Mitch
Crawled Through 5 FB Fields
This wasn't a game of football...it was a colossal game of "keep-away"...
How tremendously agonizing it was for us Cardinal fans to watch the Falcons---a team that had scored only one TD in all of pre-season and game one (3 field goals was all)---march at ease down the field for long time consuming, chain moving drives, scoring with such ease and such little resistance (to the tune of a whopping 21 first half first downs...that's more than TEN in each quarter)...then to watch a totally inept and out-of-sync Cardinal offense implode time and time again (save for one perfectly run off-tackle play) failing to convert one single third down in the entire game...
was the word agonizing a strong enough descriptor?
I am still trying to get some of the splashes of cheese dip off my flat-screen today, are you?
The most fitting and ironic denouement of this egregious "keep-away" was the fact that the Falcons, who pounded the ball down the Cardinals' throats all day, decided to take four straight knees at the Cardinals' 5 yard line to offer a gesture of good sportsmanship...yet...because they were unable to run out the clock...they had to hand the ball back over!
This presented HC Ken Whisenhunt with his most precarious dilemma of the afternoon. Should he reciprocate by having his offense take a knee themselves? Should he be bold enough to throw a pass? Or should he simply call a perfunctory running play...which would indicate that they wanted to thank the Falcons for their last minute generosity and not give the illusion that his team was quitting on the game...
a game that his team quit on, one could argue, well before the game even began.
You see---this is what's wrong with Whisenhunt's Cardinals---which is why no Cardinal fan should feel indignant, miffed or slighted when the pundits pick them to get thrashed in a game or rank them in the 20s---
because this kind of sh-- happens far too often and it destroys the team's credibility...and quite frankly it destroys the team's local and national likeability (esp. for those who are looking for teams to like).
Thus---last night and today all of us are walking around in a daze trying to figure out how a pro Bowler like Adrian Wilson can claim one week earlier to the FOX crew and the nation about his team that "the road to the NFC West Championship still goes through Arizona"...and then watch his team...a week later look like it wants no business playing football...or at least playing it hard...or playing it even remotely like Champions.
So what happens to this team that it shuts down completely like this?
It's a great day for theorists...so after thinking about this consciously and sub-consciously for the past 24 hours...here's what I think I know:
1. The Arizona players will only play hard: (a) when they collectively think they can win; (b) when they want to play hard; (c) when they have individual incentives to play hard; (d) when they are desperate to re-prove themselves.
This---in light of these repeated blowouts and meltdowns---is what I fear:
2. The Arizona players do not listen to their coaches because in most cases they don't respect them. They certainly won't play hard for their coaches unless it suits their own purposes to play hard. Now don't get me wrong...I think they LIKE their coaches (because they are nice guys who let them play and don't make them pay)...but...do they really respect them? If they did, they would NEVER play a game like they way they did yesterday...let alone play essentially three of their last five games the way they did yesterday. It's no wonder no one wanted to look John Lott in the eye on the sideline yesterday. Of anyone the players let down yesterday it was Lott...because he didn't push these guys all off-season to roll over like pansies. He must have been the loneliest man in the building...must have felt like he started with his men at the base of Camelback and turned around only to find he was the only one making the hike.
3. The Arizona players have every excuse in the book. They won't say them directly...but they practice them. If you give them any reason to mitigate the scenario...they'll take it....such as traveling...traveling on holidays....traveling on a short week...getting bad scheduling matchups.
4. The players have already scanned the schedule like the fans do and they already know which games they plan to show up for. The sad part is that now without Kurt Warner to bail them out (no wonder he lost the fun of the game with these guys)---the games they think they are going to win---nuh-nuh-nuh---may not be so easy this time around...because without the Warner fear-factor, opponents are licking their chops.
Take the Rams' game last week...it looked evident that right from the start the Cardinal players were getting chippy about getting hit and getting hit hard...even Adrian Wilson nearly got himself ejected after he made a big whoopie about getting tackled hard after his first interception and then wound up throwing a punch in the direction of a Ram that fortunately was not flagged and esp. fortunately did not connect.
