Three games in, here is what I know.

[Chopper0080]

First quarter of the season, and we are 1-2. Here is what I see for any who care.

1-This team does not have the details down. I don't believe Arians has forgotten how to coach, but maybe he is still new at motivating successful teams. It is strange that a team with grinders in Palmer and Fitzgerald would be missing on the small details, but they are. Good thing is that this is something that can change on offense. Bad thing is that I don't see it doing so on defense. I won't go into special teams.

2-We are deficient in the coaching department at defensive coordinator and special teams. Bettcher has failed to address a team's #1 strength 3 weeks in a row now. Pats wanted to run a quick passing game, and they did. Bucs wanted to get the ball to Evans and they did. Buffalo needed to pound the ball and get Tyrod Taylor loose, and they did. This team is also playing passive on defense. They aren't making opposing QBs uncomfortable, and are not attacking the other team. offenses are too comfortable playing against a defense with our personnel. Amos Jones is terrible as a special teams coach. He deserves to be fired on Monday. Our special teams have gotten worse every year since he was hired. We can barely cover kicks, and are even worse at returning them. Time for him to go.

3-David Johnson is legit. He is struggling in the passing game, but in terms of running the ball, he is great.

4-Michael Floyd has become a non-factor. I don't know what happened, but this is the worse I have seen him play since his rookie year.

5-I actually like what I have seen from the offensive line. It is not great by any means, but it looks like it can be a good unit as it gels over the course of the year.

6-Our ILBs are making our front 7 look bad. I don't know if it is the extra weight making Bucannon slower, but he looks bad so far. Slow, small, and not instinctive at all. Minter is effing terrible. He is slower and less instinctive. Their inability to fill gaps and attack RBs is really hurting our defense vs the run.

7-Cooper is better than Williams, and I don't know that we have a true FS on our roster.

8-Special teams are terrible.

9-Good news is that we have talent on our team, and an offense that can score. With those two things, we can generate some wins as we try and figure these issues out.

 

[DVontel]

Minter hasn't been that bad to me. He honeslty has been outplaying Deone by a lot so far. Deone has been terrible so far this season.

 

[MrYeahBut]

We, as fans, see what we think are epic fails with Bettcher and ST. Just what is it that BA and Kiem see or don't see that to us seems so glaringly evident?

I mean, these guys aren't stupid. Baffling to be sure. Doesn't appear like this can be written off as the whole team just being out of sync, but man it's been painful to watch so far.

 

[cardncubfan]

Minter hasn't been that bad to me. He honeslty has been outplaying Deone by a lot so far. Deone has been terrible so far this season.

I thought Minter had a good game today.

 

[Chopper0080]

Minter hasn't been that bad to me. He honeslty has been outplaying Deone by a lot so far. Deone has been terrible so far this season.

Yeah, I don't see how he has been better. An argument that neither has made any impact is fair.

 

[overseascardfan]

Minter hasn't been that bad to me. He honeslty has been outplaying Deone by a lot so far. Deone has been terrible so far this season.

I wonder if the added muscle has slowed him down, remember he was good because his speed allowed him to cover more ground and slip blockers to get to the ball carrier.

 

[Chopper0080]

I thought Minter had a good game today.

that is fair. he really hustled as he was trying to catch McCoy and Taylor as they ran past him.

 

[Finito]

We're one bad snap away from being 2-1 a lot of guys are getting carried away

 

[oaken1]

We're one bad snap away from being 2-1 a lot of guys are getting carried away

this is true...if you accept the idea that new England should have even been in that game against us.... we should have destroyed them. period. the bad snap did not lose the game,...all of the mistakes making that snap necessary are what lost us the game.

 

[Brak]

We're one bad snap away from being 2-1 a lot of guys are getting carried away

And if my aunt had a package, she'd be my uncle.

 

[b8rtm8nn]

I think it is legitimate to notice that our ILBs are hurting us - they aren't terrible - but Bucannon isn't as effective and Minter is just Minter. The bigger issue, IMO, is that our ILBs are undersized and we play a lot of DBs, who are smaller - so teams can run on us up the middle. Today we had 4 DL inactive against a team that we were certain was going to run on us. So our game plan was built around deactivating our run stopping strength and focusing on our backfield (when their WR1 was out as well). We have no other options at ILB and I don't think Bettcher has shown the ability to scheme with the roster he has to work with yet.

 

[DVontel]

Yeah, I don't see how he has been better. An argument that neither has made any impact is fair.

I mean he hasn't been spectacular or anything, but he hasn't been getting blown up by a OL consistently like Deone has. Been also getting to the QB quicker on blitzes.

 

[NJCardFan]

We're one bad snap away from being 2-1 a lot of guys are getting carried away

You're implying that we actually deserved to win that game. We didn't. If we won that game it would be a cheap win. We did so many things wrong that it was sad and we shouldn't have been anywhere near that game.


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[NJCardFan]

It's funny. With the exception of rushing(and turnovers), we basically won every statistical category. They obviously won the most important one.


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[Chopper0080]

I mean he hasn't been spectacular or anything, but he hasn't been getting blown up by a OL consistently like Deone has. Been also getting to the QB quicker on blitzes.

Honestly, I haven't even seen Minter in the screen most of the time. Minter is terrible. Bucannon has been terrible so far this year. Neither get home on blitzes. Minter is a liability in coverage. Bucannon is a liability vs the run. Their limitations makes it very easy for teams to predict how we will use them.

 

[eastcoastSUN]

Everyone relax, we still have a 1.1% chance of winning the super bowl

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[RugbyMuffin]

Bucannon got lit up all day long yesterday.

The Bills fullback showed why teams should still use a fullback in today's NFL, because the Bills fullback ate Deone's lunch, and sent him home to go get him seconds.

