AZCardsWin
Our waiting is over!
** For Immediate Release **
December 25, 2006
Are the Arizona Cardinals getting ready to sing a "Christmas Carroll"?
By Tim Pino
Not to put coal in anyone's Christmas stocking, but before we get too excited after the Arizona Cardinals 26-20 win over the 49ers we need to look back at the 2006 year as an extremely disappointing "what if season" for the Cardinals. To think the NFC West division title was clinched this past weekend with a team with a 8-7 record. To think a 7-8 record in the NFC would have you alive for a wildcard spot heading into Week 17. All of this makes it that much tougher to swallow a horrid 1-8 start to the season that had the Cardinals unofficially eliminated from playoff contention by Halloween.
It has become quite obvious in the past few weeks that Arizona Cardinals Head Coach Dennis Green will be let go of his head coaching duties following this season. I, for one, was still on the fence about this decision up until last weeks game vs. Denver Broncos. More on that a little later. I am happy the team has played better in recent weeks but its obvious this coaching staff needs to be shown the door one week from today.
When it comes to drafting rookies Dennis Green has been as good as anyone in the NFL over the past three years. The talent level that Coach Green will leave the next Cardinals head coach with will be immensely better then the talent level Coach Green arrived with. The problem was when it came to coaching up these young players and having solid game plans in place- each and every week- to give the Cardinals the best chance to win like rookie head coaches Eric Mangini (Jets) and Sean Payton (Saints) have brought to their teams. That never happened consistently for Dennis Green and his revolving door staff over the past three years and thus it's time for Coach Green to go.
When we look back on this past season there were numerous games that the Cardinals came out obviously unprepared (most notably at Green Bay, at Oakland) and were outcoached by the opposing coaching staff (most notably last week vs. Denver). In that game- to the neutral observer- Jay Cutler's 1st quarter TD pass was a thing of beauty. A fake inside handoff, then a bootleg roll-out to the left, and deep pass to an open WR behind the coverage- touchdown! What immediately stood out to me was Denver used almost the same exact call vs. Arizona in a pre-season match-up this past August. Additionally it was Jay Cutler at QB vs. Cardinals first string defense in that game which also had the same results- touchdown! To be burned by that play in pre-season is one thing, to let it happen again in the regular season is inexcusable for any coaching staff.
The unfortunate thing of all is the play of the defense has been the best unit for the Cardinals over the past four years. Offensively the team (no matter which offensive coordinator was calling the plays) rarely attacked the defenses it was facing. Rarely did we see the Cardinals find a mismatch and pick on an opposing teams cornerback over and over again (like St.Louis did to Arizona in Week 3 using Torry Holt on CB Matt Ware). When you can count on one hand how many trick plays have been run in the past four years it is very depressing and disheartening to the fans. Defensive coordinators playing against the Cardinals have a hard enough time trying to stop the Cardinals offensive weapons but just imagine how harder it would be if those defensive coordinators also had to worry about "what tricks" the Cardinals offense will be up to this week? WR A.Boldin played some QB in college and yet he never gets a chance to throw a pass on a reverse, etc. TE L.Pope is 6'8" and is a height mismatch versus pretty much every cornerback/linebacker he lines up on, yet the season is pretty much over and never did we see one jump ball thrown to him in the endzone like the NY Giants use WR Plaxico Burress for -with great success- every week.
Special Teams have truly been anything but "special" over the past three years. The breakdowns versus the 49ers (fumbled punt, allowing huge kickoff returns, etc.) almost cost them another game. When was the last time the Cardinals blocked a punt or returned a punt for a touchdown? I can't remember when but I can recall it happening to Arizona numerous times during the past three years. When was the last time the Cardinals Special Teams coaches called a "surprise" onsides kick, fake punt/field goal, or a reverse on a kick-off, etc? Its truly sad that I can not tell you when. Look at three of the better current special teams units in the league- Bears, Jets, and Saints. Its no surprise each is vying for a playoff spot- two of which with new "innovative" high energy rookie head coaches. All three teams have dynamic kick/punt returners and all use fake/gadgets plays on a weekly basis which swing momentum and keep opposing coaching staffs off balance. As we have seen with the Bears this year- special teams can win you about three games a year. Give those "3" wins to Arizona and your are looking at possibly going into next weeks game at San Diego playing for the NFC West division championship instead of playing yet again for a Top 5 draft pick. The Cardinals new coaching staff will need to look to improve this unit drastically in 2007 as it has been ignored way too long.