But...see...the Ram game was a game the Cardinals intended to win so they HAD to play hard...harder than they bargained for. Much harder. After a soft camp...they were sore...so...why even bother putting it back on the line in Atlanta?
How do you know a team wants no business of playing BEFORE the opening kickoff?
When the team starts the game by committing a penalty on its first defensive snap (for a totally senseless personal foul...again, where a Cardinal player is chippy about getting hit---who later gets chippy again and gets ejected)...a penalty on its first STs play (which cost the team a TD for LSH, one of the few players who came to play)...and a penalty on its first offensive play...and that was only the beginning...the flags kept flying almost every play there for a while.
Offensive Notes:
* The Hightower TD...a thing of beauty...the interior line sealed off the Falcons' interior to perfection as Reagan Maui'a and Brandon Keith slammed open the gaping hole like they were slamming through the swinging doors of a saloon. Hightower hit that hole like a real pro...and it should be noted that he was on a mission to atone for last week's mistakes.
As great as this play was...it seems almost impossible to fathom that, as FOX pointed out---with a 50 pound per player size advantage up front, THT carried the ball a mere 11 times in the game---especially since the Steelers won their game with Falcons last week on a 50 yard plus running play in OT.
The FOX crew tried to explain that Whiz's preference is to run the ball, because of his Steelers' background---er---it just ain't so---not in Arizona. Whiz has become enamored with a more wide open attack where he can matriculate the ball down the field with a quartet of talented WRs, and run the ball when he has the defense on its heels. This IS Whiz's offense...otherwise, by now, especially by now w/o Warner, there would have been an emphasis placed on a smashmouth mentality...which to this day, even with Russ Grimm as AOC and OLC has not been implemented.
* The problem Whiz has right now is that he is having trouble scaring teams with Anderson's big arm because DA doesn't have the time to throw the deep ball. Teams won't stop blitzing because it works two ways to their advantage...they can stuff the runs on the way to the QB and force fumbles with sudden hits and when they get to the QB they can pound him...and with DA being so erratic they are not worried about getting consistently beaten...the way teams were worried when Warner was finding the hot receivers and MAKING THEM PAY!
With DA the hot receivers don't even have their heads turned to see the ball...it's happened a couple of times in two games with S-Williams and yesterday the most egregious example occurred on a missed third down wide-open quick out pass to LSH. Both the QB and the receivers have to be on the same page. Yesterday they were not even on the same chapter.
* What the offense has been forced to become---as it was with Warner---is more of a dink and dunk offense---most of the passes are well under 20 yards and are actually in the under 10 yard range.
This is fine and can lead to long drives and a flurry of points as we've seen the last two years, except that this year Whiz has the wrong QB for this type of offense. DA's no dink and dunker...he's a QB that needs a running game so that he can play action to buy time for deep strikes down the field that would cause DCs to take their safeties out of the box.
* The good news is...Whiz has a good dink and dunker in Max Hall, who is far more nifty afoot and far more accurate. The problem is Whiz hasn't had the chance to give Hall enough first team reps in practice yet. But...Whiz let the cat out of the bag when he told Peter King that Hall was the best QB in TC. By Whiz's own mantra...the best players play. If Hall wasn't a rookie, he'd be in there already.
For now, what Whiz needs to do is what he did with Warner his first year: make Hall the hurry-up QB...which is up tempo dinking and dunking...right up Hall's alley (weird pun, somewhat intended)...that way he gives Hall a chance to move the team and grow accustomed to the games...and when the time is right, if DA does not make strong enough improvements...move Hall in as the starter.
* The thing is---the sooner Whiz and the team gets excited about the prospects at the QB position again, the better. If serious QB doubts remain, will Steve Breaston want to stick around? Fitz after next year (which Reddog was right on top of)?
* Anderson's style may be an issue as well. Sure it's cool to look all loosey-goosey, that is, if you actually play like it...and he looks it prior to the snaps---yet when when he gets the ball, he tenses up and starts to panic. There's little cool in his actual game. Can this be fixed? No so sure at this point.
