Whisenhunt deserves praise

[Zeno]

I had enough Coach Whisenhunt earlier this season, especially after a 1-6 start and what seemed like unimaginative and uninspired play. His preaching of trusting the system frustrated me even further but now...

I have to give him a ton of credit. He has made changes, he has become a lot more fiery on the sideline, he has somehow motivated this team enough that they have fought back to .500 football and have a chance at a winning season with 2 weeks left. If this had been a Coach Mac led team they would have folded up their tents after falling behind these past few weeks, that isn't in this teams make up and that is impressive.

Ray Horton needs to get credit as well, the defense has played good football for a long time now after looking like hot garbage early in the season. I hope that he builds on it with a full offseason and adds a few missing pieces.

Here is hoping we build on this with a full offseason and the addition of a few key pieces.

(All that said I am still not a Russ Grimm fan and hope he retires, finds another job or is fired this offseason.)

 

[dreamcastrocks]

I still find myself yelling at the TV a few times because of his decisions...

He deserves A LOT of credit. Horton even more so, IMO.

If I can criticize while he is horrible, I can give praise when he is doing well.

 

[Chopper0080]

Things I think Whis deserves praise for...

Hiring the DC that he knew he wanted in Horton. Might not have topped the list of candidates, but Whis got the true Steeler defensive scheme that he wanted. I'm glad he didn't settle for another Pendergast or Bill Davis.

Staying the course. Fans don't see it as much, but players do and really respect it. Whis has shown a bit more emotion, but for the most part, he is even keeled. A great trait in a head coach.

Backing his players. There is always something to be said for a boss that believes in his employees. Some thought it was arrogant when Whis stated that the plays were there to make, but players didn't execute. Now we see it is true, and the players obviously believed it as they are now making those big plays to help win games.


Things I think Whis deserves criticism...

Having such an inexperienced staff. From Mike Millar, to the QB coach, to Ray Horton, all very inexperienced for their positions. Horton has developed quickly, but I think Whis really needs to look at the guys that he puts on his staff and try to find more balance between the experience levels.

Either being too vocal or not vocal enough in regards to FA acquisitions. We have been terrible at bringing in FA's and we all know that Whis carries a lot of credibility in the organization. So either he is recommending poor choices in players (and not getting feedback from his position coaches) or not being vocal enough in the type of players that they need. The advantage that really established teams have is their ability to identify players that fit their system. The Cardinals are obviously not at this point yet.

 

[Cbus cardsfan]

Zeno, are you heading to Cincy?

 

[RugbyMuffin]

Why?

The success of this team this year is from the defensive talking HUGE leaps in improvement.

The offense is still lackluster.

This teamm will be .500 at years end if things go well. .500.

Whiz may be getting himself out of the doghouse, but praise ? I don't know about that just yet.

There are still a lot of holes in our offense, and a lot being left on the field.

 

[82CardsGrad]

Winning 6 of last 7 and four in a row is a great rarity in the NFL. The competition is fierce and what it takes to string W's together over the course of a season is immense on the part of the players and coaches. Each week, the opponent is getting paid too. They get paid to beat you down and if you (players and coaches) don't bring 100% preparation and execution come gametime, the chances of winning dramatically fall.

In the end, the Head Coach takes the blame for losses... therefore, it's only right to give him praise for the W's as well. And when you put together a streak like this, you simply have to give the head coach his full due. Somehow, Whiz kept this team together after going 1 & 6. With a new highly paid FA QB who was playing horribly and then got hurt, forcing the team to turn to a 5th rounder out of Fordham of all places... With Dan Williams and Kerry Rhodes going down. With a less than 100% Beanie Wells and a rotational situation at RT due to injuries to Bridges and Keith, somehow, some way Whiz kept this thing together and rallied the team to a cause... I for one am amazed... as I thought I was seeing the end of the Whiz era here in the desert. I fully expected that, with back to back losses coming off the bye and sitting at 1 & 6, that Whiz was toast and that he had, or was about to, lose the team. Man was I wrong... Totally, completely and dramatically wrong...

Kudos to Whiz... The winningest coach in the history of the franchise. A guy the players absolutely support and are willing to go to battle for. And a guy I was wrong about... gladly so!!

 

[Zeno]

Zeno, are you heading to Cincy?

No, I may work Christmas day so no travel for me.

 

[Dayman]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_y...F?slug=pfw-20111219_shorts_and_shells_week_15

Ask league insiders and they will tell you that Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt is maybe one of the seven or eight best coaches in the NFL. He's proving it this season. Week in and week out, he puts his team in a position to win no matter the health of his offense and has allowed Ray Horton to run the show for what appears to be a defense with a bright future.

Pretty high praise for coach Whis.

 

[Shane]

Why?

