Praising Arizona
Something tells me Cardinals won't pretend to be contenders this season
By Dan Arkush ([email protected])
April 17, 2007
In total honesty, I really can’t figure out the Arizona Cardinals at all. Not for the life of me. Every year I see glimmers of promise, and every year those glimmers vanish quickly in the desert air.
Yet, for reasons that I can’t fully explain, I believe this year’s team already has “surprise contender” written all over it, its considerable flaws notwithstanding.
It’s worth noting that the Cardinals, while still under the direction of departed head coach Dennis Green, got a fairly sizable amount of “dark horse” support last offseason.
They had gone out and bought the best free agent money could buy, in the eyes of most league observers, in ex-Colts RB Edgerrin James.
In the first round of the 2006 draft, they selected former Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart, who ended up becoming the new face of the franchise much sooner than expected after Kurt Warner quickly stumbled his way out of the starting QB job.
And they had an eye-popping, new state-of-the art stadium that has to be seen to be believed (I saw it up close in attendance at a preseason game last August, and I’m still not sure I believe it).
But with all those elements in place, the Cardinals were still … the Cardinals, woefully underachieving to the tune of Green’s third straight double-digit losing season.
But despite that disappointing result, the buzz in the desert is back again this offseason, its sole source, at least up to now, courtesy of Ken Whisenhunt, the team’s intriguing new head coach.
The Cardinals did buy themselves some serviceable parts in free agency, but certainly nobody who’s going to knock anybody’s socks off, although new FB Terrelle Smith is a good bet to knock the majority of defenders on their fannies as he plows into them while clearing a path for James.
But really, Whisenhunt is the big story, having wasted little time turning the Cardinals into “Pittsburgh West.”
I hear tell the new regime isn’t too fond of the Steelers analogy that is being frequently mentioned in league circles, but it’s inescapable.
Green’s one-RB, three-WR offense has been replaced by the more standard two-RB version that Whisenhunt coordinated so successfully the past three seasons in Pittsburgh.
Will James have problems adjusting to this version after excelling primarily in one-RB sets? Will Whisenhunt make sure Leinart distributes the ball enough to make all those enticing weapons at his disposal (James, Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Bryant Johnson) happy?
Perhaps most importantly, will new O-line coach Russ Grimm, who worked with Whisenhunt in the same capacity in Pittsburgh, be able to assemble a cohesive unit capable enough to anchor the power-based, run-oriented attack Whisenhunt has in mind?
The questions only grow in frequency when you consider the other side of the ball, which is where Whisenhunt apparently has ditched his plan to retain the 4-3 defensive scheme that was in place in favor of a very Steelers-like 3-4. At the team’s first voluntary minicamp this past weekend, one observer told me that, “to the naked eye, the 3-4 was used 90 percent of the time.”
Whisenhunt quickly issued the following marching orders at his team’s first offseason gathering:
Did I mention yet how much Whisenhunt facially looks like former Steelers head coach Bill Cowher when you really stop and take a good look at him?
What’s really important, according to team sources, is that Whisenhunt has gone out of his way to disassociate himself from any possible connection to Green, who, put simply, left the team in a pretty ugly mess.
Unlike Green, Whisenhunt has made no bold promises. He has only vowed that the team will work really hard to turn things around. Judging by his first camp, his players are on board with him to a man, which is quite a feat, considering how fractured the team’s chemistry had become by the end of the 2006 season.
Here’s the bottom line: Last year’s Cardinals team was much better than its record indicated. With a few different bounces, it could have very easily won eight games instead of five.
My daily Whisenhunt watchers tell me that he and his staff, which appears to have been significantly upgraded, are good for one or two more wins alone.
Could nine or 10 wins really be on the horizon for the Cardinals?
After discovering that their strength-of-schedule percentage was the lowest the league (.461), I was ready to crown them NFC West champs until I realized that the 49ers (30th in the same ranking), Rams (tied for 27th) and Seahawks (24th) were also the beneficiaries of big-time schedule breaks.
Truth be told, the Cardinals’ deck is stacked with serious concerns. Heading into the draft, their offensive line is thinner than a rail at the all-important tackle spots. Their lone tight end of note, second-year Leonard Pope, needs to grow up in a hurry. And whether or not Whisenhunt goes with a 4-3 or a 3-4, the defense is in dire need of some serious run stoppers in the front seven and more depth at cornerback.
All that said, it just doesn’t seem to take much to get on the right track in the NFC West, where a breath of fresh air just might work wonders.
Why not the Cardinals?
For some reason, it’s a question Ken Whisenhunt, who's a breath of fresh air in the desert, has made it impossible for me to ignore.
http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/NFL/NFC/NFC+West/Arizona/Features/2007/arkush041707.htm
Something tells me Cardinals won't pretend to be contenders this season
By Dan Arkush ([email protected])
April 17, 2007
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In total honesty, I really can’t figure out the Arizona Cardinals at all. Not for the life of me. Every year I see glimmers of promise, and every year those glimmers vanish quickly in the desert air.