* This team needs to be MUCH more greedy (that way ALL games matter)...Warner didn't want just to win, he wanted to light up the scoreboard and get EVERYONE their just-deserved stats. Fitz loves this...he relishes both winning and building the numbers...and so should the defensive players who could garner Pro Bowl votes with tackles, interceptions, sacks and forced fumbles...but this team---does not look greedy or hungry enough for those things.
* Hard to believe that after last week---and with the Falcons not employing any super tricky coverage schemes, the focus was still strictly on passing the ball to Fitz and not Breaston (who was relegated mostly to just a few three yard passes?). Right now, Breaston should get the main attention...then when all eyes are on him, turn Fitz loose. In the interim, Fitz will get stronger and faster.
Defensive Notes:
* Props to three relative newcomers who, IMO, played the hardest yesterday: Toler, Washington and Lenon. They had their fair share of struggles (particularly because the Falcons were able to get clear path blocks on the ILBers thanks to a very lackluster performance up front, but the ILBers made strong efforts to fight through the blocks and managed to make some plays...and Toler was the toughest tackler again and was in good position to make plays in coverage, although he missed some of them obviously).
* Ever since the Bears' pre-season game, Bill Davis and Donnie Henderson have employed a very smart scheme by having DRC play RCB and take that side away and have Toler play LCB aggressively with Rhodes or another safety helping behind him. Then last week they threw a 4th quarter wriinkle by switching DRC to LCB which surprised Bradford and caused him to have to make his progressions to his left...where they intercepted him.
No team had beaten this thus far. Why change? Why get too cute?
On the first snap DRC was at LCB as he was assigned to Roddy White. The thing is...first of all, White is good, but not elite...secondly, double teaming him to Toler's side is just as aggressive as DRC solo, if not moreso.
The point is...why try to fix something that wasn't broken? Maybe adjust during the game if you are forced to...but...the same thing happened last year when the Cardinals had a great scheme for Brett Favre and played their best defensive game of the year, only to scrap the scheme the next week for SF in a game where the defense---with a different scheme---proved to be far less effective covering a less talented QB and WR unit.
* Davis has been extremely slow to react to what's hurting the defense most: the double teaming of the team's key dispruptor, Darnell Dockett. The reaction CANNOT be to still line up Bryan Robinson at NT, because he is no threat. Remember how DD has been exhorting Dan Williams to be the force he needs beside him at NT. The reason is, if no one threatens the A gap (guard/center) to DD's side, the guard can just double DD all day. If need be, slide Campbell into the A gap to DD's side and stack the run at the other DE with Alan Branch. As soon as you threaten the guard to DD's side, DD will be in the backfield again. Kenny Iwebema could threaten that gap in spot duty as well. If the front 3 don't get penetration, this defense is, as we saw yesterday, in trouble.
* Next thing---loved to see Joey Porter take offense to yesterday's loss...this team needs his leadership so badly...but...and this is a key thing...Porter is exerting so much energy defending the run and pass on normal downs that when it's time for him to edge rush, he's not fresh. At his age...the team really needs to consider playing Will Davis on run downs so that Porter can hammer that edge when the defense needs him on passing downs. A tired Porter---combined with a double teamed Dockett and no NT threat...renders the pass rush largely ineffective and at times non-existant. This HAS to change if the Cardinals have any chance.
The smartest thing to do is have Porter do ONE thing: rush his edge with power and speed. That's it.
* This HAS to be the year where the defense carries the offense...this is why yesterday's no-show was so troubling.
* Did anyone see Karlos Dansby's clutch goal-line stop on Adrian Peterson yesterday? In the last three years in Arizona with CP and BD as DCs, I never once saw Dansby step up to meet a ball carrier squarely in the hole AND lower his pad level to make a textbook stop like that. That was my chief knock on Dansby...great on the easy lateral chase stuff and pass defense, but never a step up into the hole stuffer.
