Mitch
Crawled Through 5 FB Fields
If we Cardinal fans had been apprised last week that there would be an array of hugs following this week's game, we would have let out a prolific sigh of relief.
There were plenty of Cardinals involved in hugs after the game yesterday...only they weren't hugs shared with teammates, they were hugs for Todd Haley.
In one and a half years as the Chief's HC (one and a half year removed from the Cardinals' NFC Championship and first ever Super Bowl appearance), Haley has his team far better prepared to make a run at a Super Bowl than Haley's former mentor Ken Whisenhunt and the now hapless Cardinals.
How has Haley done it?
(1) He has a GM in Scott Pioli who has a track record of making astute coaching hires and personnel moves.
(2) After spending one year doubling as the team's OC, Haley was delighted to relinquish those duties to Charlie Weis---an OC with a few rings and a ton of experience.
(3) On the other side of the ball Pioli and Haley hire Romeo Crennel---30 years of experience and a few rings of his own.
(4) Pioli and Haley KNOW the paramount importance of having a very good QB---thus they made a trade two years to acquire Matt Cassell, who is now beginning to flourish in the system (19 TDs 4 ints).
(5) Haley has turned a once floundering Dwayne Bowe (only 4 TDs last year and 1 100 yard game) into his version of WR Larry Fitzgerald. Bowe now leads the NFL with 11 TD catches...which is more than one a game.
(6) Following a miserable loss at Denver, Haley had his team practicing in pads and hitting for three days this week in preparation for the Cardinals.
Haley knew---if you pound on the Cardinals---they will fold.
The Cardinals, meanwhile, despite having a decent chance of still making a run at the NFC West title, are playing with little urgency, and with a conspicuous lack of mental and physical toughness.
Haley was right---get physical with the Cardinals---for they will start doing some stupid things and will eventually implode.
Look at the results...
3 ridiculous personal foul penalties...two of which wiped out any chance at sustaining key offensive possessions and another of which led to an easy KC TD.
BUT, BUT, BUT...the Cardinals were justified! I mean sure they were provoked! Yeah, provoked like a bunch of suckers.
it goes all the way back to Kerry Rhodes and Adrian Wilson getting flagged the first few games for the same thing...as if to crybaby about getting hit.
Even Ken Whisenhunt took issue with the DA roughing. Er...Coach...watch the tape...DA did not stop or slow down at the whistle, in fact he started running what looked to be a bootleg...which prompted DE Tamba Hali to make sure DA wasn't going anywhere. And, clearly, Hali didn't add any extra roughing on the play, as he just dropped DA to the turf.
That said, it was good to see you get emotional Coach. Your team needs more of that...if not from you...from someone...
Yeah, that someone used to be Todd Haley...the same guy who had the temerity to suggest to Larry Fitzgerald (already a Pro Bowl WR when Haley arrived) that he was a "one-trick pony" and to Steve Breaston that "all you are going to be is a special teams' player."
While Breaston has continued his development after Haley left, albeit while fighting through injuries, Fitz (even by his own admission) has not played nearly as well and tough as he did when Haley was sharpening his tools. Perhaps this is why Fitz was seeking counsel from Haley in the hallways after the game.
Haley was a guy who even yelled at Kurt Warner and Anquan Boldin...
But that does the Cardinals no good now because all three of them are gone and, in the midst of this five game losing streak, the three of them seem like they are long, long gone.
The good news of the first half was that the Cardinal defense, no longer relying on Adrian Wilson as a man-to-man cover on the TE or a Cover 2 deep safety, managed to get some third down stops...and Coach Whiz suddenly found himself in a tighter than expected game (14-3) near halftime.
His offense is showing a little life, especially on the ground, as Beanie Wells and Tim Hightower combined for over 100 yards...and while DA is misfiring on half of his passes, he completed several passes for, as Kurt Warner says, "chunks" (good size gains).
So the offense is moving the ball...and faces a key 3rd and 1 from the Chief's 47 yard line...and inexplicably DA is in the shotgun and is going to throw short for it (the odds of which cannot be greater than running Wells or Hightower for a yard when they've been gaining 4-5 on most runs). Plus, you have to figure, it's two down territory.
