Mitch
Crawled Through 5 FB Fields
Glad to see Whiz get a little heated on the sidelines yesterday. I must say the guy is a paragon of patience and poise. Little rattles the guy and he is absolutely great at keeping on course with his belief in his system and his players.
In his press conference Whiz praised the Panthers...and rightly so...they played like they were on a mission and they deflated a crowd that was ready to yell the roof off. Whiz also felt---rather judiciously---that Warner didn't play all that bad, that he was the victim of some bad breaks and that they happen sometimes. Whiz was critical of the team's tackling---or lack thereof---so it wasn't as if Whiz was hiding behind rose colored glasses either.
It's amazing that despite some weaknesses in the team's personnel due to injuries and lack of suitable depth at certain positions that Whiz has basically maintained the same roster he has come out of training camp with. At times, I have felt exasperated by this...seeing as, here he is once again this year holding onto 4 TEs in lieu of adding necessary depth at more important positions. It also has been very frustrating to learn week after week that despite the hobbling WRs, Early Doucet keeps landing on the inactive lists. But, Whiz stays true to his course and his way of thinking. Last year Whiz waited 4 weeks to play J.J. Arrington and look what happened when he finally got his chance. Hopefully Doucet will be that guy this year, if and when...
What the Cardinal players are learning is they can't just show up for home games and think they are going to let the crowd get them fired up...good football doesn't work that way. They had no crowd to fire them up for the Giants' game...but that game captured their interests and when that happens this team seems to play at a much higher level.
Brian Billick was right about not sensing a real urgency from the Cardinals' offense yesterday. Part of this they get from they ever-poised head coach. But part of this they get from Kurt Warner, who, as time goes on gets more and more deliberate in snapping the ball, even and especially in the two minute drill. And Warner needs to stop looking to the sidelines every time the team gets inside the five yard line...get the boys in the huddle and call your own play if you have to...but these timeouts, on the move, with all the momentum in the world and especially yesterday with a sizeable deficit to erase are thoroughly inexcusable for a veteran QB, offense and HC.
Speaking more about a lack of urgency...how about the looks on the Cardinals' offensive players these days? Not much life or excitement in their eyes or their faces, starting with Warner whose countenance looks more like he's surpressing a wince out there...otherwise he looks just plain tired, ambivalent or bored. Larry Fitzgerald is walking around with eyes as wide as saucers...what's up with that? Boldin doesn't look right, nor does Breaston...they look hurt and they are...and they are playing and acting like it.
The only three players on offense who look like they are having fun out there are RB Tim Hightower, C Lyle Sendlein and G Deuce Lutui. TEs Ben Patrick and Anthony Becht also do more than not, but they are not exactly impacting the games because the TEs are not being utilized often enough, especially in the passing game (they were thrown to what three times yesterday in total). Beanie Wells is starting to thaw out a little...he's looked stiff in the face between plays...but this team NEEDS some emotion and some urgency...and a better idea of how to give Kurt Warner the extra two seconds he needs to make all the throws in the offense (remember the signature play of the Carolina playoff win last year when Warner hung in the pocket long enough that Fitz was able to sprint from the left slot to the right pylon and Warner delivered him a perfect strike in stride and Fitz reached the ball out to the pylon?...well this year Warner can't make that throw because the tackles can't protect for him that long and the RBs that could chip the DEs to slow them up are running out or swing routes more often than not).
About the RB out and swing routes...so many time yesterday we saw TH lined up on Julius Peppers' side...and the thought was yes finally he is going to chip on Peppers, only no, he runs right past him on an out route. What is the thought here? Well, what the coaches are trying to do is open the middle by having the LB chase TH to the outside...and that's fine, but that's all the Cardinals are going to get are those little drag passes that Breaston, Fitz and Q caught but amounted to little because none of them are fast enough right now to shake their defenders. Therefore, wouldn't it be wiser to have the trio run deeper, more intermediate routes, and have TH chip the DE to slow him down and then release into the middle or out to the side as a safety valve?