Here's the point. This is why games like yesterday happen for the Cardinals. The gravitas amongst the coaches is not weighty enough for them to get these kinds of efforts from players like Dansby. Dansby never had to do any of the dirty work at his job in AZ...never had to blow up a screen or plug a hole...he just did what he wanted to...like most of the players did yesterday, which didn't include taking anyone head on.
Special Teams Notes:
* Great day for LSH wasted, by his teammates and later by his own mistake.
* Lackluster effort from just about everyone else.
Coaching Notes:
* Might have been the worst coached game by Whiz in his tenure here...and in his home state with his family and friends on hand, to boot. His team looked unwilling, unprepared and totally unfocused...and he did very little to shake the tree---something he's been sometimes good at.
* His decision to try a 54 yard FG at the end of the first half with a 4th and 3 was regrettable.
* Even worse, I never thought I'd see Whiz quit on the team (which, by virtue of how uninspired his players were was perhaps understandable...but its still the first half)...which---unless he uncharacteristically lost count of his TOs and the clock---is what he did at the end of the first half after Levi Brown fortunately pounced on DA's fumble. With one TO left Whiz allowed the clock to wind down from 20 seconds to 5 before calling the TO. I cannot believe that Fitz or someone else didn't intervene sooner.
With 20 seconds left...and the clock stopped you have time for a strike downfield...a spike and another FG try.
If you get the FG there, it's 24-10. You get the ball first and score it's 24-17 and suddenly you have a ball game.
With 5 seconds left you have no shot, save a fluke Hail Mary...which from that distance was not going to happen anyway, as we saw....although, it sure looked like Max Komar was interfered with on the pass inside the 10. But, when the refs sense a team is quitting...they want to get to the locker room themselves.
It made no sense to go for the 54 yarder a few plays earlier and not even try with 20 second left to get in position for another.
* Plus, he waited far too long to get Max Hall some snaps. It wasn't like it was a close game, like last week. Hall deserved a better chance.
How tremendously agonizing it was for us Cardinal fans to watch the Falcons---a team that had scored only one TD in all of pre-season and game one (3 field goals was all)---march at ease down the field for long time consuming, chain moving drives, scoring with such ease and such little resistance (to the tune of a whopping 21 first half first downs...that's more than TEN in each quarter)...then to watch a totally inept and out-of-sync Cardinal offense implode time and time again (save for one perfectly run off-tackle play) failing to convert one single third down in the entire game...
was the word agonizing a strong enough descriptor?
I am still trying to get some of the splashes of cheese dip off my flat-screen today, are you?
The most fitting and ironic denouement of this egregious "keep-away" was the fact that the Falcons, who pounded the ball down the Cardinals' throats all day, decided to take four straight knees at the Cardinals' 5 yard line to offer a gesture of good sportsmanship...yet...because they were unable to run out the clock...they had to hand the ball back over!
This presented HC Ken Whisenhunt with his most precarious dilemma of the afternoon. Should he reciprocate by having his offense take a knee themselves? Should he be bold enough to throw a pass? Or should he simply call a perfunctory running play...which would indicate that they wanted to thank the Falcons for their last minute generosity and not give the illusion that his team was quitting on the game...
a game that his team quit on, one could argue, well before the game even began.
You see---this is what's wrong with Whisenhunt's Cardinals---which is why no Cardinal fan should feel indignant, miffed or slighted when the pundits pick them to get thrashed in a game or rank them in the 20s---
because this kind of sh-- happens far too often and it destroys the team's credibility...and quite frankly it destroys the team's local and national likeability (esp. for those who are looking for teams to like).
Thus---last night and today all of us are walking around in a daze trying to figure out how a pro Bowler like Adrian Wilson can claim one week earlier to the FOX crew and the nation about his team that "the road to the NFC West Championship still goes through Arizona"...and then watch his team...a week later look like it wants no business playing football...or at least playing it hard...or playing it even remotely like Champions.
So what happens to this team that it shuts down completely like this?