Not only does DA throw a jittery incompletion...(see 4th and goal in the Tampa game and other key short passes)...
Whisenhunt, with an opportunity to make a profound statement to his offense to go for it on 4th and 1, punts the ball, and all he has is one timeout left and no way to stop the clock...thus conceding a 14-3 halftime score.
Plus...the Chiefs, having deferred the opening kickoff, are going to get the ball first in the second half.
The old Whiz used to go for it on 4th downs and even call on-side kicks to get his team's attention.
Maybe he was exhorted to do so by Haley.
But, this is not the same Whiz.
Whiz---it seems---has gotten so shell-shocked he's succumbed to the "let's just be happy keeping it close at halftime" mode.
As for the Cardinals' defense...after getting torched by Mike Williams for the second time in three weeks, one would think that stopping Dwayne Bowe would have been top priority, coverage-wise.
How then was Bowe as wide open as his was on NUMEROUS occasions?
One can see DRC half-heartedly chasing him on a couple of the plays, just as he half-heartedly got beat on both of Bowe's TDs.
Think DRC can outquick and outspeed Bowe?
One can imagine so with just a modicum of motivation...just a modicum.
And then, after yet another wide open WR or TE catching an easy completion, it's the same old Cardinals' secondary looking at each other like someone else is always to blame.
And this has been happening week after week...year after year...
As for the personnel decisions of defense...they remain mind-boggling.
First of all, the most electric LB on the team---BY FAR---in Daryl Washington---is wasting away on the bench. It would be one thing if the two vets in front of him were playing well, but both of them were awful yesterday.
Plus---and this is a BIG thing---when Washington hits, you hear it. There's some authority to it.
Who else on this defense ever hits hard?
Dockett has---but not too much this year.
Wilson---ditto.
Porter---ditto.
Rhodes---fuggetaboutit.
DRC---lol
When our guys run they take big hits---when our WRs catch the ball they take big hits---
When their guys run and catch they do not.
Pretty simple.
This is why you pound the Cardinals. They will fold.
Watching the other NFL games, I get so jealous watching real defenses hit. Don't you?
I get so jealous watching other defense rush the passer. Same?
I get so jealous to see stick man coverage all over the place. Think that the Pats beat Peyton Manning playing soft coverage?
While we've been spoiled with a Kurt Warner offense the last two and half years...when have we ever been treated to an all-out defensive effort?
It's a function of inadequate coaching, soft camps and poor leadership from the players.
For weeks I've been thinking that the physical 49ers were going to totally wipe out the Cardinals on MNF. If it's one thing the 49ers do---they hit you. Those two ILBers are big-time hitters and tacklers. Patrick Willis is the best ILB in the game and---having watched almost every 49er game this year, I can attest to the fact that Takeo Spikes has been bringing it big-time every week. Did anyone see the leaping goal-line hit he delivered on LaGarrette Blount yesterday?
But...after watching yesterday's 49er game...there is a way the Cardinals could beat them, if all or at least most of the following things happen:
(1) For starters the Cardinals have to show up physically ready to match the 49ers' intensity.(For this you do two things: (a) you have morning sessions with John Lott to get them extra primed; (b) you have them go back and watch the Saints' game---the most physical the Cardinals have been all year---as a reminder of what they can do when they bring it).
(2) Your defensive matchups are critical...because in this game you HAVE to shadow TE Vernon Davis with Kerry Rhodes (see the nice breakup in the end zone he made in man coverage on the TE yesterday?) from the moment Davis runs out of the tunnel---which means---you have to start Rashad Johnson at FS. You cannot have Adrian Wilson back there, nor can you have him try to cover Davis. Wilson should play in the box in the nickel and should be a pass rushing demon in this game.
Out of respect to Wilson the Cardinals won't do this...but they will be risking getting into an early hole.
DRC has to blanket Michael Crabtree...and on the other side Greg Toler needs to do the same with Josh Morgan...if not Toler, I would go with A.J. Jefferson, who made the most textbook pass breakup of the year yesterday when he covered the go route and looked back to find the ball, with Rashad Johnson arriving from the FS spot on time as well. Jefferson has the size and speed to take Morgan. Michael Adams or Trumaine McBride on Ted Ginn. And when they go two TEs with Delanie Walker, that player is Daryl Washington.