The success of this team this year is from the defensive talking HUGE leaps in improvement.

The offense is still lackluster.

This teamm will be .500 at years end if things go well. .500.

Whiz may be getting himself out of the doghouse, but praise ? I don't know about that just yet.

There are still a lot of holes in our offense, and a lot being left on the field.

Winning 6 of last 7 and four in a row is a great rarity in the NFL. The competition is fierce and what it takes to string W's together over the course of a season is immense on the part of the players and coaches. Each week, the opponent is getting paid too. They get paid to beat you down and if you (players and coaches) don't bring 100% preparation and execution come gametime, the chances of winning dramatically fall.

In the end, the Head Coach takes the blame for losses... therefore, it's only right to give him praise for the W's as well. And when you put together a streak like this, you simply have to give the head coach his full due. Somehow, Whiz kept this team together after going 1 & 6. With a new highly paid FA QB who was playing horribly and then got hurt, forcing the team to turn to a 5th rounder out of Fordham of all places... With Dan Williams and Kerry Rhodes going down. With a less than 100% Beanie Wells and a rotational situation at RT due to injuries to Bridges and Keith, somehow, some way Whiz kept this thing together and rallied the team to a cause... I for one am amazed... as I thought I was seeing the end of the Whiz era here in the desert. I fully expected that, with back to back losses coming off the bye and sitting at 1 & 6, that Whiz was toast and that he had, or was about to, lose the team. Man was I wrong... Totally, completely and dramatically wrong...

Kudos to Whiz... The winningest coach in the history of the franchise. A guy the players absolutely support and are willing to go to battle for. And a guy I was wrong about... gladly so!!

Just read this Rugby. Praise is warranted whether you choose to believe it or not.

 

[slanidrac16]

We under played the off season with a new DC.

We tend to forget that Toler went down and PP was thrust into the line up, which now may have been a very positive thing seeing how he has progressed at CB.

Ryan Williams injury surely affected the overall offensive scheme and plan.

Whiz can't be blamed for that stuff.

Whiz suddenly has this Albatross called starting Qb. No matter what direction he goes he will be questioned. If he leans torward SKelton it will be "WHy did we go after Kolb?" If he goes with Kolb he will be questioned on why did you bench a QB with a winning record. The only way he can make the right decision will be the one that results in winning.

I was fed up with Whiz as much as anybody. AFter 1-6 start I was ready to feed him to the wolves and I would consider myself a Kool-Aider. I wondered how in hell could Porter be starting over ANYBODY? Watching our OT's getting spun around like revolving doors and not adjusting to help with chips or a TE just befuddled me.

It's easy to critisize from play to play or series to series because we are living in the moment and each play is going to work or fail. But when you look at the way this season has unfolded you can't help but give Whiz some credit.

 

[Rats]

I had high hopes for this season. I predicted we could go 10-6 after watching a week of training camp and figureing we would utilize our TE and running game on O to help the new Qb. Knew the OL still was crap but saw the Defense could be really solid. They have exceeded the expectations on the D side of the ball. If not for early losses that we should of won we are a solid playoff team. Whiz picked Horton...he is the winningest coach in our franchises history. He took us to a Warner led Super Bowl. He has not lost a team that could have easily gone south and his players both ex and current speak highly of him. I was a huge critic of his because of his offensive gameplans and his clock management but he is actually shown better decisions this year. He is our coach. He deserves our praise having been a key guy in turning the franchise around. Really hope he figures out the OL and gets us to being an annual Playoff contender. He couldn't fix everything overnight but he has lead us in the right direction. Time to give him praise. Just keep things going in the right direction. Get the Offense going. He has 2 more seasons to make it happen. RG must go. Get someone who can draft or lets see if Whiz can handle it.

 

[azsouthendzone]

He deserves a ton of praise. At 1-6 most teams go 3-13 and mail it in. Something is going on behind closed doors that has that team believing and playing hard. I am beyond impressed. I think this season has made Whisenhunt a better coach. Great job battling back. Now lets not repeat 2010 and the first half of 2011 ever again haha.

 

[Shane]

He deserves a ton of praise. At 1-6 most teams go 3-13 and mail it in. Something is going on behind closed doors that has that team believing and playing hard. I am beyond impressed. I think this season has made Whisenhunt a better coach. Great job battling back. Now lets not repeat 2010 and the first half of 2011 ever again haha.

Nice post and good to read from you! :iwin:

 

[ASUCHRIS]

He deserves a ton of praise. At 1-6 most teams go 3-13 and mail it in. Something is going on behind closed doors that has that team believing and playing hard. I am beyond impressed. I think this season has made Whisenhunt a better coach. Great job battling back. Now lets not repeat 2010 and the first half of 2011 ever again haha.

Someone's hacked AZ...