The thing is...if you are Julius Peppers or Dwight Freeney or Parys Haralson, aren't you jacked out of your mind coming into the Cardinal games? You've watched the Cardinal tackles get toasted in the Super Bowl and all through the first several games of this year...and you see that the Cardinals STILL have the tackles playing on islands 95% of the time. Already, even before the game starts the Cardinals have given an emotional and psychological edge to the opponent. And now the opposing secondaries aren't all that afraid either because they know the Cardinal WRs are not very fast, plus they know the Cardinals won't run the ball that much, so their safeties can give the CBs help over the top all game. Plus the CBs have the luxury of knowing all they really have to do is bust their butts for three seconds because the ball is going to come out that quick almost every time.
Ironically the one TE who has never played, Dominque Byrd, is perhaps the Cardinals' best answer for solving these defenses, because he has the speed to beat a LB up the seam where the FS has vacated in order to double Fitz. But, alas, it seems Byrd is not in the immediate plans.
As for the run defense yesterday...what the Cardinals are learning is that when they stack the interior three inside, teams will run off-tackle by busting down on the DE and isolating on the OLB...and the hope is that Hayes or Dansby will guess wrong or get caught in traffic or plucked by the pulling guard and the RB will be off to the races. When the team is flexing the interior three...the opponents kick out the DE and isolate on the ILB...which is exactly what the Panthers did on DeAngelo Williams' 80 yard run...on that play, Dockett was kicked out, Watson was pinched inside, and Hayes guess wrong and went to the C gap (off-tackle), where he got blocked out, and Wilson was rushing to the edge where he was in no position to make the play, while Dansby was caught napping on the other side.
Later in the game, on a key third down, for some inexplicable reason they team had Berry lined up straight over the tackle even though there was a TE to his side...and who was on the edge with the TE? CB Ralph Brown. Yikes.The Panthers had an easy down block on Berry and ran the sweep to Williams...Brown made a weak attempt to force the run and basically jumped into a blocker and Williams was off to the races. Carolina was very smart about audibling to the vulnerable areas of the Cardinals' defense. What Bill Davis needs to do is start shifting the linemen whenever there's an audible call...otherwise what we saw yesterday will repeat itself over and over, as the DE will be sitting ducks to power plays and double teams.
In his press conference Whiz praised the Panthers...and rightly so...they played like they were on a mission and they deflated a crowd that was ready to yell the roof off. Whiz also felt---rather judiciously---that Warner didn't play all that bad, that he was the victim of some bad breaks and that they happen sometimes. Whiz was critical of the team's tackling---or lack thereof---so it wasn't as if Whiz was hiding behind rose colored glasses either.
It's amazing that despite some weaknesses in the team's personnel due to injuries and lack of suitable depth at certain positions that Whiz has basically maintained the same roster he has come out of training camp with. At times, I have felt exasperated by this...seeing as, here he is once again this year holding onto 4 TEs in lieu of adding necessary depth at more important positions. It also has been very frustrating to learn week after week that despite the hobbling WRs, Early Doucet keeps landing on the inactive lists. But, Whiz stays true to his course and his way of thinking. Last year Whiz waited 4 weeks to play J.J. Arrington and look what happened when he finally got his chance. Hopefully Doucet will be that guy this year, if and when...
What the Cardinal players are learning is they can't just show up for home games and think they are going to let the crowd get them fired up...good football doesn't work that way. They had no crowd to fire them up for the Giants' game...but that game captured their interests and when that happens this team seems to play at a much higher level.
Brian Billick was right about not sensing a real urgency from the Cardinals' offense yesterday. Part of this they get from they ever-poised head coach. But part of this they get from Kurt Warner, who, as time goes on gets more and more deliberate in snapping the ball, even and especially in the two minute drill. And Warner needs to stop looking to the sidelines every time the team gets inside the five yard line...get the boys in the huddle and call your own play if you have to...but these timeouts, on the move, with all the momentum in the world and especially yesterday with a sizeable deficit to erase are thoroughly inexcusable for a veteran QB, offense and HC.
