Plenty of Bucs

November 4, 2007 by Walter Mitchell

Amazingly the Cardinals had the ball–down 17-10–and very much still in the game with 2:47 left, despite the fact that the Cardinal defense spent 43:07 agonizing minutes on the field, trying to thwart a persistent Bucs offense that ran and passed its way for 350 yards. Unfortunately, QB Kurt Warner threw an errant deep sideline pass that was ruled an interception by Jermaine Phillips–even though a booth review would have overturned the call, if the Cardinals still had the capacity to throw the red challenge flag–a prerogative they lost when they had expended all three of their timeouts. Regardless, the Cardinals did not deserve to win this game, as they were dominated by the Bucs on both sides of the ball. Position Analysis:

QB: Kurt Warner, playing once again with a heavily braced left elbow, started the game very well, completing his first two passes for 54 yards, the second of which was a perfectly throw fade pass to Larry Fitzgerald, who looked like he would score on the play, had he not stepped on the sideline. After that pass to Fitzgerald, Warner was throwing balls late and into coverage…and if the Buc defenders weren’t getting to the ball itself, they were laying licks on the exposed Cardinal WRs who had to reach up for most of the balls, thus making it almost impossible to hang onto the ball. Warner directed an excellent fourth quarter drive out of the hurry-up…but was three and out on his first chance to tie the game and 1 and out on his second. Warners stats: 10/30 (33%)–172 yards–0 TD–2 INT.

The questions about Warner remain: (1) Can he win games in a conventional offense as a starter? The reality is that Josh McCown had as many wins as a starter his last year in Arizona three years ago, as Warner has had in his two and a half years as a Cardinal’. (2) For a team that plays in so many close games, is Warner’s propensity to turn the ball over the Achilles heel of this team? (3) Can the Cardinals afford to run the hurry-up, which is Warner’s forte, more often than not?

RB: The highlight of Edgerrin James’ day was his tough, three yard TD run with 7:30 left in the 4th quarter, that pulled the Cards to within seven at 17-10. That was James’ longest run of the day, as he finished with 9 carries for a paltry 15 yards. J.J. Arrington ran twice for 7 yards (3.5) and made a nice 11 yard chain-moving catch on the one successful TD drive. Marcel Shipp carried once for one yard.

The question here remains whether the Cardinals did the right thing by passing on stud rookie RB Adrian Peterson who rushed for a staggering 285 yards today versus the Chargers. What makes this scenario even more tantalizing is the fact that even after a bye week and a return to good health, T Levi Brown, taken one spot ahead of Peterson, did not even start this game. Brown looks like he has a bright future as a solid NFL tackle…but, Peterson is looking like the LaDainian Tomlinson of the NFC.

OL: The Bucs are speedy up front, but they are not overly physical…but the Cardinal o-line in this game got out-quicked all day on running plays. They gave Warner adequate time in pass protection…although Warner was cleary feeling the Bucs’ pressure more often than not. LT Mike Gandy jumped off-sides twice, both times putting the offense in a hole…Deuce Lutui got flagged for holding and for a late hit…all in all, the play from this unit was disappointing, especially after abye week when the chemistry and focus should have been much stronger.

The question here is why Elton Brown remians the starter at RT over Levi Brown. Elton Brown has been more than adequate and deserves credit, but one would think Levi Brown, the 5th player taken in this year’s draft would be the clear-cut choice talent-wise.

WR/TE: Larry Fitzgerald was the one Cardinal WR who managed to hold onto a pass after getting drilled…and it was this very catch, on third and long, that kept the one TD drive moving. Fitzgerald, who leads the NFC in receptions and yards, added to his totals today, catching 4 passes for 95 yards. Anquan Boldin was slow to get up after his first catch…and made a nice grab late, but otherwise was drop happy and/or invisible in this game. One would think that a return to his home state of Florida would have inspired him…yet, Boldin finished the day with a mere 3 catches for 40 yards. Bryant Johnson caught one pass for 14 yards, and Jerheme Urban caught one pass for 12 yards, and failed to hang on to a couple others up the seam when he was drilled by the Buc safeties. TE Leonard Pope slowed down on the seam route that was intercepted and committed a facemask penalty on the play (Note: this is a pass that needs to be thrown earlier–when he was wide open–and should not have been thrown up for grabs). Otherwise, Pope and Troy Bienemann were total non-factors in the game.

