Comments on: Chargers 33 Cardinals 31 Analysis

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 15:47:43 +0000

Cardinals 17 Chargers 17. That was the score first string against first string. We played almost stride for stride with maybe a top 5 team in the league. Granite, a certain all-pro running back didn’t play, but if you remember in the final game of last year, we almost came out with a victory and they were 13-2 at the time. I don’t know how many of you guys have actually played football, but the Cardinals in pre-season are running a basic man coverage. Man to man coverage leaves gaps and holes all over the field. That is why you see long drives against us this pre-season. Antrel Rolle is getting lost out there, but I feel it’s a combination of him feeling he had security at that left corner spot and getting beat man to man. Mel Kiper when we drafted Rolle, stated that he is not exceptional at man to man coverage but has the ability to recover and his ball hawking skills are out of this world. Hmmm. Pretty accurate description. I feel Rolle is still finding his game and will be fine. Gentleman, it’s just pre-season. Basic packages and basic coaching, September 10th is our real test and then we can go on and on about what sucks. But for now, TGIF. (Thank God It’s Football)

By: SoCal cardfan

SoCal cardfan — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 04:47:33 +0000

Can I be so bold as to add a name to your goat list?

Kurt Warners handoff to the defense.

I respect Kurt, given time and a solid pocket, he will still scorch defenses if called upon, however, his lack of ball security scares me every time he takes a snap.

By: lobo

lobo — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:13:12 +0000

Outsandting piece of writing.
Some interesting stuffl Generally speaking many of us saw the offensive line getting better with outstanding coaching and creative play calling. Both seem to be happening. The better the line keeps playing the sooner Grimm gets a one way ticket out of town (sad). KW is doing a great job with his staff…Haley etc in calling plays.\

As I said weeks ago…the vanilla stuff is a who lot of hooey (sp). It does not make up for careless play, out of positions play etc. I wish I could say they are really hiding something that they will unfold when the bell sounds. LB and DB play leaves a whole lot to be desired and again as I said before we are NOT going to win every shootout we get into. This game was a good example of that.

By: soyuztm

soyuztm — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 18:28:56 +0000

All in all they did play a tam the was 14-2 last season and is a preseason favorite on many blogs to be in Glendale in February. New schemes new coaches this team still has a lot to learn. hopefully they’ll get better as the season progresses.

By: BuckyBird

BuckyBird — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 00:50:08 +0000

Beerz, I am tired of people saying “Move Rolle to safety”. People who think Rolle can play at this level (CB or safety) are looking at Antrels draft position not the game tapes. He needs to be on the first cut list. Get it over with, let our team move on. This teams best defensive fit is the 4-3, I have said it all along. Will Dansby make a buch of tackles? Yes, but with Bert our only hope for a pass rush Karlos needs to play OLB. Preseason is now over for our starters, pray the D comes around or we will have to score 30 pts to win!!!

By: BEERZ

BEERZ — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 21:41:11 +0000

First you get 10 points for using “cacophony”.

At this point I think we are forced to use A-Dub in the box more as a LB with the absence of Okeafor. We have no depth at LB so the next best thing is to use A-Dubs skills up front & then I would let Rolle & Francisco play the two Saftey spots, as Holt has shown me nothing… JMO

By: CardinalChris

CardinalChris — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 20:33:57 +0000

I have to disagree on Dockett and Smith. You make the same comments you have all offseason, but I saw Dockett hustle, disrupt and be near or involved in quite a few plays. Now I am not saying he is playing up to his contract, but he is performing better than “nada”. And Smith made 3 plays, mostly in pursuit, splitting time in the D-line rotation. I was more disappointed in Dansby not making plays behind the line of scrimmage. Most of them seemed to be 5 yards down field. I’d like to see him fill much better. I also am getting the impression that Berry is fast becoming a rotational guy. The problem being that with Dansby in the middle and Chike on the shelf, that means we are back to Berry as our pass rush, with a little Wilson mixed in. The team needs him to be Betrand from 2 years ago or this will be the 205th ranked defense.

By: Skkorpion

Skkorpion — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 20:25:38 +0000

The vaunted Chargers defense looked as bad as ours. Why is that?

Could it be that this is pre-season and they were playing base vanilla schemes too?

How many times did we have Adrian Wilson playing deep instead of up on the line as a disrupter? A bunch.

Enjoyed the write-up but the usual panic about the defense is unwarranted.

By: David

David — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 19:39:59 +0000

thanks for your reports Mitch. I always enjoy reading them. If you remember I thought Rolle would be our suprise player this year. Unfortunately, the surprise is how poorly he is playing. He looks confused as the nickel back. His play in more like an undrafted rookie than a third year player. On the good side the OL is looking good but still needs improvement on run blocking. Special teams is improving but we still need better blocking on punt returns. Hopefully the defensive play will be better when the regular season starts and we start scheming againist the oppoising offense.

By: Garthshort

Garthshort — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 19:13:14 +0000

Thanks, Walter. As you and everyone else have said the problem is with the defense. Is it possible that we don’t have the personnel to play the 3-4? And in fairness to Clancy, he’s a 4-3 guy, isn’t he? So my question is, should we revert to a 4-3, and start Berry, Dockett, Watson and Cooper across the front? Then we only have to come up with one LB to go along with Dansby (W) and Hayes (M). Now we’re in a defense, foreign to the DC, and without even one OLB (who is supposed to provide the PR). KW would be showing me something if he has the “B@#$” to admit that the 3-4 isn’t working. JMO.