Texans 33 Cardinals 20 Analysis

August 18, 2007 by Walter Mitchell

The Cardinals’ home pre-season opener, a 33-20 loss to the Houston Texans, was disappointing in many ways. In some respects, a pre-season disappointment can be the best thing to happen to a team, particularly if the team is able to correct its mistakes and start to compensate for its glaring weaknesses. Coaches and players will downplay the pre-season disappointment by saying that the schemes were vanilla. In my way of thinking, this type of rationale is flawed, that is, unless the so-called vanilla Cardinal defense, for example, was resigned–even before the game began–to giving up outside contain on every play and allowing the Texans’ quarterbacks ample time to pick out wide open receivers, particularly on third and longs.The Disappointments and What May Be Learned From Them:

I. Ruining the early momentum of the game by not being able to convert a 4th and inches in the red zone. On the play, FB Terrelle Smith was unable to properly block the edge defender who was collapsing the play. On the interior, G Reggie Wells got a good block on his man, but C Al Johnson allowed his man, the Texans’ nose tackle to scrape inside underneath Wells’ block, thus clogging the hole. RB Edgerrin James went down with contact and did not fight for the extra inches.

What May Be Learned: (1) scheme-wise, instead of having the TE release to block on the second level, perhaps it would be wiser to assign him to seal off the edge defender, so the edge defender cannot get into the Cardinals’ backfield as quickly as he did; (2) Terrelle Smith should remind himself that his job as a lead FB in a short-yardage situation is to obliterate the first flash of color, and that that flash can often come more quickly than expected, particular when no one was assigned to block the edge defender; (3) C Al Johnson should know that it is imperative to protect the play-side gap and not allow the NT to ride him into the hole; (4) Edgerrin James should be reminded to keep his feet beneath him, lower his shoulder on contact and keep the feet firing like pistons until he’s sure he’s picked up the yardage; (5) Perhaps the better RB for this situation is Marcel Shipp, who was utilized well in the short-yardage RB role last year. 

II. Defensive Loss of Outside Contain. Not only was it embarrassingly non-existent in this game, it has been a major flaw and weakness of Clancy Pendergast’s defenses over the past three years. The Cardinal defense is so obsessed with stopping the run that the edge defenders, be they DEs or OLBers, bite or slide hard inside virtually every single time when the flow is away from them. Is the term “stay at home” even in their vocabulary?

What May Be Learned: (1)  If the defensive coaches are not teaching outside contain and emphasizing it and insisting upon it, the defensive coaches should be replaced; (2) If QB Alex Smith, for example, is allowed to bootleg without a Cardinal defender being within ten yards of him, the way Matt Schaub and Sage Rosenfelds did at will this afternoon, count on the Cardinals being 0-1; (3) Is outside contain hard to teach? No way…it’s simple…if you are the edge defender that’s your PRIMARY run responsibility. So, if the flow is away from you, play the bootleg, end around and counter by getting some depth into the backfield…from there it’s your job to snuff the play out or at least turn the play inside to where your help is.

 III. The Bend But Don’t Break Defense: Isn’t that term really a euphemism for the “we don’t really have to cover anyone, as long as we keep the receivers in front of the safeties defense” or, better yet, the “loose zone defense.”

What May Be Learned: (1) This defense HAS TO GO…NOW; (2) Not only is this defense easy to attack, it gives up far too easy first downs, especially on third and longs; (3) While the defense is giving up all those sustained drives, the Cardinal offense is on the sidelines for too many long stretches, which hurts their momentum; (4) If you are going to play zones, play them right…which means the players have to get into their drops quickly and then ZONE BECOMES MAN, because it’s a players job to COVER the man in his zone until the man is leaving his zone, in which case he is supposed to communicate with the teammate he’s turning the man over to; (5) If you don’t play some man-to-man in the NFL, you are asking to lose…look at what the Texans did to the Cardinals today…on third and three, with the Cardinals lining up in “bunched trips (3 WRs)” the Texans went man and jumped inside the routes, which caused Steve Breaston to narrow his route, and caused Shane Boyd to throw where he thought Breaston would be, only a Texan DB was there to pick the ball off instead; (6) For as long as Clancy Pendergast has been the DC in Arizona, we fans have not seen any concerted effort on his part to play aggressive in-your-face man-to-man defense, particularly on TEs and WRs who run routes into the middle or short flats. If this does not change…the Cardinals will continue to lose more than they win, guaranteed.

IV. The Special Teams’ Meltdown. Happens seemingly every game, doesn’t it? Why is that? How can one NFL team be so inept seemingly every game of every year at one key facet of the game? Here’s the truth and this is what has to change: the Cardinal players as a whole do not take pride in playing special teams and they do not take pride in playing tough. They are not first-rate competitors who understand how to sustain or change the momentum of a game in their favor.

