Imagine what it would be like to be Darnell Dockett right now.
Throughout this season and last, the bright spot of the Cardinals has been the play of its defense...a defense that in essence has to try to throw something close to a shutout in order for the team to win.
Imagine too the pounding he has taken in order to maintain the high level of defensive effort and play.
Playing on the interior defensive line and getting double teamed practically every play is nothing short of a weekly bludgeoning.
Imagine how Dockett felt when his defense was drawing aces on the road versus the best team in the NFC---knowing that a great upset win stops the bleeding of a horrid 5 game losing streak and catapults the Cardinals right back into Wild Card contention at 5-5.
What could Dockett and his defensive mates been thinking when John Skelton was benched with the team up 13-3 for Ryan Lindley, a rookie QB who had never taken a snap in the NFL.
The thing is too---Skelton's previous three games weren't horrible, especially considering the numbers of drops and playing behind a makeshift offensive line:
10/21 @MIN: 26/36, 69.4%, 262 yards, 1/1 (TD/INT)
10/29 SFO: 32/52, 61.5%, 290 yards, 0/1
11/4 GBP: 23/46, 50.0%, 306 yards, 1/1
Completion Percentage Fact: Skelton has 2 of the top 3 best completion percentage games for the Cardinals this year.
Kevin Kolb's Completion percentages: 53.8, 56.0, 60.4, 70.8, 55.6
So---because Skelton missed a wide open Fitzgerald and Ken Whisenhunt decided at that moment in the Atlanta game that John Skelton could no longer be his QB, regardless of having just a rookie 6th rounder behind him---Darnell Dockett and the Cardinals' defense, despite creating double digit turnovers in 3 games in spectacular fashion---were the ones being punished the most.
That's just from a W/L scoreboard perspective.
But how about from a time on the field perspective.
Take a look at the Cardinals offensive possession versus the Jets---and pay close attention to the time elapsed of each possession:
Series 1: 6/33/2:47
Series 2: 4/8/1:51 (Wells takes a dive on a 4th and inches--after Rhodes' int)
Series 3: 3/7/1:31
Series 4: 3/3/0:40
Series 5: 3/1/0:38 (Jets interception)
Series 6: 3/5/0:49
Series 7: 10/61/2:31 (fake field goal for 40 yards)---end of half
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Series 8: 3/3/1:21
Series 9: 3/7/1:28
Series 10: 3/-4/1:54
Series 11: 3/3/0:48
Series 12: 6/21/2:03
Series 13: 3/-5/1:10
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Seeing as the defense is on the sidelines during the first drive---after their first series their time on the sidelines was an average of 1:20 of clock time the rest of the game.
Darnell Dockett had every right to be upset---
How can anyone look at how those series went and not conclude---it's time to bring Skelton back in---that is, if you really want to TRY to win the game---or give the team some HOPE.
And no, of course, as for Dockett, you can't go spitting at anyone, even if you are playing a barbaric sport where you have just spent the entire afternoon taking a pounding which you run back out to like dogs every 1:20 minutes of clock time---and despite all of that you are doing everything humanly possible to stop the other team and to win the game.
The problem is---as if often the case with anger---he took it out on the wrong guy. Rhodes just happened to be the messenger.
First---it might have been good to say something to Adrian Wilson---who did the unthinkable and the most irresponsible by recklessly jumping the snap on 3rd and 4 when the Jets were clearly just running to set up field goal position.
But, obviously, most of all, how about the head coach who was the real one who quit on Dockett and the entire team?
How about the head coach who is punishing everyone else on the team because he needs to prove to the world that John Skelton and his 8-8 with 6 4th quarter comeback wins doesn't deserve to play another snap?
The irony is that Dockett was upset because HE didn't want to quit...nor did he want anyone else on his defense to give the Jets an inch.
What one must wonder is---had the giving the other team a free TD option ever been explained and prepared for in practice?
That's a key question because---if the players aren't prepared for it, how is a Darnell Dockett going to process that instruction during a 35 second play clock at the end of game that he and his defense have busted their butts to win.
There's no question that Ray Horton made the right call---save a Jets' fumble, it was the ONLY way the Cardinals still had a chance to win.
But---what we fans do not know is whether this strategy had ever been taught and integrated into the game plans.
By virtue of Dockett's reaction, it would seem not.
Now Dockett is being fined six figures and he and the team are further punished by the added sanction of a "reduced role" versus arch-rival Seattle up in Seattle.
That's just great, isn't it?
I ask you---is Darnell Dockett the real loser here?
My own feeling is---while spitting in a teammate's face is egregious, no question, don't you want players who are so peed off at losing 8 straight games that they can't stand the thought of lying down and giving up another inch?
Darnell Dockett is a proven winner.
He has always been a major part of the solution---not the problem.
On the flip side, the head coach who quit on this team is going to pocket $5,500,000 next year to play golf.
The no-quit guy pays and the real quitter profits.
Such is the state of the 2012 Arizona Cardinals.