The underlying thought to all three of the Cardinals units (offense, defense, and special teams) is they are coached "not to lose" instead of always "playing to win". Even with this past weeks win at 49ers the Cardinals got up big early (20-3 in 2nd quarter) but never went for the 49ers jugular to put the game away and because of that "playing not to lose" playcalling the 49ers were able to get within 26-20 in the final minutes of the 4th quarter with a chance to still win the game. We saw what happened earlier in the season vs. Bears when a similar lead was had. A new coaching staff will need to immediately change this thought process and bring back a team that attacks its opponents with all three units every week. Very few times over the past three years have we seen a complete games from all three units on the same day.
The Bidwill family has historically taken its share of shots from the media on how it runs its franchise. In recent years all of that has changed. From solid free agent acquisitions (DE B.Berry, RB E.James), to solid drafting (WR L.Fitzgerald, QB M. Leinart), to re-signing their best players (WR A.Boldin, DT D.Dockett, SS A.Wilson, MLB G.Hayes, etc.) to long term contract extensions. A lot of this can be directly related to GM Rod Graves who deserves to be part of this organizations new re-organization in 2007. All in all the future is bright in Arizona as this team is loaded with young talent on both sides of the ball and that talent started to shine in the last few weeks for the Cardinals.
In 2006 we saw the opening of the Cardinals new home- The University of Phoenix Stadium. It truly is a masterpiece and one of (if not the) best stadiums in the entire National Football League. It was great seeing the 12th man advantage return to Arizona this past season and next year the legend of that new stadium will continue to grow as the Cardinals return to prominence.
I truly feel the head coaching vacancy the Arizona Cardinals will have next week will be one of the most coveted openings we have seen in the NFL in a long time. There are several reasons for this:
- There will not be many NFL head coaching vacancies this year as there have been in the past. It's possible there may only be 1-3 job openings out there for numerous qualified candidates.
When it comes to the Arizona Cardinals head coaching vacancy take this into account:
- In place is a QB of the future in Matt Leinart, a franchise RB in Edgerrin James, and perhaps the best WR duo in the NFL in Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin. All of these players are young and are under contract for to at least 2009. The defense- led by Pro Bowl Safety Adrian Wilson is also young and very talented across the board.
- The Cardinals will have a Top 10 draft pick in 2007 draft.
- The Cardinals will be approx. 35 million dollars under the 2007 salary cap heading into free agency- by far the most in the NFL.
- As mentioned above the Cardinals play in perhaps the best all-around grass field stadium in the entire NFL.
- Of all the teams that will need a new head coach going into 2007, the Cardinals have the best chance at immediately turning it around next season as they play in the weak NFC West. Additionally, keep in mind that rookie QB Matt Leinart started against every NFC West team once being named the starter- and defeated all 3 of them (including 2 road wins).
I truly feel the Arizona Cardinals are a solid coaching staff away from being the NFL team nobody wants to see on there schedule. We have seen flashes of it this year but next year it finally all comes together. Everyone has there opinions on who the Cardinals should hire as there next head coach. In the holiday spirit, I think a "Christmas Carroll" should be first on their list. If ever there is a match made in gridiron heaven having Pete Carroll at the reigns of the 2007 Arizona Cardinals would surely ignite national excitement back into the NFL's oldest franchise and finally deliver owner Bill Bidwill a Superbowl Ring.