(3) In recent games---and twice (or more) yesterday, on third and longs, Bill Davis dropped Joey Porter into coverage and even had him try to cover the TE. This is outrageous. If Porter isn't rushing the edge every passing play, the Cardinals won't have a chance.
(4) Dan Williams has to have a big game at NT...as do Dockett, Campbell and Branch inside. Bottling up Frank Gore is imperative.
(5) Daryl Washington has to replace the ineffective Gerald Hayes.
(6) Matt Ware has to have a big game along side Rashad Johnson in the deep thirds.
(7) Darnell Dockett has to own rookie G Mike Iupati.
On offense:
(1) The Cardinals have to get to the second level to block Willis and Spikes...traps...leads...slot WR crackbacks...TE downblocks, whatever it takes. If I were coaching this week...I would single out 4 running plays and run them over and over and over in practice versus the variety of looks the 49ers run. Make these 4 plays count.
(2) There is no sense throwing short to the RBs in this game. Willis is on the short passes like no other ILB in the league. The only RB pass that will work is a sideline pass beyond the first level to the speedy LSH.
(3) We must CHIP DE Parys Harrelson and DE Ahmad Brooks---AT THE L.O.Scrimmage---NOT by blocking them with a lined up in the backfield TE or RB after they allow the DE to gain speed and power.
(4) Seal off the inside so that Anderson can step up and make the throws to the second and third levels. This is where you beat the 49ers' defense---in the second and third levels.
(5) With that in mind, get WR Steven Williams in the game this week...he's a player who can exploit the second and third levels.
(6) DA passed reasonably well yesterday to the area between the second and third level. This was great preparation for this week---providing he can step up into the pocket, as he did several times yesterday.
(7) For the deep passes---keep throwing them---just put a little more air on them. Once he gets one or two, the whole defense may start to crack. And, how about---as John Lynch pointed out repeatedly---when Fitz is in single coverage audible his way.
Will it be payback for the 49ers or continued punishment?
There were plenty of Cardinals involved in hugs after the game yesterday...only they weren't hugs shared with teammates, they were hugs for Todd Haley.
In one and a half years as the Chief's HC (one and a half year removed from the Cardinals' NFC Championship and first ever Super Bowl appearance), Haley has his team far better prepared to make a run at a Super Bowl than Haley's former mentor Ken Whisenhunt and the now hapless Cardinals.
How has Haley done it?
(1) He has a GM in Scott Pioli who has a track record of making astute coaching hires and personnel moves.
(2) After spending one year doubling as the team's OC, Haley was delighted to relinquish those duties to Charlie Weis---an OC with a few rings and a ton of experience.
(3) On the other side of the ball Pioli and Haley hire Romeo Crennel---30 years of experience and a few rings of his own.
(4) Pioli and Haley KNOW the paramount importance of having a very good QB---thus they made a trade two years to acquire Matt Cassell, who is now beginning to flourish in the system (19 TDs 4 ints).
(5) Haley has turned a once floundering Dwayne Bowe (only 4 TDs last year and 1 100 yard game) into his version of WR Larry Fitzgerald. Bowe now leads the NFL with 11 TD catches...which is more than one a game.
(6) Following a miserable loss at Denver, Haley had his team practicing in pads and hitting for three days this week in preparation for the Cardinals.
Haley knew---if you pound on the Cardinals---they will fold.
The Cardinals, meanwhile, despite having a decent chance of still making a run at the NFC West title, are playing with little urgency, and with a conspicuous lack of mental and physical toughness.
Haley was right---get physical with the Cardinals---for they will start doing some stupid things and will eventually implode.
Look at the results...
3 ridiculous personal foul penalties...two of which wiped out any chance at sustaining key offensive possessions and another of which led to an easy KC TD.
BUT, BUT, BUT...the Cardinals were justified! I mean sure they were provoked! Yeah, provoked like a bunch of suckers.
it goes all the way back to Kerry Rhodes and Adrian Wilson getting flagged the first few games for the same thing...as if to crybaby about getting hit.
