We are not as bad as we think

[clif]

Guys we are not as bad as alot of us think. I finally figured out why I am not so distraught after this game.

Penalties are our biggest enemy right now.

I take solace in this list.

3rd year player... Boldin
2nd year player Fitz
Rookie Antrel Rolle
2nd year player Stephanovich
Rookie Elton Brown
2nd year player Dansby
2nd year player Dockett
3rd or 4th year Hayes
Rookie Arrington


The list goes on

Point is that we are a young team that has playmakers on both sides of the ball. Once this team learns to not make stupid mistakes we will own this division.

 

[Shane]

Your right this team is worse than we all thought before. They cant block, they cant manage a clock, they cant get plays in on time, they make stupid penalties time and time again. I could list more.

 

[duckfallas]

Worse than last year? I'd say so on the O side of the ball.

 

[Rocco]

I think you're right Cliff though our oline problems aren't going to get solved anytime soon I'm afraid. I was just reviewing some team stats and this is what I found:

1. we're 8th in the league in total defense. 7th against the pass and 20th against the run. Our run defense right now is right around 115 yards per game, roughly the NFL 10 year average so even if our run defense is only average it's still improved over past seasons. We're tied for 4th or 5th right now in sacks.

2. We're 4th in the NFL in passing offense.

3. We're 28th in the league in rushing offense and in sacks allowed. That pretty much confirms what we've already seen right there.

 

[clif]

Your right this team is worse than we all thought before. They cant block, they cant manage a clock, they cant get plays in on time, they make stupid penalties time and time again. I could list more.

3 or the 4 things you just mentioned could be fixed in a week. Will they?? Who knows, but they are mental mistakes that absolutely hurt, but are completely correctable. This is a young team that lacks mental discipline right now.

 

[Shane]

Lets not forget our Special teams suck too.

 

[Shane]

3 or the 4 things you just mentioned could be fixed in a week. Will they?? Who knows, but they are mental mistakes that absolutely hurt, but are completely correctable. This is a young team that lacks mental discipline right now.

Those are all signs of a badly coached team. No reason to believe it wont continue.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

Your right this team is worse than we all thought before. They cant block, they cant manage a clock, they cant get plays in on time, they make stupid penalties time and time again. I could list more.

Sad, but true.

Join us at Sun Devil Stadium on Sundays at 1:00 for Amateur Hour!

 

[CaptTurbo]

Worse than last year? I'd say so on the O side of the ball.

No way. Last year I wouldnt even get excited when we had the ball. I got sick of the 3 and outs. This year we drive to the red zone with ease THEN blow up.

 

[clif]

Those are all signs of a badly coached team. No reason to believe it wont continue.

You are glass if half empty kinda guy huh Shane? You don't think these things can be corrected?

 

[LVCARDFREAK]

Worse than last year? I'd say so on the O side of the ball.

Really? I cant agree with that yet.

 

[Shane]

You are glass if half empty kinda guy huh Shane? You don't think these things can be corrected?

Sure they can. Give me anything thats a hint that says they will?

 

[AzCards21]

Guys we are not as bad as alot of us think. I finally figured out why I am not so distraught after this game.

Penalties are our biggest enemy right now.

I take solace in this list.

3rd year player... Boldin
2nd year player Fitz
Rookie Antrel Rolle
2nd year player Stephanovich
Rookie Elton Brown
2nd year player Dansby
2nd year player Dockett
3rd or 4th year Hayes
Rookie Arrington


The list goes on

Point is that we are a young team that has playmakers on both sides of the ball. Once this team learns to not make stupid mistakes we will own this division.

And I think an even greater lack of experience with:

Rookie O- Coordinator.

 

[duckfallas]

Passing offense? Who cares about passing stats? Last time I checked points still determined the outcome of a game.

I have to agree with Shane on this one. This offense, and especially the offensive line, are not well coached. Green needs to be more hands on and show that he is the offensive master because the guys he hired are not getting it done.

 

[duckfallas]

Really? I cant agree with that yet.

This O line looks worse to me. At least the left side was stable last year. Big is having a horrible year so far.

 

[MrY]

Bonehead plays are not limited to the Cards. Yesterday while I'm watching the game online, my wife who is a devout Bronco fan starts screaming at the TV. They got a punt return called back for too many players on the field....players ran onto the field to celebrate the punt return...The look on Shannahans face was priceless. The Donkeys were very lucky to win the game

 

[conraddobler]

Cliff must have thought the same thing I did I started a thread just like this.

I don't believe in moral victories or any such garbage but it's truly not the end of the world, it's just the end of unreasonable expectations.

