---McNulty will become an even hotter property around the league next year---whereby Ken Whisenhunt may have to take the next step and promote him to OC, in order to keep him with the Cardinals.
Mike Miller is now very much in charge of the offense---and he wants to open the field up even more than in the past---and it looks like he will get his wish.
Russ Grimm was re-signed, but is no longer a co-coordinator of the offense, yet another signal that a smashmouth running game is no longer a priority---and while he remains an outstanding coach of guards and centers, his work coaching the tackles throughout his tenure as the o-line coach in Arizona has been unsteady, and at times glaringly suspect. Hopefully, the improvement Levi Brown made down the stretch last year at left tackle, will be a signal of better tackle play to come.
The Cardinals' promotion of John McNulty to QB coach is another very telling factor in the evolution of the offense. The Cardinals prevented McNulty to become the Bucs' new offensive coordinator under his Rutgers' colleague and friend, Greg Schiano. McNulty will have a very prominent role this year and will be at the center of the highly anticipated QB decisions.
Newly added WR coach Frank Reich will also be a major factor, as he will try to impart some of the Colts' offensive passing game wisdom to Miller and McNulty.
There are a number of chefs in the kitchen---which can be a great thing, or a deterrent---which head Coach Ken Whisenhunt will have to pay close attention to. Whisenhunt might have a difficult time keeping all the coaches happy, as there will likely be major differences in opinion, especially if the offense struggles once again out of the gates.
As for the QB situation, this much we know---Whisenhunt has insisted that Kevin Kolb and John Skelton go into camp in an even competition for the starting job.
Kolb will need to convince the coaches that he is healthy and that he is going to show improved presence and toughness in the pocket.
Skelton will need to convince the coaches that he can have a hot hand early in games and that he can be consistently accurate on the vast majority of his throws.
As a result---with 5 pre-season games to work with and important questions to answer, the pre-season game performances will matter a great deal. The coaches will want to see how well Kolb holds up under pressure and they will want to see how accurately Skelton throws the ball.
My own sense is that Skelton, because of his size, toughness, big arm and 8-4 record (with six 4th quarter comeback wins) has the edge and has had it all along---but seeing as the team is paying him a fifth rounder's rookie salary, the organization felt it could and should hold on to Kolb in the hope that he would validate the costs and relatively blind faith it took to acquire and sign him long-term.
The most pressing question is how a player who felt the effects of a season-ending concussion for an alarming seven to eight weeks---on the heels of a concussion which cost him the Philly QB job---would suddenly show improved toughness in the pocket. If Kolb does, he will quickly enamor everyone in Arizona---mostly because financially he doesn't really HAVE to. Kolb has been paid a king's ransom in his six years in the NFL---he has already made in excess of $40M---despite the fact that in five years he has played the majority of snaps in a mere 17 games---and his team's record in those games: 6-11.
With all the commotion this off-season about concussions, no one could blame Kolb for being cautious, even to the point of considering more time on the DL or retirement.
Another reason to suspect that Kevin Kolb's days with the Cardinals (and quite possibly in the NFL) are numbered is the fact that the Cardinals drafted QB Ryan Lindley---
The thing is---the coaches like the incumbent #3 Rich Bartel---they think he's smart, mobile and reasonably accurate, thus, it's not like the coaches want to replace him---and because he has NFL experience, they would feel fine if they had to use him in a pinch.
The selection of Ryan Lindley is somewhat of a curious one in that the rap on him is his accuracy. In essence, he is very similar to John Skelton---as he possesses good size, functional mobility and a big, strong arm.
This is again where the promotion of John McNulty comes very much into play, as McNulty is a stickler about footwork and its link to passing accuracy. McNulty has already been hard at work in drilling the QBs with the fundamentals.
If Kolb and/or Skelton lights it up big-time this year---McNulty will become an even hotter property around the league next year---whereby Ken Whisenhunt may have to take the next step and promote him to OC, in order to keep him with the Cardinals.