Even Ken Whisenhunt took issue with the DA roughing. Er...Coach...watch the tape...DA did not stop or slow down at the whistle, in fact he started running what looked to be a bootleg...which prompted DE Tamba Hali to make sure DA wasn't going anywhere. And, clearly, Hali didn't add any extra roughing on the play, as he just dropped DA to the turf.
That said, it was good to see you get emotional Coach. Your team needs more of that...if not from you...from someone...
Yeah, that someone used to be Todd Haley...the same guy who had the temerity to suggest to Larry Fitzgerald (already a Pro Bowl WR when Haley arrived) that he was a "one-trick pony" and to Steve Breaston that "all you are going to be is a special teams' player."
While Breaston has continued his development after Haley left, albeit while fighting through injuries, Fitz (even by his own admission) has not played nearly as well and tough as he did when Haley was sharpening his tools. Perhaps this is why Fitz was seeking counsel from Haley in the hallways after the game.
Haley was a guy who even yelled at Kurt Warner and Anquan Boldin...
But that does the Cardinals no good now because all three of them are gone and, in the midst of this five game losing streak, the three of them seem like they are long, long gone.
The good news of the first half was that the Cardinal defense, no longer relying on Adrian Wilson as a man-to-man cover on the TE or a Cover 2 deep safety, managed to get some third down stops...and Coach Whiz suddenly found himself in a tighter than expected game (14-3) near halftime.
His offense is showing a little life, especially on the ground, as Beanie Wells and Tim Hightower combined for over 100 yards...and while DA is misfiring on half of his passes, he completed several passes for, as Kurt Warner says, "chunks" (good size gains).
So the offense is moving the ball...and faces a key 3rd and 1 from the Chief's 47 yard line...and inexplicably DA is in the shotgun and is going to throw short for it (the odds of which cannot be greater than running Wells or Hightower for a yard when they've been gaining 4-5 on most runs). Plus, you have to figure, it's two down territory.
Not only does DA throw a jittery incompletion...(see 4th and goal in the Tampa game and other key short passes)...
Whisenhunt, with an opportunity to make a profound statement to his offense to go for it on 4th and 1, punts the ball, and all he has is one timeout left and no way to stop the clock...thus conceding a 14-3 halftime score.
Plus...the Chiefs, having deferred the opening kickoff, are going to get the ball first in the second half.
The old Whiz used to go for it on 4th downs and even call on-side kicks to get his team's attention.
Maybe he was exhorted to do so by Haley.
But, this is not the same Whiz.
Whiz---it seems---has gotten so shell-shocked he's succumbed to the "let's just be happy keeping it close at halftime" mode.
As for the Cardinals' defense...after getting torched by Mike Williams for the second time in three weeks, one would think that stopping Dwayne Bowe would have been top priority, coverage-wise.
How then was Bowe as wide open as his was on NUMEROUS occasions?
One can see DRC half-heartedly chasing him on a couple of the plays, just as he half-heartedly got beat on both of Bowe's TDs.
Think DRC can outquick and outspeed Bowe?
One can imagine so with just a modicum of motivation...just a modicum.
And then, after yet another wide open WR or TE catching an easy completion, it's the same old Cardinals' secondary looking at each other like someone else is always to blame.
And this has been happening week after week...year after year...
As for the personnel decisions of defense...they remain mind-boggling.
First of all, the most electric LB on the team---BY FAR---in Daryl Washington---is wasting away on the bench. It would be one thing if the two vets in front of him were playing well, but both of them were awful yesterday.
Plus---and this is a BIG thing---when Washington hits, you hear it. There's some authority to it.
Who else on this defense ever hits hard?
Dockett has---but not too much this year.
Wilson---ditto.
Porter---ditto.
Rhodes---fuggetaboutit.
DRC---lol
When our guys run they take big hits---when our WRs catch the ball they take big hits---
When their guys run and catch they do not.
Pretty simple.
This is why you pound the Cardinals. They will fold.
Watching the other NFL games, I get so jealous watching real defenses hit. Don't you?