In closing I feel the Cardinals and Pete Carroll have a need for each other. The Cardinals need a charismatic high profile head coach whose personality is infectious with the players (and the loyal fans). Carroll is known to bring a high energy level each week. Also Carroll has a special relationship with his former USC (now Cardinal) QB Matt Leinart. Carroll knows he can win in the NFL with Leinart and the arsenal of weapons that surround Hollywood Matt in the Cardinals offense. Carroll- who has accomplished pretty much everything you can on a college level- has something to still prove on the NFL level. It's a win-win situation for both sides and a very scary proposition for the rest of the National Football League to have to deal with.
Some additional thoughts on the upcoming off-season:
- If Kurt Warner does retire it would be a great reunion to bring back Jake Plummer to the Cardinals. Plummer, who is 40-18 overall (7-4 this season) with a winning percentage of .690 as a starter with the Denver Broncos truly didn't get a fair shake by being benched this late in the season. If he put those numbers up in Arizona there would be a holiday named after him. Jake had made it public a few weeks ago that he would be ok with backing up franchise QB Matt Leinart-and honestly Jake will always be a Cardinal in everyone heart as "The Snake's" 1998 playoff run was truly special.
- Its imperative that the Cardinals re-sign OT Leonard Davis and extend LB Karlos Dansby after the season. Yes its true that Davis (a former #2 overall pick) has underachieved but there isn't any better prospects on the upcoming free agent market to replace him with and honestly he has played extremely well the second half of this season. Dansby, like A.Wilson, D.Dockett, and G.Hayes, is part of this teams defensive core and like the above mentioned deserves a contract extension as he has played as well as any of them the 2nd half of the season.
- The Cardinals should take notes from the Chicago Bears this season and add an impact kick/punt returner (like Devin Hester) and deep threat speed receiver (like Bernard Berrian) this off-season. They haven't had either since the days of KR Vai Sikahema and WR Roy Green some 15 years ago. Yes, the Cardinals have great offensive weapons but unfortunately nobody that can outrun defenses on any given play and -until they get that missing element their offense will remain very good and never be great- and great wins championships.
Let me take a moment to wish all of you and your families a safe and happy Holiday Season!
December 25, 2006
Are the Arizona Cardinals getting ready to sing a "Christmas Carroll"?
By Tim Pino
Not to put coal in anyone's Christmas stocking, but before we get too excited after the Arizona Cardinals 26-20 win over the 49ers we need to look back at the 2006 year as an extremely disappointing "what if season" for the Cardinals. To think the NFC West division title was clinched this past weekend with a team with a 8-7 record. To think a 7-8 record in the NFC would have you alive for a wildcard spot heading into Week 17. All of this makes it that much tougher to swallow a horrid 1-8 start to the season that had the Cardinals unofficially eliminated from playoff contention by Halloween.
It has become quite obvious in the past few weeks that Arizona Cardinals Head Coach Dennis Green will be let go of his head coaching duties following this season. I, for one, was still on the fence about this decision up until last weeks game vs. Denver Broncos. More on that a little later. I am happy the team has played better in recent weeks but its obvious this coaching staff needs to be shown the door one week from today.
When it comes to drafting rookies Dennis Green has been as good as anyone in the NFL over the past three years. The talent level that Coach Green will leave the next Cardinals head coach with will be immensely better then the talent level Coach Green arrived with. The problem was when it came to coaching up these young players and having solid game plans in place- each and every week- to give the Cardinals the best chance to win like rookie head coaches Eric Mangini (Jets) and Sean Payton (Saints) have brought to their teams. That never happened consistently for Dennis Green and his revolving door staff over the past three years and thus it's time for Coach Green to go.
When we look back on this past season there were numerous games that the Cardinals came out obviously unprepared (most notably at Green Bay, at Oakland) and were outcoached by the opposing coaching staff (most notably last week vs. Denver). In that game- to the neutral observer- Jay Cutler's 1st quarter TD pass was a thing of beauty. A fake inside handoff, then a bootleg roll-out to the left, and deep pass to an open WR behind the coverage- touchdown! What immediately stood out to me was Denver used almost the same exact call vs. Arizona in a pre-season match-up this past August. Additionally it was Jay Cutler at QB vs. Cardinals first string defense in that game which also had the same results- touchdown! To be burned by that play in pre-season is one thing, to let it happen again in the regular season is inexcusable for any coaching staff.
