Snakester

It's amazing how much better a team can do when there isn't four or five turnovers. The whole defense played better this week. I seen mostly a four three D with the occasional blitz. We didn't try to get too fancy like we did last week and I think it helped out a lot. I still think we need to rush at least five if not six on passing downs. We are still not applying much pressure rushing four men. Our D-line did play better this week than the last two weeks. Having Marcus Bell and the new guy Derrick Ransom in there gave us more speed and strength on the line. I think the Ransom pickup is going to be a good one for us. He looked not only big and strong but has good agility and speed for a DT. I wonder if when Wakefield comes back the Cards will put Ransom in the DT rotation instead of LDE like they had him in the Greenbay game. From the look's of things I think Dennis Johnson will be our LDE. He is playing better and better.

Defensive line

Calvin Pace- Grade B He is playing hard and is getting some pressure on the QB. He had Favre but good on one play. He was all over the field, tackling guy's from behind and on the other side of the field. He has got the fire inside that's for sure.

Barron Tanner- Grade B The big man I thought had a good game. He was playing hard and got some penetration.

Marcus Bell- Grade B+ He did well his first week back. His strength and speed helped this line do much better this week. I still think he is the Card's best DT. Him and Bryant give us two guy's in the middle along with Ransom that can give us a pass rush from the inside.

Derrick Ransom Grade B+ This guy looks like he is going to be a good player for us. Athleticly he looks like a cross between Marcus Bell and Wendal Bryant. With his addition I no longer think we need to draft a DT in next years draft. The rotation of Bell,Bryant,Ransom,King,Tanner and Davis I think is a strong one.

Russell Davis- Grade C He should be providing a better rush with his speed. If Davis spent more time in the weight room and got stronger he could be a very good DT. Right now he is getting stopped at the line to much and not holding his ground. His strength is being a one gap lineman.

Dennis Johnson- Grade B He's playing hard. I am glad to say I don't think he is a bust. From what I have seen so far I think all he needs is more playing time to improve. If he had more speed he would be dangerous because he looks like he has the rest of the package.

LBs

Ray Thompson - Grade A. The way he is playing I think he will be the first guy that Graves tries to re-sign this year. He is all over the field and playing like a mad man.

Ron McKinnon- Grade B- I thought he had a better game this time. He is not much help in coverage. If the Card's are gonna keep him as their starter I would like to see him play the run and blitz more. I would keep him close to the line period.

Levar Fisher-Grade B- He is coming along nicely. If he can stay healthy I think we have our strong side starter. He had a nice blitz where he caught the runner in the backfield this game. I would take turns sending Raynoch and him on blitzes more.

James Darling- Grade B I thought he played good when he was in there.

DBs

David Barrett- Grade B He play's hard and tackles well and did pretty good in coverage. I think he is playing to far off his man though. I don't know if he was told to do that so that he wouldn't give up anything deep. I think he need's to be a little more agressive.

Dexter Jackson- Grade A I thought he was all over the field. He made play's against the run and pass. He look's good in every aspect of his game.

Adrian Wilson- Grade B He played better this week. I hope he keeps improving.

Other corners- Played better but need to step up more.

Duckjake

Dennis Johnson- Grade B He's playing hard. I am glad to say I don't think he is a bust. From what I have seen so far I think all he needs is more playing time to improve. If he had more speed he would be dangerous because he looks like he has the rest of the package.

What's up with this guy? All reports from camp were that he was playing himself off the team. Several people were surprised when he survived the last round of cuts. Is he just one of those guys who plays better than he practices?

Wild Card

DJ:

I think Dennis Johnson is a player who'd have benefitted greatly from staying in school for his senior year. If he had, this would've been his rookie year in the NFL.

As you're probably aware, Johnson has been a football prodigy much of his life, playing against older kids, or dominating those his own age, on the basis of natural ability. This may have been the first time he hasn't felt like a "man among boys," and had to gain strength and work on technique to compete.

That's all guesswork. What's certain is that Johnson's playing better than he was in camp, let alone a year ago. Kudos to the Cardinals coaches for not giving up on him too soon.

WC

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Tangodnzr

Good thread.

Great post Snakester.

I would add this comment in the "Others" section:

When was the last time anyone saw Hill or Rhinehart lay an aggressive hit on anyone?

Rhinehart seems to have regained most or all of his speed, after the injury. But both just don't seem to have that aggressive mentality.

I don't expect good players necessarily to be clones of anyone else, everyone has their own unique combination of skills, talents, and abilities, but they are certainly not setting the world on fire with their stellar performances on the field.

McDaniel has only played part-time in 2 games now, but already, I've seen him smack someone more than I ever see from either of these guys. I've wondered . . . is it the system they are playing under? coaching? what?
At this point my conclusion is that they both basically just suffer from "the Peter Principle". (everyone rises to their own level of incompetancy).

Sometimes its easy to make judgement by oversimplifyied catagorizing of someone into a cnvenient little pidgeon hole.
With CB's I know common terms used tend to be good/poor: coverage skills, speed, aggressiveness, size, tackling ability, etc.

When it comes to aggressiveness, I see players like Dion, or Fred Smoot, (whose style I personally don't care for) who are good "coverage" guys but wimps physically. They don't lack for confidence and though they suck at physically doing much to a receiver, are still cocky and confident in their ability to prevent a reception or get a pick. So they are still aggressive in their own way. I see Starks somewhat in that same mold.
Rhinehart and Hill just don't seem to be. . . for whatever reason.

Snakester

I wish I could have seen him in camp to give you an opinion one way or the other. All that I have seen is his play the first three games and he seem's to be improving each week. Although he did play a lot more these last two game's. What I have been seeing is he has good ball awareness and is tackling well. I think the Card's should keep him in there at LDE.

Snakester

That was a good hit by McDaniel wasn't it. I agree with what your saying.

I will add this though. With Hill and Rhinehart getting so much playing time this year they should get comfortable enough to show what the've got from mid-season on. If they are still playing too far off their man and not going for the ball we know they are not NFL material. Corners have to have confidence in themselves before anyone can have it in them.