If you talk to most people with NFL experience, they will tell you that it takes about 3 years for you to build a winning NFL team from scratch, DG just shoots his mouth off, it wasn't going to happen that fast unless everything went right and it obviously didn't.

I think DG assumed a lot of the problems we had when he took the job were because of poor coaching.

He got here and found out it was horrible talent too and a lot of NFL caliber talent we did have he didn't like.

I believe that we may lose a few more games than we thought, I'd say we might squeak out 8-8 and legitimately we might then be in the playoff hunt, but more than likely it's 7-9 or worse and the only thing I am going to look for now is what kind of team we are after the midway mark to see if we are improving or going backward.

 

[clif]

Sure they can. Give me anything thats a hint that says they will?

Well for starters... once Step's hand completely heals he won't be grabbing as much. I think he had 3 holding calls himself. I have to believe he is lacking strength in his hand as evidenced by those calls and the fact that he was not snapping the ball in shotgun.


Also

82 yards rushing Vs 31 the previous week. There is marked improvement there, that I think could have been way better if not for penalties.

 

[Russ Smith]

I agree but in the end, we're still 0-2. Cincy was just as bad as us, changed coaches, and went from 2-14 to 8-8, 8-8 and are out 2-0 this year. We could have easily been 8-8 last year or better.

In Cincy's case the reason they didn't improve last year is they changed QB's so Palmer was starting for the first time so they started slowly. We are not really in that situation, QB isn't the problem now.

I just think it's taking longer to complete the overhaul than it should be in part. It's kind of like Green took apart an engine, put it back together, found a bunch of leftover parts and junked them. Now he's finding out some of those gaskets and bolts actually did something important that he wasn't aware of.

My comment when we first hired Green was, the next coach will inherit a much more talented team. I've somewhat tempered that I think Green's done enough that he won't get fired after this year unless we just completely fold, but I still think Green has done a much better job of drafting talent than he has of coaching the talent he's drafted and the talent he already had. The biggest problem is the OL and that's got his fingerprints all over it, not one player is starting at teh same spot today as when Green took over and only one player is still starting, this is Green's OL and right now it stinks.

I figure we're pretty close to being good but we can't wait much longer to start getting wins or we'll be in trouble.

 

[arthurracoon]

Worse than last year? I'd say so on the O side of the ball.

At least we didnt lose 6-3...

 

[conraddobler]

I agree but in the end, we're still 0-2. Cincy was just as bad as us, changed coaches, and went from 2-14 to 8-8, 8-8 and are out 2-0 this year. We could have easily been 8-8 last year or better.

In Cincy's case the reason they didn't improve last year is they changed QB's so Palmer was starting for the first time so they started slowly. We are not really in that situation, QB isn't the problem now.

I just think it's taking longer to complete the overhaul than it should be in part. It's kind of like Green took apart an engine, put it back together, found a bunch of leftover parts and junked them. Now he's finding out some of those gaskets and bolts actually did something important that he wasn't aware of.

My comment when we first hired Green was, the next coach will inherit a much more talented team. I've somewhat tempered that I think Green's done enough that he won't get fired after this year unless we just completely fold, but I still think Green has done a much better job of drafting talent than he has of coaching the talent he's drafted and the talent he already had. The biggest problem is the OL and that's got his fingerprints all over it, not one player is starting at teh same spot today as when Green took over and only one player is still starting, this is Green's OL and right now it stinks.

I figure we're pretty close to being good but we can't wait much longer to start getting wins or we'll be in trouble.

I totally agree.

Green never was known as an X and O genius or if he was it was in large part IMO to him simply out talenting everyone around him making him look smarter as a coach than he is.

That said, he is exactly the kind of guy that needs strong assistants and he needs to be less involved with day to day stuff and more of a GM and cheerleader type.

We have a good assistant coach in Clancy and I think he does his own thing by and large on that side of the ball.

Rowen, well I think so far he's done well given the fact he's facing horrible line play. I think for self preservation he better be getting involved in the O line situation but let's be real here, it's his first gig at this, he gets a while to start hitting his stride.

He out offensed Martz and co so that's a start and I think it's a good one, now he did a few things that you could argue with, not enough shots at the end zone come to mind but that isn't important in the long run, in the long run it's important for him to get a handle on his job and so far I think he shows a lot of promise.

 

[BigDavis75]

This O line looks worse to me. At least the left side was stable last year. Big is having a horrible year so far.

Look at his sacks allowed stats before you make a statement like that. He had a really good game yesterday, most people only remember the final play.

EDIT: Also, compare his no. of holding penalties to everyone else's.