I get so jealous watching other defense rush the passer. Same?
I get so jealous to see stick man coverage all over the place. Think that the Pats beat Peyton Manning playing soft coverage?
While we've been spoiled with a Kurt Warner offense the last two and half years...when have we ever been treated to an all-out defensive effort?
It's a function of inadequate coaching, soft camps and poor leadership from the players.
For weeks I've been thinking that the physical 49ers were going to totally wipe out the Cardinals on MNF. If it's one thing the 49ers do---they hit you. Those two ILBers are big-time hitters and tacklers. Patrick Willis is the best ILB in the game and---having watched almost every 49er game this year, I can attest to the fact that Takeo Spikes has been bringing it big-time every week. Did anyone see the leaping goal-line hit he delivered on LaGarrette Blount yesterday?
But...after watching yesterday's 49er game...there is a way the Cardinals could beat them, if all or at least most of the following things happen:
(1) For starters the Cardinals have to show up physically ready to match the 49ers' intensity.(For this you do two things: (a) you have morning sessions with John Lott to get them extra primed; (b) you have them go back and watch the Saints' game---the most physical the Cardinals have been all year---as a reminder of what they can do when they bring it).
(2) Your defensive matchups are critical...because in this game you HAVE to shadow TE Vernon Davis with Kerry Rhodes (see the nice breakup in the end zone he made in man coverage on the TE yesterday?) from the moment Davis runs out of the tunnel---which means---you have to start Rashad Johnson at FS. You cannot have Adrian Wilson back there, nor can you have him try to cover Davis. Wilson should play in the box in the nickel and should be a pass rushing demon in this game.
Out of respect to Wilson the Cardinals won't do this...but they will be risking getting into an early hole.
DRC has to blanket Michael Crabtree...and on the other side Greg Toler needs to do the same with Josh Morgan...if not Toler, I would go with A.J. Jefferson, who made the most textbook pass breakup of the year yesterday when he covered the go route and looked back to find the ball, with Rashad Johnson arriving from the FS spot on time as well. Jefferson has the size and speed to take Morgan. Michael Adams or Trumaine McBride on Ted Ginn. And when they go two TEs with Delanie Walker, that player is Daryl Washington.
(3) In recent games---and twice (or more) yesterday, on third and longs, Bill Davis dropped Joey Porter into coverage and even had him try to cover the TE. This is outrageous. If Porter isn't rushing the edge every passing play, the Cardinals won't have a chance.
(4) Dan Williams has to have a big game at NT...as do Dockett, Campbell and Branch inside. Bottling up Frank Gore is imperative.
(5) Daryl Washington has to replace the ineffective Gerald Hayes.
(6) Matt Ware has to have a big game along side Rashad Johnson in the deep thirds.
(7) Darnell Dockett has to own rookie G Mike Iupati.
On offense:
(1) The Cardinals have to get to the second level to block Willis and Spikes...traps...leads...slot WR crackbacks...TE downblocks, whatever it takes. If I were coaching this week...I would single out 4 running plays and run them over and over and over in practice versus the variety of looks the 49ers run. Make these 4 plays count.
(2) There is no sense throwing short to the RBs in this game. Willis is on the short passes like no other ILB in the league. The only RB pass that will work is a sideline pass beyond the first level to the speedy LSH.
(3) We must CHIP DE Parys Harrelson and DE Ahmad Brooks---AT THE L.O.Scrimmage---NOT by blocking them with a lined up in the backfield TE or RB after they allow the DE to gain speed and power.
(4) Seal off the inside so that Anderson can step up and make the throws to the second and third levels. This is where you beat the 49ers' defense---in the second and third levels.
(5) With that in mind, get WR Steven Williams in the game this week...he's a player who can exploit the second and third levels.
(6) DA passed reasonably well yesterday to the area between the second and third level. This was great preparation for this week---providing he can step up into the pocket, as he did several times yesterday.
(7) For the deep passes---keep throwing them---just put a little more air on them. Once he gets one or two, the whole defense may start to crack. And, how about---as John Lynch pointed out repeatedly---when Fitz is in single coverage audible his way.
Will it be payback for the 49ers or continued punishment?