The unfortunate thing of all is the play of the defense has been the best unit for the Cardinals over the past four years. Offensively the team (no matter which offensive coordinator was calling the plays) rarely attacked the defenses it was facing. Rarely did we see the Cardinals find a mismatch and pick on an opposing teams cornerback over and over again (like St.Louis did to Arizona in Week 3 using Torry Holt on CB Matt Ware). When you can count on one hand how many trick plays have been run in the past four years it is very depressing and disheartening to the fans. Defensive coordinators playing against the Cardinals have a hard enough time trying to stop the Cardinals offensive weapons but just imagine how harder it would be if those defensive coordinators also had to worry about "what tricks" the Cardinals offense will be up to this week? WR A.Boldin played some QB in college and yet he never gets a chance to throw a pass on a reverse, etc. TE L.Pope is 6'8" and is a height mismatch versus pretty much every cornerback/linebacker he lines up on, yet the season is pretty much over and never did we see one jump ball thrown to him in the endzone like the NY Giants use WR Plaxico Burress for -with great success- every week.
Special Teams have truly been anything but "special" over the past three years. The breakdowns versus the 49ers (fumbled punt, allowing huge kickoff returns, etc.) almost cost them another game. When was the last time the Cardinals blocked a punt or returned a punt for a touchdown? I can't remember when but I can recall it happening to Arizona numerous times during the past three years. When was the last time the Cardinals Special Teams coaches called a "surprise" onsides kick, fake punt/field goal, or a reverse on a kick-off, etc? Its truly sad that I can not tell you when. Look at three of the better current special teams units in the league- Bears, Jets, and Saints. Its no surprise each is vying for a playoff spot- two of which with new "innovative" high energy rookie head coaches. All three teams have dynamic kick/punt returners and all use fake/gadgets plays on a weekly basis which swing momentum and keep opposing coaching staffs off balance. As we have seen with the Bears this year- special teams can win you about three games a year. Give those "3" wins to Arizona and your are looking at possibly going into next weeks game at San Diego playing for the NFC West division championship instead of playing yet again for a Top 5 draft pick. The Cardinals new coaching staff will need to look to improve this unit drastically in 2007 as it has been ignored way too long.
The underlying thought to all three of the Cardinals units (offense, defense, and special teams) is they are coached "not to lose" instead of always "playing to win". Even with this past weeks win at 49ers the Cardinals got up big early (20-3 in 2nd quarter) but never went for the 49ers jugular to put the game away and because of that "playing not to lose" playcalling the 49ers were able to get within 26-20 in the final minutes of the 4th quarter with a chance to still win the game. We saw what happened earlier in the season vs. Bears when a similar lead was had. A new coaching staff will need to immediately change this thought process and bring back a team that attacks its opponents with all three units every week. Very few times over the past three years have we seen a complete games from all three units on the same day.
The Bidwill family has historically taken its share of shots from the media on how it runs its franchise. In recent years all of that has changed. From solid free agent acquisitions (DE B.Berry, RB E.James), to solid drafting (WR L.Fitzgerald, QB M. Leinart), to re-signing their best players (WR A.Boldin, DT D.Dockett, SS A.Wilson, MLB G.Hayes, etc.) to long term contract extensions. A lot of this can be directly related to GM Rod Graves who deserves to be part of this organizations new re-organization in 2007. All in all the future is bright in Arizona as this team is loaded with young talent on both sides of the ball and that talent started to shine in the last few weeks for the Cardinals.
In 2006 we saw the opening of the Cardinals new home- The University of Phoenix Stadium. It truly is a masterpiece and one of (if not the) best stadiums in the entire National Football League. It was great seeing the 12th man advantage return to Arizona this past season and next year the legend of that new stadium will continue to grow as the Cardinals return to prominence.