It's a great day for theorists...so after thinking about this consciously and sub-consciously for the past 24 hours...here's what I think I know:
1. The Arizona players will only play hard: (a) when they collectively think they can win; (b) when they want to play hard; (c) when they have individual incentives to play hard; (d) when they are desperate to re-prove themselves.
This---in light of these repeated blowouts and meltdowns---is what I fear:
2. The Arizona players do not listen to their coaches because in most cases they don't respect them. They certainly won't play hard for their coaches unless it suits their own purposes to play hard. Now don't get me wrong...I think they LIKE their coaches (because they are nice guys who let them play and don't make them pay)...but...do they really respect them? If they did, they would NEVER play a game like they way they did yesterday...let alone play essentially three of their last five games the way they did yesterday. It's no wonder no one wanted to look John Lott in the eye on the sideline yesterday. Of anyone the players let down yesterday it was Lott...because he didn't push these guys all off-season to roll over like pansies. He must have been the loneliest man in the building...must have felt like he started with his men at the base of Camelback and turned around only to find he was the only one making the hike.
3. The Arizona players have every excuse in the book. They won't say them directly...but they practice them. If you give them any reason to mitigate the scenario...they'll take it....such as traveling...traveling on holidays....traveling on a short week...getting bad scheduling matchups.
4. The players have already scanned the schedule like the fans do and they already know which games they plan to show up for. The sad part is that now without Kurt Warner to bail them out (no wonder he lost the fun of the game with these guys)---the games they think they are going to win---nuh-nuh-nuh---may not be so easy this time around...because without the Warner fear-factor, opponents are licking their chops.
Take the Rams' game last week...it looked evident that right from the start the Cardinal players were getting chippy about getting hit and getting hit hard...even Adrian Wilson nearly got himself ejected after he made a big whoopie about getting tackled hard after his first interception and then wound up throwing a punch in the direction of a Ram that fortunately was not flagged and esp. fortunately did not connect.
But...see...the Ram game was a game the Cardinals intended to win so they HAD to play hard...harder than they bargained for. Much harder. After a soft camp...they were sore...so...why even bother putting it back on the line in Atlanta?
How do you know a team wants no business of playing BEFORE the opening kickoff?
When the team starts the game by committing a penalty on its first defensive snap (for a totally senseless personal foul...again, where a Cardinal player is chippy about getting hit---who later gets chippy again and gets ejected)...a penalty on its first STs play (which cost the team a TD for LSH, one of the few players who came to play)...and a penalty on its first offensive play...and that was only the beginning...the flags kept flying almost every play there for a while.
Offensive Notes:
* The Hightower TD...a thing of beauty...the interior line sealed off the Falcons' interior to perfection as Reagan Maui'a and Brandon Keith slammed open the gaping hole like they were slamming through the swinging doors of a saloon. Hightower hit that hole like a real pro...and it should be noted that he was on a mission to atone for last week's mistakes.
As great as this play was...it seems almost impossible to fathom that, as FOX pointed out---with a 50 pound per player size advantage up front, THT carried the ball a mere 11 times in the game---especially since the Steelers won their game with Falcons last week on a 50 yard plus running play in OT.
The FOX crew tried to explain that Whiz's preference is to run the ball, because of his Steelers' background---er---it just ain't so---not in Arizona. Whiz has become enamored with a more wide open attack where he can matriculate the ball down the field with a quartet of talented WRs, and run the ball when he has the defense on its heels. This IS Whiz's offense...otherwise, by now, especially by now w/o Warner, there would have been an emphasis placed on a smashmouth mentality...which to this day, even with Russ Grimm as AOC and OLC has not been implemented.
* The problem Whiz has right now is that he is having trouble scaring teams with Anderson's big arm because DA doesn't have the time to throw the deep ball. Teams won't stop blitzing because it works two ways to their advantage...they can stuff the runs on the way to the QB and force fumbles with sudden hits and when they get to the QB they can pound him...and with DA being so erratic they are not worried about getting consistently beaten...the way teams were worried when Warner was finding the hot receivers and MAKING THEM PAY!