Yet, for reasons that I can’t fully explain, I believe this year’s team already has “surprise contender” written all over it, its considerable flaws notwithstanding.
It’s worth noting that the Cardinals, while still under the direction of departed head coach Dennis Green, got a fairly sizable amount of “dark horse” support last offseason.
They had gone out and bought the best free agent money could buy, in the eyes of most league observers, in ex-Colts RB Edgerrin James.
In the first round of the 2006 draft, they selected former Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart, who ended up becoming the new face of the franchise much sooner than expected after Kurt Warner quickly stumbled his way out of the starting QB job.
And they had an eye-popping, new state-of-the art stadium that has to be seen to be believed (I saw it up close in attendance at a preseason game last August, and I’m still not sure I believe it).
But with all those elements in place, the Cardinals were still … the Cardinals, woefully underachieving to the tune of Green’s third straight double-digit losing season.
But despite that disappointing result, the buzz in the desert is back again this offseason, its sole source, at least up to now, courtesy of Ken Whisenhunt, the team’s intriguing new head coach.
The Cardinals did buy themselves some serviceable parts in free agency, but certainly nobody who’s going to knock anybody’s socks off, although new FB Terrelle Smith is a good bet to knock the majority of defenders on their fannies as he plows into them while clearing a path for James.
But really, Whisenhunt is the big story, having wasted little time turning the Cardinals into “Pittsburgh West.”
I hear tell the new regime isn’t too fond of the Steelers analogy that is being frequently mentioned in league circles, but it’s inescapable.
Green’s one-RB, three-WR offense has been replaced by the more standard two-RB version that Whisenhunt coordinated so successfully the past three seasons in Pittsburgh.
Will James have problems adjusting to this version after excelling primarily in one-RB sets? Will Whisenhunt make sure Leinart distributes the ball enough to make all those enticing weapons at his disposal (James, Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Bryant Johnson) happy?
Perhaps most importantly, will new O-line coach Russ Grimm, who worked with Whisenhunt in the same capacity in Pittsburgh, be able to assemble a cohesive unit capable enough to anchor the power-based, run-oriented attack Whisenhunt has in mind?
The questions only grow in frequency when you consider the other side of the ball, which is where Whisenhunt apparently has ditched his plan to retain the 4-3 defensive scheme that was in place in favor of a very Steelers-like 3-4. At the team’s first voluntary minicamp this past weekend, one observer told me that, “to the naked eye, the 3-4 was used 90 percent of the time.”
Whisenhunt quickly issued the following marching orders at his team’s first offseason gathering:
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Darnell Dockett, previously considered one of the more up-and-coming defensive tackles in the NFL when properly focused, lined up at left end.
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DEs Bertrand Berry, Chike Okeafor and former first-round pick Calvin Pace had all been turned into hybrid “quasi-end/linebackers,” in the words of Whisenhunt, with Pace looking as though he would be getting a very legitimate shot at taking away playing time from Berry, whose stock appears to have declined somewhat following two straight seasons that ended prematurely due to injury.
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LB Karlos Dansby, who came on strong last season after being hurt early, has moved from the strong side to the inside along with Gerald Hayes, where Whisenhunt envisions both of these big, talented playmakers routinely clogging up passing lanes in the middle of the field.Did I mention yet how much Whisenhunt facially looks like former Steelers head coach Bill Cowher when you really stop and take a good look at him?
What’s really important, according to team sources, is that Whisenhunt has gone out of his way to disassociate himself from any possible connection to Green, who, put simply, left the team in a pretty ugly mess.
Unlike Green, Whisenhunt has made no bold promises. He has only vowed that the team will work really hard to turn things around. Judging by his first camp, his players are on board with him to a man, which is quite a feat, considering how fractured the team’s chemistry had become by the end of the 2006 season.
Here’s the bottom line: Last year’s Cardinals team was much better than its record indicated. With a few different bounces, it could have very easily won eight games instead of five.
My daily Whisenhunt watchers tell me that he and his staff, which appears to have been significantly upgraded, are good for one or two more wins alone.
Could nine or 10 wins really be on the horizon for the Cardinals?
After discovering that their strength-of-schedule percentage was the lowest the league (.461), I was ready to crown them NFC West champs until I realized that the 49ers (30th in the same ranking), Rams (tied for 27th) and Seahawks (24th) were also the beneficiaries of big-time schedule breaks.
Truth be told, the Cardinals’ deck is stacked with serious concerns. Heading into the draft, their offensive line is thinner than a rail at the all-important tackle spots. Their lone tight end of note, second-year Leonard Pope, needs to grow up in a hurry. And whether or not Whisenhunt goes with a 4-3 or a 3-4, the defense is in dire need of some serious run stoppers in the front seven and more depth at cornerback.
All that said, it just doesn’t seem to take much to get on the right track in the NFC West, where a breath of fresh air just might work wonders.
Why not the Cardinals?
For some reason, it’s a question Ken Whisenhunt, who's a breath of fresh air in the desert, has made it impossible for me to ignore.
http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/NFL/NFC/NFC+West/Arizona/Features/2007/arkush041707.htm