 

[Cardiac]

Pats are 3 - 0 so while we didn't have our best game against them we played well enough to win it at the end except for a missed FG. I know we all expected to pound the Pats since they were without Brady etc. but that Bradyless team has been pounded their other two opponents.

 

[unseenaz]

Everyone relax, we still have a 1.1% chance of winning the super bowl

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the seahawks started 3-3 before making it to the superbowl in 2014, the Patriots started 2-2 that year as well.

 

[THESMEL]

I seen the offense pass 3 and out the first 5 possessions and give the ball back to buffalo- it was easy for Rex and Rob, no adjustment needed- They looked like Rock Stars! Don't know what game you all were watching.

 

[JeffGollin]

Yeah, I don't see how he has been better. An argument that neither has made any impact is fair.

Minter's sack - where he was on top of Taylor right at the snap & rode him backward - was an impact play.

 

[cardpa]

Didn't someone state once (can't remember who) that a few plays determine the outcome of NFL games quite a bit. The botched FG for example was a 10 point difference in the game Sunday. At that point it's a 23-7 game. A FG makes it 23-10 with 2:40 left in the 3rd qtr. Instead it becomes a 30-7 game. Instead of being down by 13 you go down by 23. Now you play offense differently. This was a big momentum swing. Someone also talked about how momentum in a game will change only 2-3 times and you need to capitalize on it.

And will someone please tell me why BA went for 2 points after the TD at the end of the 3rd qtr. instead of kicking the extra point? 30-14 allows yo to win the game with a FG and 30-13 ties the game with a FG assuming you score 2 TDs before attempting said FG.

Why not see if Boehm can't snap the long snap? Hell the centers need to snap a ball 5-7 yds when a QB is in shotgun.

 

[cardncubfan]

that is fair. he really hustled as he was trying to catch McCoy and Taylor as they ran past him.

What I seen was a sack & a couple of defensed passes which he is definitely not known for. Hence a good a game.

 

[Goldfield]

I'm not a Minter fan but thought he has improved. I think Bucannon is way over rated. He makes a few plays here and there but gets blown up more than not.

But the one who takes the cake for me sofar is Chandler Jones. Yea he has got a few sacks. But watch him play and he is horrid. He stops playing hard as soon as the play is 5 yards away from him. And he gets beat badly on run downs. They ran at him over and over. Very disappointed.

 

[pmacLean]

the seahawks started 3-3 before making it to the superbowl in 2014, the Patriots started 2-2 that year as well.

20014 - Seahawks
Game 1 - beat Green Bay (who won their div and finished 12-4) by 10
Game 2 - lost to Chargers (who finished 9-7) lost by 9
Game 3 - beat Denver (who won div and finished 12-4) won by 6
Game 4 - beat Redskins (who finished 4-12) by 10
Game 5 - lost to Dallas (who won div and finished 12-4) lost by 7
Game 6 - lost to Rams (who finished 6-10) by 2

so they lost to a middle team (chargers) and a division winning Cowpokes who went 12-4 and the Rams, for some reason they ALWAYS lose to the Rams
Meanwhile, they beat someone they should (Redskins) and beat 2 (not 1, 2) division winners who went 12-4 and you have the cojones to compare this debacle we have going with THAT ? Do you ever actually explore what those figures mean ?

New England
Game 1 - lost to Miami (who went 8-8 in own div) by 13
Game 2 - beat Vikings (who went 7-9) by 23
Game 3 - beat Raiders (who went 3-13 ) by 7
Game 4 - lost to KC (who went 9-7) by 27

OK, you could make a case for a New England comparison, except New England then swept their division (except for last game with Buffalo, they already had #1 seed wrapped up, Brady played a half and Gronk and 5 other starters didn't even play).

We have not played anywhere near the quality the Seahawks faced (and gag me with a spoon, they did well). If we beat crap out of our division we could go the New England route, but are you really confident that disaster we watched (Bills game ... or Carolina II if you prefer) means nothing and we will (well not we, but them, the cards) roar back and start beating teams we should ? (Tampa should have been just on the beat'em side of a toss-up, we have no excuse for losing to a fully depleted Patriot and Buffalo team... none. In case you didn't hear that, WE HAVE NO EXCUSE !! There is NOTHING to make us think the RAMS aren't going to cream us... as a matter of fact... I predict the RAMS will cream us... every team in the NFL knows BAs tricks (there aren't many), they have film on how to counter those tricks (Patriot and Buffalo), plus film from last year. We are doing nothing different, we just aren't 'executing'.

We do not have coaches and game plans to do what the Seahawks (and it hurts badly to say that) and Patriots (and that may hurt worse) did. It's NOT about the players. We don't have the coaching and strategy on our side. And BA is fast morphing into WHIZ Version 2. Whiz was a Whiz when he had Kurt to actually run the offense. But BA doesn't have Kurt, he has Carson and the wheels are coming off and BA does not know how to try anything different and we ARE going to get our asses whipped for the rest of the year.
I heard him on the radio talking about the players and not 1 word about the coaches and the strategy (or lack thereof). BA is past his expiration date... we will limp through a horrible year, get a mediocre draft pick, flail horribly next year and then say good by to BA. \
Meanwhile, kick back and embrace the old 'same old cards' vibe, where you expect nothing, laugh at the foibles the bumblers produce every week (with Whiz is was somewhat due to lack of talent, with BA it's due to inability to memorize completely a 1000 play playbook... it seems Buffalo players had top absorb a 20 play playbook and executed that perfectly)
I don't really care anymore, it's the only way to survive mentally. The NEW Cards was a noble experiment that failed, we will have many futile years until the next experiment starts showing results. Meanwhile I will cheer wildly when they score (and maybe even win) but I will NOT get upset when they lose, because I expect them to lose.... every time.