The questions here are…(1) Why the Cardinals still lack a bona-fide deep threat WR to deepen the opponent’s safeties up…the Buc safeties could sit still all game and just break on every ball; (2) Why the Cardinals ignore the TE so much in the passing game…if there’s a playcaller in the NFL who knows how to utilize TEs in the passing game, it’s Ken Whisenhunt; (3) Why the Cardinals have 4 TEs on their roster after electing to place Matt Leinart on the IR.

DL: Darnell Dockett looks like he is on his way to Honolulu…this guy was all over the field making plays…to the tune of 10 tackles (9 solo) and 2 sacks, raising his sack total to 8 on the season (an average on 1 per game thus far). Calvin Pace added 8 tackles, played smart, but fatigued late—being on the field for 43 minutes had a lot to do with that, for sure. Bertrand Berry played a physical game….recording 4 tackles and several pressures, but whiffed on what should have been an easy third down sack on Jeff Garcia, because he went for the strip and not the tackle. Gabe Watson and Alan Branch were so-so at best (combining for 2 tackles) as Earnest Graham pounded the middle of the Cardinal defense for 124 yards on 34 carries.

LB: The Cardinals have a tough-nose player at WILB in Monty Beisel. Beisel led the team again in tackles with 12. Gerald Hayes added 8 of his own and a sack, but was a bit of a liability in coverage as he stood flat-footed in key third down situations.

DB: Eric Green and Roderick Hood had solid afternoons…and they now have been joined on a more regular basis by Antrel Rolle who is playing a hybrid nickel. Rolle was an effective tackler in this game, finishing with 9 (6 solos).

The Cardinal safeties were vastly outplayed by the Bucs’ tandem of Jermaine Phillips and Tanard Jackson, who laid the wood on every Cardinal who tried to catch a ball up the middle, seam or sideline. The now under-achieving Adrian Wilson made little noise in this game…which makes one wonder what’s going on with him and whether he is being used properly…and FS Terrence Holt continues to be the weakest link on the defense…the one ball he had lined up, he whiffed on, allowing Joey Galloway a 37 yard TD…and if one watches the efforts Holt made in trying to tackle Earnest Graham, the term shy would be generous.

STs: Pretty solid all day…it was good to see Neil Rackers connect right down the middle on his 47 yarder early on. Mike Barr averaged 42 yards on 7 punts…and KR/PR Steve Breaston made the most of the little room he had to run with, and did a spectacular job holding onto the last punt when he was pummeled by Maurice Stovall. The biggest bummer was losing Aaron Francisco to injury (knee)…as he was playing well and aggressive in coverage.

Coaching: The thing to give Ken Whisenhunt, Russ Grimm, Clancy Pendergast, Kevin Spencer, and the staff the most credit for…8 for 8 in close games…even in this one, a game which the Cardinal offense was about as ineffective as it’s been all year, the Cardinals still had a chance to tie the score late. The team did get lucky when Matt Bryant hooked an easy 29 yarder that would have most likely salted the game away at that time (a 20-3 lead). But Whiz and company seem to have a knack for keeping games close. The bye week from an offensive standpoint was a wasted opportunity obviously and thus, was extremely disappointing. Pendergast did try his best to confuse Garcia…but Pendy’s troops were on the field so long, it was hard to maintain such confusion versus such a wily and competitive veteran QB.

The challenge for the Cardinals is to find a way to click on both sides of the football, much the way the Bucs were doing today. The Bucs kept pounding away at the Cardinals and didn’t take anything for granted. Earnest Graham ran super hard all day and Garcia kept plugging and plugging. Meanwhile the Bucs’ defense was stacking three-and-outs and making intimidating hits.

The Cards seem to have offense when they don’t have defense…and vice versa. This is what Whisenhunt needs to change, while building the mental and physical toughness it takes to win games down the stretch and/or put games away, if and when they get the chance to.

The task gets all the more challenging as the Lions roar into Arizona next week coming off a first-rate spanking of the Denver Broncos.

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