 

[azsouthendzone]

Someone's hacked AZ...

It is me....and I have never been so happy to be wrong. He hasn't been without his faults but he has proven to me beyond a doubt that he is a solid coach and has this team headed in the right direction. You don't battle back from 1-6 unless you are good. Heck I don't even remember any coach battling back from that type of record with the pressure that comes along with it. I think we will look back on the last half of this year a key moment in the evolution of this team. I was terrified that we would become bottom feeders again and it is CLEAR that is not the case with this Whisenhunt coached team.

 

[Duckjake]

He deserves a ton of praise. At 1-6 most teams go 3-13 and mail it in. Something is going on behind closed doors that has that team believing and playing hard. I am beyond impressed. I think this season has made Whisenhunt a better coach. Great job battling back. Now lets not repeat 2010 and the first half of 2011 ever again haha.

I'm with you on the repeat but everyone needs to realize we're talking about the Cardinals.

You know the team that is 2-6 and finishes 5-3 in '01, 1-8 and finishes 4-3 in '06, 3-5 and finishes 5-3 in '07. Going further back they were 3-8 and finish 4-1 in '93, 3-6 in '94 and finished 5-2 and of course there's '98 where they get blown out 71-24 over the first 2 games and make it to the 2nd round of the playoffs.

Surprising all those strong finishes for a team most of
ASFN claims would have quit after x happens isn't it? Even in 2003 after getting hammered for 7 games in a row they rose up and made 40,000 Vikings fans disappear in less than 60 seconds.

Of course they also like to go the other direction like in the Lomax years and the infamous McGinnis team that was 4-2 and finished 1-9. If I weren't such a jinx I'd say something like going 8-1 to finish this season more than makes up for that one.

 

[Mulli]

 

[Cards_Campos]

Winning 6 of last 7 and four in a row is a great rarity in the NFL. The competition is fierce and what it takes to string W's together over the course of a season is immense on the part of the players and coaches. Each week, the opponent is getting paid too. They get paid to beat you down and if you (players and coaches) don't bring 100% preparation and execution come gametime, the chances of winning dramatically fall.

In the end, the Head Coach takes the blame for losses... therefore, it's only right to give him praise for the W's as well. And when you put together a streak like this, you simply have to give the head coach his full due. Somehow, Whiz kept this team together after going 1 & 6. With a new highly paid FA QB who was playing horribly and then got hurt, forcing the team to turn to a 5th rounder out of Fordham of all places... With Dan Williams and Kerry Rhodes going down. With a less than 100% Beanie Wells and a rotational situation at RT due to injuries to Bridges and Keith, somehow, some way Whiz kept this thing together and rallied the team to a cause... I for one am amazed... as I thought I was seeing the end of the Whiz era here in the desert. I fully expected that, with back to back losses coming off the bye and sitting at 1 & 6, that Whiz was toast and that he had, or was about to, lose the team. Man was I wrong... Totally, completely and dramatically wrong...

Kudos to Whiz... The winningest coach in the history of the franchise. A guy the players absolutely support and are willing to go to battle for. And a guy I was wrong about... gladly so!!

This is probably the best written and most intelligent post I have ever read on this forum. I have been VERY skeptical of Coach Whiz....But reading this....I agree...He has done a very good job especially where he was standing after starting 1-6. This actually makes me apologize for being so upset with him. Kudos for this post.

 

[Mulli]

This is probably the best written and most intelligent post I have ever read on this forum. I have been VERY skeptical of Coach Whiz....But reading this....I agree...He has done a very good job especially where he was standing after starting 1-6. This actually makes me apologize for being so upset with him. Kudos for this post.

I accept.

 

[PACardsFan]

I could never quite understand how vitriolic everyone was towards Whiz. Sure, I was upset that we were 1-6. I also knew that it was mainly poor execution at critical times that was the culprit. For me it was simple - this was a coach that took a pretty pedestrian football team to within 2 minutes of a SB championship. I will NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER forget how I felt after the NFC Championship game. It literally reduced me to tears of joy. With the exception of a few seasons, I had only experienced misery as a Cardinal fan of 47 years! I was not and am not about to lose trust in a coach who had made that experience so special. No matter how this plays out, he'll always be the GREATEST HC in Cardinal history!

 

[OmeneX]

I was going to post a long diatribe pointing out and asking all the questions and complaints we constantly bring up here on ASFN about coach KW's own mistakes -- then try to actually attempt to understand it by applying all the mistakes or successes each and every one of us make and go thru, through our own lives. -- But skip that.

Lot's of times I just have to wonder what exactly is going on behind closed doors meetings with this team that none of us are privy to?