With DA the hot receivers don't even have their heads turned to see the ball...it's happened a couple of times in two games with S-Williams and yesterday the most egregious example occurred on a missed third down wide-open quick out pass to LSH. Both the QB and the receivers have to be on the same page. Yesterday they were not even on the same chapter.
* What the offense has been forced to become---as it was with Warner---is more of a dink and dunk offense---most of the passes are well under 20 yards and are actually in the under 10 yard range.
This is fine and can lead to long drives and a flurry of points as we've seen the last two years, except that this year Whiz has the wrong QB for this type of offense. DA's no dink and dunker...he's a QB that needs a running game so that he can play action to buy time for deep strikes down the field that would cause DCs to take their safeties out of the box.
* The good news is...Whiz has a good dink and dunker in Max Hall, who is far more nifty afoot and far more accurate. The problem is Whiz hasn't had the chance to give Hall enough first team reps in practice yet. But...Whiz let the cat out of the bag when he told Peter King that Hall was the best QB in TC. By Whiz's own mantra...the best players play. If Hall wasn't a rookie, he'd be in there already.
For now, what Whiz needs to do is what he did with Warner his first year: make Hall the hurry-up QB...which is up tempo dinking and dunking...right up Hall's alley (weird pun, somewhat intended)...that way he gives Hall a chance to move the team and grow accustomed to the games...and when the time is right, if DA does not make strong enough improvements...move Hall in as the starter.
* The thing is---the sooner Whiz and the team gets excited about the prospects at the QB position again, the better. If serious QB doubts remain, will Steve Breaston want to stick around? Fitz after next year (which Reddog was right on top of)?
* Anderson's style may be an issue as well. Sure it's cool to look all loosey-goosey, that is, if you actually play like it...and he looks it prior to the snaps---yet when when he gets the ball, he tenses up and starts to panic. There's little cool in his actual game. Can this be fixed? No so sure at this point.
* This team needs to be MUCH more greedy (that way ALL games matter)...Warner didn't want just to win, he wanted to light up the scoreboard and get EVERYONE their just-deserved stats. Fitz loves this...he relishes both winning and building the numbers...and so should the defensive players who could garner Pro Bowl votes with tackles, interceptions, sacks and forced fumbles...but this team---does not look greedy or hungry enough for those things.
* Hard to believe that after last week---and with the Falcons not employing any super tricky coverage schemes, the focus was still strictly on passing the ball to Fitz and not Breaston (who was relegated mostly to just a few three yard passes?). Right now, Breaston should get the main attention...then when all eyes are on him, turn Fitz loose. In the interim, Fitz will get stronger and faster.
Defensive Notes:
* Props to three relative newcomers who, IMO, played the hardest yesterday: Toler, Washington and Lenon. They had their fair share of struggles (particularly because the Falcons were able to get clear path blocks on the ILBers thanks to a very lackluster performance up front, but the ILBers made strong efforts to fight through the blocks and managed to make some plays...and Toler was the toughest tackler again and was in good position to make plays in coverage, although he missed some of them obviously).
* Ever since the Bears' pre-season game, Bill Davis and Donnie Henderson have employed a very smart scheme by having DRC play RCB and take that side away and have Toler play LCB aggressively with Rhodes or another safety helping behind him. Then last week they threw a 4th quarter wriinkle by switching DRC to LCB which surprised Bradford and caused him to have to make his progressions to his left...where they intercepted him.
No team had beaten this thus far. Why change? Why get too cute?
On the first snap DRC was at LCB as he was assigned to Roddy White. The thing is...first of all, White is good, but not elite...secondly, double teaming him to Toler's side is just as aggressive as DRC solo, if not moreso.
The point is...why try to fix something that wasn't broken? Maybe adjust during the game if you are forced to...but...the same thing happened last year when the Cardinals had a great scheme for Brett Favre and played their best defensive game of the year, only to scrap the scheme the next week for SF in a game where the defense---with a different scheme---proved to be far less effective covering a less talented QB and WR unit.
