Mitch
Crawled Through 5 FB Fields
1. Offensive Coordinator: The Cardinals will miss Todd Haley. Not only was Haley such a passionate X's and O's coach, he forged a rock-solid bond with Kurt Warner. The communication and preparation between Haley and Warner was extraordinary. While they sometimes had heated disagreements, they combined their collective knowledge to form a "thinking man's" approach to offensive football. One of the best examples is what they figured out in the Super Bowl...their dilemma was how to get the ball to Fitzgerald when he was being keyed on and often double teamed. What they figured out was to line Fitz up in the slot to the side of the RB and run the RB on sideline flares (remember Edge's nice catches out there). In doing so they felt they could influence the strong safety or linebacker to that side toward the flat, thus leaving Fitz in a one-on-one matchup. Fitz's first completion was right up the seam when Troy Polamalu left the seam to cover the RB on the flare.
Warner was rueing Haley's departure this week. He was loving the fact that he had a coach that spent most of his time coordinating the preparations and adjustments with him...a coach that was always looking for new wrinkles the way Warner was himself...like the deep pass to Fitz in the Carolina game that Haley diagrammed for Warner on the plane ride.
Football is indeed a chess game...and Haley and Warner both love the challenge and have a thirst for talking strategies. Warner needs this kind of interaction. He needs someone to sit down at the board with him to collaborate on each move. Warner loves the feedback.
The question is: do the Cardinals have a coach on the current staff who would join himself to Warner's hip the way Haley did?
The other question is: what coach on the staff would be the most logical choice to be groomed as the next play-caller? Whiz, in conjunction with Warner, will likely call the plays this year...the way he did his first year until he felt that Haley had a commanding knowledge of his offense.
To me the most logical answer is Mike Miller, the WR coach. If he is promoted to OC, then Dedric Ward becomes the WR coach.
While Russ Grimm deserves the OC job if he so desires it, the job would take him away from what he does best, which is coaching up the offensive ine. Grimm already has the title of Assistant Head Coach and he is being paid as such.
Grimm and Maurice Carthon, the RB coach, could be assigned to coordinate and bolster the running game.
And what may be the most fortuitous development of all is the possibility of Whiz giving Warner the autonomy to do much of the play-calling himself, similar to the way Peyton Manning does in Indy.
2. Defensive Coordinator: Give credit to Clancy Pendergast for the improvements he made this past season, the most significant of which was the change in coverage schemes, which were far more aggressive than in past years (which included finally matching up CBs with the other team's WRs). But one thing that remained troubling were the defensive meltdowns at the end of halfs, where Pendy reverted back to more conservative and passive calls.
The end of the Super Bowl was mind-boggling to say the least. At Carolina Pendy made the astute decision to blanket Steve Smith all night with rising star CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. DRC shut Smith down. Thus, it's all the more troubling to watch the replays of the last Steeler's TD drive and see that DRC was in some cases nowhere close to Santonio Holmes, the one Steeler WR who could have beaten the Cardinals, seeing as Hines Ward was running on one leg, and Nate Washington hadn't been a factor in the game thus far. All Pendergast had to do was ask DRC to smother Holmes as best as he could. If DRC could do so to Steve Smith, he certainly could do so with Santonio Holmes. On the final drive, the back-breaking 40 yard pass to Holmes was versus a soft zone where Holmes blows right past DRC while DRC goes to cover the flat (what? yup, the flat). The next two plays, DRC is assigned to Holmes but gets beat badly to the left corner on the first play (which sailed incomplete)...and is in the general vacinity of Holmes on the TD into the right corner but inexplicably is sitting in cement shoes while Holmes is setting up in the back corner of the endzone. One might argue that DRC, a mere rookie, was caught in the headlights in his first Super Bowl. But, it looked as if DRC's instructions were not clear enough and that he was not given the strict instruction to blanket Holmes, most likely because Pendy was shifting the calls from man to zone, thus accounting for some of DRC's indecision.
I think it is paramount that Whiz hire a DC from outside his own staff...and the symbolic nature of a hiring of one of the Steelers' coaches would be a major boost. The logical choice is Steelers' LB coach, Keith Butler. The one snag there may be that the Steelers want Butler to be the heir to Dick LeBeau and thus they sweeten Butler's salary in order to keep him in the fold. If Mike Tomlin has other ideas about who the next DC should be, then the Steelers will likely let Butler go. This wouldn't be a total surprise. Tomlin may have a coach of his own choice in mind.