We hear about wanting to be a run first team, or Joey Porter is still starting, or why are we following this so called "system" and just what in blazes is this system. All we could see is a 1-6 loss. As well as trying to figure out were our previous success truely was.. Warner? Maybe Haley? Now Horton? Was any of this very little to do with Coach Whiz?

All we could do is listen to what KW says or see his results on the field. No matter how hair brained it may seem. Sometimes I have to just say to myself...wtf coach? Especially something that looks boneheaded from my vantage point.

I just gotta trust that there was indeed some rhyme or reason for that or this crazy pass play, instead of an obvious run situation. It's his job on the line - and at the end of the day he better get it right. He's got thousands of people watching.

The players (new, current, and old) and lots of the press (who have no real vested interest) in his job security seem to have good things to say and loyalty to him. Yes he does have his fair bit of detractors, but he must be doing something right. Is he giving the players all this free time that we don't really hear about, outside of "you guys get a day off". Is that why they like him only? Doubtful.

All, I'm saying is I used to be an ardent Whiz support, and I have had my fair share of swaying away from being a fan of his. Of course sometimes I sway a bit back towards him.. Winning helps.

And because I don't have the full (inside) story, and may never have that, unless some tell all book is written in the future. We are sitting @7-7 which isn't an easy thing after a 1-6 start. We don't have to give him all the credit, go forbid. But, in the grand scheme of things, we would be remiss to not give him some sorta credit.

I would go as far to say, since we aren't actually part of the team - we'll probably never know just how much credit he really deserves.

I for one hope that he is really one of the major reason our team has a seen this resurgence and that all the good things we hear from the team about him really and truly are the case.

That would make him a good coach. No matter what we as fans say or even understand when it comes to some of the crazy whacked out way pass heavy "system" he always says works.

Heck we really don't know why he is passing so much, but claiming to want to run. Coach KW is anything but a blank stare and a boring book for the most part. That works against opposing teams - and unfortunately works against the respect and understanding of us fans who are trying our damnedest to understand the guy.

When you see it like this.. you can start to understand why we as a fan base are so torn. We don't get the whole story, and are forced to see what we see with our own eyes.

And our own eyes a lot of times don't like what they see. We all know how that saying goes.. "Don't always believe what you see" I guess even if it's @ 1 win and 6 losses. What is going on behind closed doors?

In the long run - or short term though --

Good Luck Coach - You'll need it.

GO CARDINALS!!!!!

__Forgive my typos. I whipped this up in like 5 mins__

 

[OmeneX]

In a nutshell version: I just hope there is a method to Coach KW's (what looks like sometimes) madness.


--For the ppl who TLDR-- My gigantic post above.

 

[NeverSayDieFan]

GOOD post, Zeno...

There has definitelty been noticeable improvement as the year has progressed. I now see more of an over-all cohesiveness in the team.

I think that Coach Whiz' finally accepted that "youth must be served." I think of the impact plays that Scofield, Acho, Carter, and Peterson have been making lately. We know that Whiz' likes to ease the rookies in and make them earn their playing team, but if the kids are better than the vets, then you've got to play them.

The BIGGEST thing to me is that somehow he kept the team from fracturing and turning on him, and each other, when they were really struggling. That's NOT an easy thing to do.

I see momentum going into next year but the key will be...

Will mgmt. do what it takes to keep it going?? (ie; Sign Calais long-term, etc.)

 

[dreamcastrocks]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_y...F?slug=pfw-20111219_shorts_and_shells_week_15


Pretty high praise for coach Whis.

I'm willing to say he is somewhere between 6 and 10 as a head coach. That's pretty darn good, especially for the Cards.

He deserves a ton of praise. At 1-6 most teams go 3-13 and mail it in. Something is going on behind closed doors that has that team believing and playing hard. I am beyond impressed. I think this season has made Whisenhunt a better coach. Great job battling back. Now lets not repeat 2010 and the first half of 2011 ever again haha.

This is nearly exactly how I feel. He still makes plenty of mistakes. He is still fallible. This 2nd half of the year seems different. I see in-game adjustments which I never saw before this year.

 

[Shane]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_yl...shells_week_15


4. Steve Spagnuolo might be fighting for his coaching life, but the other NFC West teams have received some excellent leadership this season. Ask league insiders and they will tell you that Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt is maybe one of the seven or eight best coaches in the NFL. He's proving it this season. Week in and week out, he puts his team in a position to win no matter the health of his offense and has allowed Ray Horton to run the show for what appears to be a defense with a bright future. We also need to credit Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll for finishing strong the past two seasons, something he didn't do in his tenure a generation ago in New England. Both teams are 7-7 and mathematically in the race. Sure, they probably are the longest of long shots. But Whisenhunt and Carroll have given their teams a chance. Young teams, as these are, don't often respond to late-season coaching when all appears lost. These two guys have done well for themselves.