* Davis has been extremely slow to react to what's hurting the defense most: the double teaming of the team's key dispruptor, Darnell Dockett. The reaction CANNOT be to still line up Bryan Robinson at NT, because he is no threat. Remember how DD has been exhorting Dan Williams to be the force he needs beside him at NT. The reason is, if no one threatens the A gap (guard/center) to DD's side, the guard can just double DD all day. If need be, slide Campbell into the A gap to DD's side and stack the run at the other DE with Alan Branch. As soon as you threaten the guard to DD's side, DD will be in the backfield again. Kenny Iwebema could threaten that gap in spot duty as well. If the front 3 don't get penetration, this defense is, as we saw yesterday, in trouble.
* Next thing---loved to see Joey Porter take offense to yesterday's loss...this team needs his leadership so badly...but...and this is a key thing...Porter is exerting so much energy defending the run and pass on normal downs that when it's time for him to edge rush, he's not fresh. At his age...the team really needs to consider playing Will Davis on run downs so that Porter can hammer that edge when the defense needs him on passing downs. A tired Porter---combined with a double teamed Dockett and no NT threat...renders the pass rush largely ineffective and at times non-existant. This HAS to change if the Cardinals have any chance.
The smartest thing to do is have Porter do ONE thing: rush his edge with power and speed. That's it.
* This HAS to be the year where the defense carries the offense...this is why yesterday's no-show was so troubling.
* Did anyone see Karlos Dansby's clutch goal-line stop on Adrian Peterson yesterday? In the last three years in Arizona with CP and BD as DCs, I never once saw Dansby step up to meet a ball carrier squarely in the hole AND lower his pad level to make a textbook stop like that. That was my chief knock on Dansby...great on the easy lateral chase stuff and pass defense, but never a step up into the hole stuffer.
Here's the point. This is why games like yesterday happen for the Cardinals. The gravitas amongst the coaches is not weighty enough for them to get these kinds of efforts from players like Dansby. Dansby never had to do any of the dirty work at his job in AZ...never had to blow up a screen or plug a hole...he just did what he wanted to...like most of the players did yesterday, which didn't include taking anyone head on.
Special Teams Notes:
* Great day for LSH wasted, by his teammates and later by his own mistake.
* Lackluster effort from just about everyone else.
Coaching Notes:
* Might have been the worst coached game by Whiz in his tenure here...and in his home state with his family and friends on hand, to boot. His team looked unwilling, unprepared and totally unfocused...and he did very little to shake the tree---something he's been sometimes good at.
* His decision to try a 54 yard FG at the end of the first half with a 4th and 3 was regrettable.
* Even worse, I never thought I'd see Whiz quit on the team (which, by virtue of how uninspired his players were was perhaps understandable...but its still the first half)...which---unless he uncharacteristically lost count of his TOs and the clock---is what he did at the end of the first half after Levi Brown fortunately pounced on DA's fumble. With one TO left Whiz allowed the clock to wind down from 20 seconds to 5 before calling the TO. I cannot believe that Fitz or someone else didn't intervene sooner.
With 20 seconds left...and the clock stopped you have time for a strike downfield...a spike and another FG try.
If you get the FG there, it's 24-10. You get the ball first and score it's 24-17 and suddenly you have a ball game.
With 5 seconds left you have no shot, save a fluke Hail Mary...which from that distance was not going to happen anyway, as we saw....although, it sure looked like Max Komar was interfered with on the pass inside the 10. But, when the refs sense a team is quitting...they want to get to the locker room themselves.
It made no sense to go for the 54 yarder a few plays earlier and not even try with 20 second left to get in position for another.
* Plus, he waited far too long to get Max Hall some snaps. It wasn't like it was a close game, like last week. Hall deserved a better chance.
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Especially since they are inaccurate! I believe that Whiz is a pass first coach and he proves it every week. 
Throwing incomplete passes as much as we have stops the clock & keeps our suspect defense of the field even more, especially when your team can't convert 3rd downs.