However, if Butler is retained by the Steelers, look for Whiz to then request permission to speak with John Mitchell, the Steelers' Defensive Line coach or Ray Horton the Steelers' DB coach. Whiz knows these coaches well and what he wants and needs is the Steleers' 3-4 punishing style of defensive football in Arizona.
3. Q and A. As I alluded to last year when Q was putting up his stink, he and Drew Rosenhaus clearly have an agenda and a destination in mind for Q. All Q's rhetoric about "it was never about the money, it was about the principle" is conspicuously moot and a simply a smokescreen.
Then Q says from Honolulu this week that even if the Cardinals offered him a lucrative contract, it wouldn't matter, because as he disdainfully queried, "they (Cardinals) think they can just say they were wrong and pay me now for it?" Q has deemed that prospect unacceptable, thus further distancing himself from any possible resolution.
Q has always maintained throughout his petulant snits that his commitment was "100% to my teammates." How facetious does that sound now after he blew off his teammates in their finest hour during the celebration of the NFC Championship...and after one of this teammates, Steve Breaston, did not run out into the starting lineups in Q's place out of respect for Q, and another of his teammates, Larry Fitzgerald has offered to restructure his contract to keep Q in Arizona?
When Q was sidelined for the Carolina game he implored his teammates to get him to the NFC Championship...which they did. But the teammates mean nothing to him now...even if he gets the money he supposedly wanted all along.
The sad thing is, while Q was sulking, Arizona has become one of the premier franchises in the NFL. The University of Phoenix stadium is the league's most unique and impressive facility. The fans have become rabid and thunderous in their support of the Cardinals, so much so that even Coach Whiz was taped saying to one of his assistants, "Boy this place is loud, huh?"
This has NFL free agents drooling at the prospects of playing in Arizona for the first time ever.
Q could have been revered in Arizona the way John Elway is revered in Denver. But, alas, he's shown more scorn for the organization than Simeon Rice, just at a time when the organization has transformed from being the "armpit" of the NFL to being the million dollar smile of the NFL.
Q has a QB in Arizona who not only gets him the ball (better than any QB will ever play with)...but also a man who hurt so badly after Q's injury that he contemplated immediate retirement.
Q also has owners in Arizona who stayed with him in NYC during his horrifying ordeal and flew him and his fiancee back with them on their private jet.
Not good enough for Q...according to him, even if the Cardinals admit they were wrong and reward him with a handsome new contract.
The answers for solving this are complicated.
The Cardinals could take Q at his word, that "money was never the issue" and therefore have every right to halt any discussions of a new contract (that Q says he doesn't want from them anyway) and hold Q to his other word last summer that he would honor his contract, play it out and then bolt the scene.
Do the Cardinals really want this acrimony to perpetuate itself, especially now that they are in a position to be perceived as one of the most up-and-coming franchise in the NFL?
I think the Cardinals are in a position not to have to beg players to stay and be happy anymore...which is why I believe they will listen very carefully to trade offers for Q...especially now that they are picking 31st in the draft for the first time ever.
The funny thing is...the destination Q and Rosenhaus have in mind has always been Dallas...and it would be hard to fathom the Bidwills even taking a call from Jerry Jones on this matter.
The irony is...another Rosenhaus WR crybaby is on his way out of Dallas...but to Rosenhaus it doesn't matter as long as he can get Q inked to a top 5 WR deal and then he can help TO get situated somewhere else. To Rosenhaus, Jerry Jones' money is the greenest in the league.
So what will Rosenhaus and Q do when they can't get their tickets to Dallas? It should be interesting. Philly? The Giants?
The Bidwills will likely put those NFC teams on hold when an AFC team is on the line. My prediction: Oakland. That's your destination Q. There it is. Your new owner will be Al Davis. He's a man who keep his promises. It will be a perfect match.
4. Two thoughts about the Cardinals decision to draft T Levi Brown over RB Adrian Peterson: (1) at the time, and some people forget this, there were serious medical red flags on Peterson (otherwise he would have been taken in the top two, no question)...did you know he only started 14 games his last two years at Oklahoma (7 in 2005 and 7 in 2006)? His broken collarbone was one worry, as was his ankle. When RBs don't hold up in college, what are the odds they will hold up in the NFL? Amazingly, Peterson has been relatively injury free his first two years, but will that last? (2) Most importantly, Whiz's decision to pick an big, physical offensive lineman with his very first pick was a symbolic one. Whiz's focus from the start has been to make the Cardinals "tough" on both sides of the ball...which (making the Cardinals much stronger and tougher) is THE main reason why he was able to get the Cardinals to the Super Bowl. And in Brown, now that stalwart Ts Orlando Pace and Walter Jones are getting on in years, Brown may well become the premier tackle in the NFC West for the next five years.
Warner was rueing Haley's departure this week. He was loving the fact that he had a coach that spent most of his time coordinating the preparations and adjustments with him...a coach that was always looking for new wrinkles the way Warner was himself...like the deep pass to Fitz in the Carolina game that Haley diagrammed for Warner on the plane ride.
Football is indeed a chess game...and Haley and Warner both love the challenge and have a thirst for talking strategies. Warner needs this kind of interaction. He needs someone to sit down at the board with him to collaborate on each move. Warner loves the feedback.
The question is: do the Cardinals have a coach on the current staff who would join himself to Warner's hip the way Haley did?
The other question is: what coach on the staff would be the most logical choice to be groomed as the next play-caller? Whiz, in conjunction with Warner, will likely call the plays this year...the way he did his first year until he felt that Haley had a commanding knowledge of his offense.
To me the most logical answer is Mike Miller, the WR coach. If he is promoted to OC, then Dedric Ward becomes the WR coach.
While Russ Grimm deserves the OC job if he so desires it, the job would take him away from what he does best, which is coaching up the offensive ine. Grimm already has the title of Assistant Head Coach and he is being paid as such.
Grimm and Maurice Carthon, the RB coach, could be assigned to coordinate and bolster the running game.
And what may be the most fortuitous development of all is the possibility of Whiz giving Warner the autonomy to do much of the play-calling himself, similar to the way Peyton Manning does in Indy.
2. Defensive Coordinator: Give credit to Clancy Pendergast for the improvements he made this past season, the most significant of which was the change in coverage schemes, which were far more aggressive than in past years (which included finally matching up CBs with the other team's WRs). But one thing that remained troubling were the defensive meltdowns at the end of halfs, where Pendy reverted back to more conservative and passive calls.
The end of the Super Bowl was mind-boggling to say the least. At Carolina Pendy made the astute decision to blanket Steve Smith all night with rising star CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. DRC shut Smith down. Thus, it's all the more troubling to watch the replays of the last Steeler's TD drive and see that DRC was in some cases nowhere close to Santonio Holmes, the one Steeler WR who could have beaten the Cardinals, seeing as Hines Ward was running on one leg, and Nate Washington hadn't been a factor in the game thus far. All Pendergast had to do was ask DRC to smother Holmes as best as he could. If DRC could do so to Steve Smith, he certainly could do so with Santonio Holmes. On the final drive, the back-breaking 40 yard pass to Holmes was versus a soft zone where Holmes blows right past DRC while DRC goes to cover the flat (what? yup, the flat). The next two plays, DRC is assigned to Holmes but gets beat badly to the left corner on the first play (which sailed incomplete)...and is in the general vacinity of Holmes on the TD into the right corner but inexplicably is sitting in cement shoes while Holmes is setting up in the back corner of the endzone. One might argue that DRC, a mere rookie, was caught in the headlights in his first Super Bowl. But, it looked as if DRC's instructions were not clear enough and that he was not given the strict instruction to blanket Holmes, most likely because Pendy was shifting the calls from man to zone, thus accounting for some of DRC's indecision.
I think it is paramount that Whiz hire a DC from outside his own staff...and the symbolic nature of a hiring of one of the Steelers' coaches would be a major boost. The logical choice is Steelers' LB coach, Keith Butler. The one snag there may be that the Steelers want Butler to be the heir to Dick LeBeau and thus they sweeten Butler's salary in order to keep him in the fold. If Mike Tomlin has other ideas about who the next DC should be, then the Steelers will likely let Butler go. This wouldn't be a total surprise. Tomlin may have a coach of his own choice in mind.
However, if Butler is retained by the Steelers, look for Whiz to then request permission to speak with John Mitchell, the Steelers' Defensive Line coach or Ray Horton the Steelers' DB coach. Whiz knows these coaches well and what he wants and needs is the Steleers' 3-4 punishing style of defensive football in Arizona.
3. Q and A. As I alluded to last year when Q was putting up his stink, he and Drew Rosenhaus clearly have an agenda and a destination in mind for Q. All Q's rhetoric about "it was never about the money, it was about the principle" is conspicuously moot and a simply a smokescreen.
Then Q says from Honolulu this week that even if the Cardinals offered him a lucrative contract, it wouldn't matter, because as he disdainfully queried, "they (Cardinals) think they can just say they were wrong and pay me now for it?" Q has deemed that prospect unacceptable, thus further distancing himself from any possible resolution.
Q has always maintained throughout his petulant snits that his commitment was "100% to my teammates." How facetious does that sound now after he blew off his teammates in their finest hour during the celebration of the NFC Championship...and after one of this teammates, Steve Breaston, did not run out into the starting lineups in Q's place out of respect for Q, and another of his teammates, Larry Fitzgerald has offered to restructure his contract to keep Q in Arizona?
When Q was sidelined for the Carolina game he implored his teammates to get him to the NFC Championship...which they did. But the teammates mean nothing to him now...even if he gets the money he supposedly wanted all along.
The sad thing is, while Q was sulking, Arizona has become one of the premier franchises in the NFL. The University of Phoenix stadium is the league's most unique and impressive facility. The fans have become rabid and thunderous in their support of the Cardinals, so much so that even Coach Whiz was taped saying to one of his assistants, "Boy this place is loud, huh?"
This has NFL free agents drooling at the prospects of playing in Arizona for the first time ever.
Q could have been revered in Arizona the way John Elway is revered in Denver. But, alas, he's shown more scorn for the organization than Simeon Rice, just at a time when the organization has transformed from being the "armpit" of the NFL to being the million dollar smile of the NFL.
Q has a QB in Arizona who not only gets him the ball (better than any QB will ever play with)...but also a man who hurt so badly after Q's injury that he contemplated immediate retirement.
Q also has owners in Arizona who stayed with him in NYC during his horrifying ordeal and flew him and his fiancee back with them on their private jet.
Not good enough for Q...according to him, even if the Cardinals admit they were wrong and reward him with a handsome new contract.
The answers for solving this are complicated.
The Cardinals could take Q at his word, that "money was never the issue" and therefore have every right to halt any discussions of a new contract (that Q says he doesn't want from them anyway) and hold Q to his other word last summer that he would honor his contract, play it out and then bolt the scene.
Do the Cardinals really want this acrimony to perpetuate itself, especially now that they are in a position to be perceived as one of the most up-and-coming franchise in the NFL?
I think the Cardinals are in a position not to have to beg players to stay and be happy anymore...which is why I believe they will listen very carefully to trade offers for Q...especially now that they are picking 31st in the draft for the first time ever.
The funny thing is...the destination Q and Rosenhaus have in mind has always been Dallas...and it would be hard to fathom the Bidwills even taking a call from Jerry Jones on this matter.
The irony is...another Rosenhaus WR crybaby is on his way out of Dallas...but to Rosenhaus it doesn't matter as long as he can get Q inked to a top 5 WR deal and then he can help TO get situated somewhere else. To Rosenhaus, Jerry Jones' money is the greenest in the league.
So what will Rosenhaus and Q do when they can't get their tickets to Dallas? It should be interesting. Philly? The Giants?
The Bidwills will likely put those NFC teams on hold when an AFC team is on the line. My prediction: Oakland. That's your destination Q. There it is. Your new owner will be Al Davis. He's a man who keep his promises. It will be a perfect match.
4. Two thoughts about the Cardinals decision to draft T Levi Brown over RB Adrian Peterson: (1) at the time, and some people forget this, there were serious medical red flags on Peterson (otherwise he would have been taken in the top two, no question)...did you know he only started 14 games his last two years at Oklahoma (7 in 2005 and 7 in 2006)? His broken collarbone was one worry, as was his ankle. When RBs don't hold up in college, what are the odds they will hold up in the NFL? Amazingly, Peterson has been relatively injury free his first two years, but will that last? (2) Most importantly, Whiz's decision to pick an big, physical offensive lineman with his very first pick was a symbolic one. Whiz's focus from the start has been to make the Cardinals "tough" on both sides of the ball...which (making the Cardinals much stronger and tougher) is THE main reason why he was able to get the Cardinals to the Super Bowl. And in Brown, now that stalwart Ts Orlando Pace and Walter Jones are getting on in years, Brown may well become the premier tackle in the NFC West for the next five years.
Last edited:
)