Speaking more about a lack of urgency...how about the looks on the Cardinals' offensive players these days? Not much life or excitement in their eyes or their faces, starting with Warner whose countenance looks more like he's surpressing a wince out there...otherwise he looks just plain tired, ambivalent or bored. Larry Fitzgerald is walking around with eyes as wide as saucers...what's up with that? Boldin doesn't look right, nor does Breaston...they look hurt and they are...and they are playing and acting like it.
The only three players on offense who look like they are having fun out there are RB Tim Hightower, C Lyle Sendlein and G Deuce Lutui. TEs Ben Patrick and Anthony Becht also do more than not, but they are not exactly impacting the games because the TEs are not being utilized often enough, especially in the passing game (they were thrown to what three times yesterday in total). Beanie Wells is starting to thaw out a little...he's looked stiff in the face between plays...but this team NEEDS some emotion and some urgency...and a better idea of how to give Kurt Warner the extra two seconds he needs to make all the throws in the offense (remember the signature play of the Carolina playoff win last year when Warner hung in the pocket long enough that Fitz was able to sprint from the left slot to the right pylon and Warner delivered him a perfect strike in stride and Fitz reached the ball out to the pylon?...well this year Warner can't make that throw because the tackles can't protect for him that long and the RBs that could chip the DEs to slow them up are running out or swing routes more often than not).
About the RB out and swing routes...so many time yesterday we saw TH lined up on Julius Peppers' side...and the thought was yes finally he is going to chip on Peppers, only no, he runs right past him on an out route. What is the thought here? Well, what the coaches are trying to do is open the middle by having the LB chase TH to the outside...and that's fine, but that's all the Cardinals are going to get are those little drag passes that Breaston, Fitz and Q caught but amounted to little because none of them are fast enough right now to shake their defenders. Therefore, wouldn't it be wiser to have the trio run deeper, more intermediate routes, and have TH chip the DE to slow him down and then release into the middle or out to the side as a safety valve?
The thing is...if you are Julius Peppers or Dwight Freeney or Parys Haralson, aren't you jacked out of your mind coming into the Cardinal games? You've watched the Cardinal tackles get toasted in the Super Bowl and all through the first several games of this year...and you see that the Cardinals STILL have the tackles playing on islands 95% of the time. Already, even before the game starts the Cardinals have given an emotional and psychological edge to the opponent. And now the opposing secondaries aren't all that afraid either because they know the Cardinal WRs are not very fast, plus they know the Cardinals won't run the ball that much, so their safeties can give the CBs help over the top all game. Plus the CBs have the luxury of knowing all they really have to do is bust their butts for three seconds because the ball is going to come out that quick almost every time.
Ironically the one TE who has never played, Dominque Byrd, is perhaps the Cardinals' best answer for solving these defenses, because he has the speed to beat a LB up the seam where the FS has vacated in order to double Fitz. But, alas, it seems Byrd is not in the immediate plans.
As for the run defense yesterday...what the Cardinals are learning is that when they stack the interior three inside, teams will run off-tackle by busting down on the DE and isolating on the OLB...and the hope is that Hayes or Dansby will guess wrong or get caught in traffic or plucked by the pulling guard and the RB will be off to the races. When the team is flexing the interior three...the opponents kick out the DE and isolate on the ILB...which is exactly what the Panthers did on DeAngelo Williams' 80 yard run...on that play, Dockett was kicked out, Watson was pinched inside, and Hayes guess wrong and went to the C gap (off-tackle), where he got blocked out, and Wilson was rushing to the edge where he was in no position to make the play, while Dansby was caught napping on the other side.
Later in the game, on a key third down, for some inexplicable reason they team had Berry lined up straight over the tackle even though there was a TE to his side...and who was on the edge with the TE? CB Ralph Brown. Yikes.The Panthers had an easy down block on Berry and ran the sweep to Williams...Brown made a weak attempt to force the run and basically jumped into a blocker and Williams was off to the races. Carolina was very smart about audibling to the vulnerable areas of the Cardinals' defense. What Bill Davis needs to do is start shifting the linemen whenever there's an audible call...otherwise what we saw yesterday will repeat itself over and over, as the DE will be sitting ducks to power plays and double teams.