What May be Learned: (1) the discipline for tacklers to stay in the lanes and take proper pursuit angles to the ball; (2) the toughness to take on a block, shed it and still make a play on the ball; (3) the ability to hang a punt long enough to put the receiving team at a disadvantage; (4) finding a punter who will actually make an athletic attempt to save a touchdown…today’s effort from the punter, Scott Player, was a disgrace, as not only did he make no effort to come anywhere near the return man, when the return man raced by him, he didn’t even run after him…this is inexcusable. If the punter makes no effort, the Cardinals are always playing 10 versus 11 on punt returns.

What’s Encouraging:

1. The QB play…Leinart and Warner were both sharp, combining for 14/16 passes, for 159 yards and 1 TD.

2. The Flea Flicker…Boldin to Fitz…although the timing of the play was off, seeing as Fitz needs to disguise the play at first by jogging like it’s a run play and then taking off…the play was a great way for Whiz to introduce his offense to the home fans.

3. The Improved O-Line Play. The Cardinals are getting their money’s worth from Russ Grimm. The o-line play in the first half today was strong…very good pass protection, and solid run blocking. Hey, have we seen the RB get blown up in the backfield yet? Not even close. Levi Brown was quite good in this game…and Reggie Wells played perhaps his best half at guard since he’s been a Cardinal.

4. The Involvement of Other Receivers. Ahmad Merritt was winning himself a roster spot today, by selling go-routes to perfection, turning under the coverage and catching the underneath balls with aplomb. So heartbreaking to see him break his ankle. You gotta feel for a high effort guy like Merritt who has wanted so badly to make this roster after being out of football a couple of years. At least Merritt will be compensated with a year’s salary or an injury settlement. But still, this guy was hungry, not only to play, but to make an impact.

Others stepped up, like Ben Patrick, who looked like Ben Watson of the Patriots in this game, particularly on that unbelievable one handed catch he made…like Steve Breaston, who is showing excellent speed and hands in the offense and has been electrifying in the return game…like Sean Morey, who caught 5 passes for 45 yards and 1 TD today…Tim Castille has a nice 22 yard catch and Michael Spurlock a nice 21 yarder…

5. DE Chris Cooper…seemingly the only Cardinal defensive lineman making plays on the QB.

6. The Mike Linebackers…Gerald Hayes has been outstanding…and, in relief, so has Pago Tagafau.

7. The Corner Play of Green and Hood. These guys are fiesty and hungry…and quick.

8. Neil Rackers…simply awesome thus far.

9. Team Unity and Morale. Better than ever…it was great watching Matt Leinart running over to congratulate Roderick Hood for a red zone stop…to watch Larry Fitzgerald run over to console Ahmad Merritt…to watch Roderick Hood give Sean Morey a big hug after Morey scored a TD. Credit the coaches and the players for starting to become a real team…offense pulling for defense and vice versa.

10. Whiz’s playcalling…best we’ve seen in ages and it’s only the pre-season!

What To Do About the Defense?

Didn’t we all jump out of our seats watching the stops Antrel Rolle made in run support today? This is why the team needs to alter his role so that he can do what he does best…be aggressive in run support, and rather than cover a WR in space, cover the flat in zone or cover a TE man-to-man. Roderick Hood and Eric Green are clearly the two best cover corners. Clancy Pendergast needs to get creative with Rolle, because he belongs on the field in some capacity.

What Pendergast is likely more concerned about are his linebackers…this just in: beside Gerald Hayes, the Cardinal linebackers are not very good at all. The coaches have been raving about Karlos Dansby at 3-4 WLB, but today the Texans exploited him running power dives and screens to his side…Dansby is a good chaser…but he’s not a stalwart at taking on direct flow. On the outside, Bertrand Berry looks too slow, and the Pace/Blackstock combo combined for 2 tackles and 0 QB pressures today.

Let’s face it: the Cardinals are in trouble at linebacker. Further muddying this situation has been the less than stellar play of 3rd round pick Buster Davis, who was supposed to bring real spirit and energy to the defense, but has looked sluggish, tentative and out of shape. The only real surprise has been Pago Tagafau, who is a classic ankle biter.

In my opinion, Pendergast needs to revert back to the 4-3 as the base defense…play Berry at his natural RDE spot…Hayes is quite good in the middle…protect him with Branch and Watson at tackles…play Dockett at LDE, Beisel at SLB (whose got the smarts, instinct and tackling ability that Pace and Blackstock lack) and Dansby at WLB….and at times, insert Rolle for Beisel and play a double SS scheme with Adrian Wilson. In passing situations, Chris Cooper and Antonio Smith become the rush DTs.

With Green and Hood at the corners, the Cardinals need to find a nickel back…Rolle would be fine there in zone schemes, but in man, maybe Darrell Hunter with his speed, could do a job there. But the sleeper choice may be Michael Adams, who seems to have the quickness and the knack for jumping routes. He did a nice job late in the game stopping a 4th and 3 slant pass, for example.

What we see from the Cardinals versus Denver next week, will be very interesting. If noticeable changes aren’t visible, this could be a very long season at a time when fans are just starting to hope for a winner.

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