I truly feel the head coaching vacancy the Arizona Cardinals will have next week will be one of the most coveted openings we have seen in the NFL in a long time. There are several reasons for this:
- There will not be many NFL head coaching vacancies this year as there have been in the past. It's possible there may only be 1-3 job openings out there for numerous qualified candidates.
When it comes to the Arizona Cardinals head coaching vacancy take this into account:
- In place is a QB of the future in Matt Leinart, a franchise RB in Edgerrin James, and perhaps the best WR duo in the NFL in Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin. All of these players are young and are under contract for to at least 2009. The defense- led by Pro Bowl Safety Adrian Wilson is also young and very talented across the board.
- The Cardinals will have a Top 10 draft pick in 2007 draft.
- The Cardinals will be approx. 35 million dollars under the 2007 salary cap heading into free agency- by far the most in the NFL.
- As mentioned above the Cardinals play in perhaps the best all-around grass field stadium in the entire NFL.
- Of all the teams that will need a new head coach going into 2007, the Cardinals have the best chance at immediately turning it around next season as they play in the weak NFC West. Additionally, keep in mind that rookie QB Matt Leinart started against every NFC West team once being named the starter- and defeated all 3 of them (including 2 road wins).
I truly feel the Arizona Cardinals are a solid coaching staff away from being the NFL team nobody wants to see on there schedule. We have seen flashes of it this year but next year it finally all comes together. Everyone has there opinions on who the Cardinals should hire as there next head coach. In the holiday spirit, I think a "Christmas Carroll" should be first on their list. If ever there is a match made in gridiron heaven having Pete Carroll at the reigns of the 2007 Arizona Cardinals would surely ignite national excitement back into the NFL's oldest franchise and finally deliver owner Bill Bidwill a Superbowl Ring.
In closing I feel the Cardinals and Pete Carroll have a need for each other. The Cardinals need a charismatic high profile head coach whose personality is infectious with the players (and the loyal fans). Carroll is known to bring a high energy level each week. Also Carroll has a special relationship with his former USC (now Cardinal) QB Matt Leinart. Carroll knows he can win in the NFL with Leinart and the arsenal of weapons that surround Hollywood Matt in the Cardinals offense. Carroll- who has accomplished pretty much everything you can on a college level- has something to still prove on the NFL level. It's a win-win situation for both sides and a very scary proposition for the rest of the National Football League to have to deal with.
Some additional thoughts on the upcoming off-season:
- If Kurt Warner does retire it would be a great reunion to bring back Jake Plummer to the Cardinals. Plummer, who is 40-18 overall (7-4 this season) with a winning percentage of .690 as a starter with the Denver Broncos truly didn't get a fair shake by being benched this late in the season. If he put those numbers up in Arizona there would be a holiday named after him. Jake had made it public a few weeks ago that he would be ok with backing up franchise QB Matt Leinart-and honestly Jake will always be a Cardinal in everyone heart as "The Snake's" 1998 playoff run was truly special.
- Its imperative that the Cardinals re-sign OT Leonard Davis and extend LB Karlos Dansby after the season. Yes its true that Davis (a former #2 overall pick) has underachieved but there isn't any better prospects on the upcoming free agent market to replace him with and honestly he has played extremely well the second half of this season. Dansby, like A.Wilson, D.Dockett, and G.Hayes, is part of this teams defensive core and like the above mentioned deserves a contract extension as he has played as well as any of them the 2nd half of the season.
- The Cardinals should take notes from the Chicago Bears this season and add an impact kick/punt returner (like Devin Hester) and deep threat speed receiver (like Bernard Berrian) this off-season. They haven't had either since the days of KR Vai Sikahema and WR Roy Green some 15 years ago. Yes, the Cardinals have great offensive weapons but unfortunately nobody that can outrun defenses on any given play and -until they get that missing element their offense will remain very good and never be great- and great wins championships.
Let me take a moment to wish all of you and your families a safe and happy Holiday Season!
Attachments
Last edited:
