Mitch
Crawled Through 5 FB Fields
1. First and foremost, what horrible news it was to hear of Dan Williams' father's passing. The context of it makes it even more devastating for him and the entire Cardinal family---en route to watch his son play in the Superdome. As of yesterday Williams' mother was still hospitalized in Mississippi. It is so dreadfully sad---don't know about you but the news dampened my excitement to watch the game, so I can just imagine how it affected the players and coaches. My Irish instincts tell me that the players and coaches deserve a mulligan on this one. Playing with heavy hearts is tough---in a place that is hard enough to play in as it is. But, the FOX crew was right when they said that BA was about as good a coach to have in Williams' and the team's corner. It will be handled with TLC and with class.
2. House of Horrors indeed. Bad enough to see Lorenzo Alexander and Sam Acho go down to season-ending injuries, but to hear that the bloody tip of Rashad Johnson's middle finger was still in his glove when it was taken off is gruesome, to say the least. Alexander's leadership will be missed---and Acho was having his best game of the season (great sack), so it hurts to lose these players---meanwhile Johnson seems snakebitten this year, in a year where it is his turn to emerge as one of the leaders of the defense.
3. Matchups---that's what this game comes down to these days. The Saints were drooling over the mismatches they felt they had in coverage that they basically abandoned their running game for the first three and a half quarters. Just a week after thinking that Todd Bowles had started to settle down the coverage with the right matchups and schemes---Bowles' decision making in this game was egregious. There's really no other way to put it. The FOX crew harped ad nauseum on that throughout the broadcast and rightfully so.
First of all---you cannot consider Jimmy Graham a TE, because he is not a TE. He is a taller, faster and stronger version of Larry Fitzgerald. Look at the TD in the 2nd quarter---he was lined up wide left. To think that Yeremiah Bell on an island wide with Graham was even an option is beyond comprehension. Even if you have to call timeout (first half anyway) to make a switch, you cannot allow the Saints that easy a mismatch. To Bell's credit he was stride for stride with Graham but at 5'11" whose kidding whom? Bell can cover a 6'7" WR? Honey Badger? As they say on ESPN: "C'mon MAN!"
The obvious matchup here is Patrick Peterson---I mean he covers Fitz every day in practice and he just came off a game where he covered one of the elite big receivers in the NFL in Calvin Johnson. Peterson would have been ready to take this challenge.
What I want to know too is---where's Antoine Cason? One would assume they signed him to cover taller WRs---he would have been the guy to cover Marquis Colston---then you have Badger on Lance Moore (as Bowles did) and Arenas to cover Sproles.
What I also want to know is---after a very active and productive performance the week before, where was Tony Jefferson? Why was Arenas playing safety? Although he did make a nice pass breakup on the goalline versus the skinny post.
Weird...just plain weird.
4. As for Badger---did you see how he mirrored Moore in coverage? Absolute textbook, with perfect feet, perfect cushion in space, all the while with his eyes on Brees and the football. Badger's first interception was a thing of beauty. Quite frankly---he might be the most savvy baller on the team. he is stunningly good. He mis-timed his break on the PI call to Moore, but that was due to a super quick reaction to the football.
5. More defensive weirdness---the Curious Case of Calais Campbell---was that a ghost playing in his spot? How many times did he disappear on plays? So badly that twice in the 4th quarter, once on a key third down and another on Brees' easy scramble up the middle, Campbell, for some inexplicable reason vacated the middle and left a two lane highway for Brees to pass and run through. I don;t think I have ever seen a vacated middle of a line like that (twice no less) in all my years of football.
It begs the question as to whether Campbell now after three invisible games is yet another in the long line of Cardinal fat-cats who played big to get the big contract and then played no-show on Sundays.
In the NFL you HAVE to get premier performances on a weekly basis from the the big contract players. Darnell Dockett has shown up the past two weeks---while Campbell has not even made even a slight impact. He should be to the Cardinals what J.J. Watt is to the Texans. Yet, nada thus far in 2013. Nada thing.
6. Now that things are heating up---let's go right to the issue of BA's offense with Carson Palmer at QB and Levi Brown at LT. It's like a peanut butter, artichoke and horseradish sandwich. It ain't going to work---not as it is designed and not with those two players.
I've been trying to point this out for three weeks---but Carson Palmer is an offensive tackle's worst nightmare. First of all, he's stationary...secondly, he sets the back edge of the pocket deep and even worse he steps backward not forward. if you are an OT---you are screwed. If you get steering leverage you still are going to funnel your man into the QB.
Palmer had occasions where he could have stepped up to buy time and he didn't...the one time he scrambled he had plenty of space to step into.
With Brown at LT---the better QB is Drew Stanton, because he mobile and can escape under pressure. Problem is---no one knows whether Stanton is a gamer yet because he hasn't played much at all in his 6 years.
Palmer looks too afraid to step up---so something has to give.
When I watched Andrew Luck play inside the pocket yesterday it was textbook versus the 49ers. When Aldon Smith over-committed wide, Luck bought time inside the pocket and then ran with it for good yards when he needed to.
The Cardinals need Palmer to step forward---but he looks like he's incorrigible---he just won't do it.
Where Palmer sets the pocket---you have to chip both edges.
Makes one wonder whether there is serious interest on BASK's part in Clemson QB Taj Boyd, whom SK went to scout this past week.
Stationary QBs are going out of style----and we are seeing the reason why.
7. BA badly out-coached by Rob Ryan. Sad to say---and until what we saw yesterday I wouldn't have guessed it but---it was clear that Ryan and HC/OC Sean Payton had spent a great deal of time poring over the Rams' tape, because their game plan was a carbon copy---so much so that they had previously unheralded RDE Junior Galette mimic Robert Quinn's shake and bake pass rush moves---which once again froze the chunky, slow-footed Levi Brown right in his tracks.
What's so bad about Brown is the incredibly easy way he gets beat....and how non-plussed he is afterward---it's as if he doesn't even care. Both he and Carson Palmer have to be two of the most emotionless players in the NFL.
On the other side...look at Drew Brees---the Cardinals hit him numerous times---but Brees never lost his nerve and if anything got even more psyched and determined to prevail.
Palmer crawled into a shell.
BA had two great things going in the first drive---a running game and open passes to Michael Floyd.
Neither of those things were emphasized again until it was way too late.
This guy Mendenhall---he's pretty darned good. Ellington---pretty darned good---and both bring sorely needed speed to what is a boringly slow offense otherwise.
8. Rob Housler? Comes off as a way over-hyped space cadet who does not command the ball. Charles Hawkins commanded the ball in this offense. If he can---why can't Housler? Does he strike anyone as a hungry competitor? Or just another ghost on game-days?
9. Patrick Peterson---not into punt returns for the second straight year. He's fair catch happy and far more tentative than he was as a rookie. I really have to question too how badly he wants to play of offense. He's functioning in the role---but do you get the sense that he really doesn't want the role? He says he does---but what would it say about him if he says otherwise?
However, his role on offense might be in some way helping him on defense as he is playing smoothly and well within himself and the rule in coverage. In other words, he not over-playing as he sometimes has been prone to do.
10. Why in the world was Larry Fitzgerald playing late in the game? What, to add another 8 yard catch for his stats? The previous HC did the same---and this time having been out all week, it was absurd to play him once the game was a rout. Even if he didn't miss the week---is it really worth the risk of a senseless and thoroughly avoidable injury?
With each week now I am going to end with a question of the week---
Would you trade the 2014 and 2015 1st round picks to Cleveland for LT Joe Thomas? (assuming that is what it would take to acquire him)
2. House of Horrors indeed. Bad enough to see Lorenzo Alexander and Sam Acho go down to season-ending injuries, but to hear that the bloody tip of Rashad Johnson's middle finger was still in his glove when it was taken off is gruesome, to say the least. Alexander's leadership will be missed---and Acho was having his best game of the season (great sack), so it hurts to lose these players---meanwhile Johnson seems snakebitten this year, in a year where it is his turn to emerge as one of the leaders of the defense.
3. Matchups---that's what this game comes down to these days. The Saints were drooling over the mismatches they felt they had in coverage that they basically abandoned their running game for the first three and a half quarters. Just a week after thinking that Todd Bowles had started to settle down the coverage with the right matchups and schemes---Bowles' decision making in this game was egregious. There's really no other way to put it. The FOX crew harped ad nauseum on that throughout the broadcast and rightfully so.
First of all---you cannot consider Jimmy Graham a TE, because he is not a TE. He is a taller, faster and stronger version of Larry Fitzgerald. Look at the TD in the 2nd quarter---he was lined up wide left. To think that Yeremiah Bell on an island wide with Graham was even an option is beyond comprehension. Even if you have to call timeout (first half anyway) to make a switch, you cannot allow the Saints that easy a mismatch. To Bell's credit he was stride for stride with Graham but at 5'11" whose kidding whom? Bell can cover a 6'7" WR? Honey Badger? As they say on ESPN: "C'mon MAN!"
The obvious matchup here is Patrick Peterson---I mean he covers Fitz every day in practice and he just came off a game where he covered one of the elite big receivers in the NFL in Calvin Johnson. Peterson would have been ready to take this challenge.
What I want to know too is---where's Antoine Cason? One would assume they signed him to cover taller WRs---he would have been the guy to cover Marquis Colston---then you have Badger on Lance Moore (as Bowles did) and Arenas to cover Sproles.
What I also want to know is---after a very active and productive performance the week before, where was Tony Jefferson? Why was Arenas playing safety? Although he did make a nice pass breakup on the goalline versus the skinny post.
Weird...just plain weird.
4. As for Badger---did you see how he mirrored Moore in coverage? Absolute textbook, with perfect feet, perfect cushion in space, all the while with his eyes on Brees and the football. Badger's first interception was a thing of beauty. Quite frankly---he might be the most savvy baller on the team. he is stunningly good. He mis-timed his break on the PI call to Moore, but that was due to a super quick reaction to the football.
5. More defensive weirdness---the Curious Case of Calais Campbell---was that a ghost playing in his spot? How many times did he disappear on plays? So badly that twice in the 4th quarter, once on a key third down and another on Brees' easy scramble up the middle, Campbell, for some inexplicable reason vacated the middle and left a two lane highway for Brees to pass and run through. I don;t think I have ever seen a vacated middle of a line like that (twice no less) in all my years of football.
It begs the question as to whether Campbell now after three invisible games is yet another in the long line of Cardinal fat-cats who played big to get the big contract and then played no-show on Sundays.
In the NFL you HAVE to get premier performances on a weekly basis from the the big contract players. Darnell Dockett has shown up the past two weeks---while Campbell has not even made even a slight impact. He should be to the Cardinals what J.J. Watt is to the Texans. Yet, nada thus far in 2013. Nada thing.
6. Now that things are heating up---let's go right to the issue of BA's offense with Carson Palmer at QB and Levi Brown at LT. It's like a peanut butter, artichoke and horseradish sandwich. It ain't going to work---not as it is designed and not with those two players.
I've been trying to point this out for three weeks---but Carson Palmer is an offensive tackle's worst nightmare. First of all, he's stationary...secondly, he sets the back edge of the pocket deep and even worse he steps backward not forward. if you are an OT---you are screwed. If you get steering leverage you still are going to funnel your man into the QB.
Palmer had occasions where he could have stepped up to buy time and he didn't...the one time he scrambled he had plenty of space to step into.
With Brown at LT---the better QB is Drew Stanton, because he mobile and can escape under pressure. Problem is---no one knows whether Stanton is a gamer yet because he hasn't played much at all in his 6 years.
Palmer looks too afraid to step up---so something has to give.
When I watched Andrew Luck play inside the pocket yesterday it was textbook versus the 49ers. When Aldon Smith over-committed wide, Luck bought time inside the pocket and then ran with it for good yards when he needed to.
The Cardinals need Palmer to step forward---but he looks like he's incorrigible---he just won't do it.
Where Palmer sets the pocket---you have to chip both edges.
Makes one wonder whether there is serious interest on BASK's part in Clemson QB Taj Boyd, whom SK went to scout this past week.
Stationary QBs are going out of style----and we are seeing the reason why.
7. BA badly out-coached by Rob Ryan. Sad to say---and until what we saw yesterday I wouldn't have guessed it but---it was clear that Ryan and HC/OC Sean Payton had spent a great deal of time poring over the Rams' tape, because their game plan was a carbon copy---so much so that they had previously unheralded RDE Junior Galette mimic Robert Quinn's shake and bake pass rush moves---which once again froze the chunky, slow-footed Levi Brown right in his tracks.
What's so bad about Brown is the incredibly easy way he gets beat....and how non-plussed he is afterward---it's as if he doesn't even care. Both he and Carson Palmer have to be two of the most emotionless players in the NFL.
On the other side...look at Drew Brees---the Cardinals hit him numerous times---but Brees never lost his nerve and if anything got even more psyched and determined to prevail.
Palmer crawled into a shell.
BA had two great things going in the first drive---a running game and open passes to Michael Floyd.
Neither of those things were emphasized again until it was way too late.
This guy Mendenhall---he's pretty darned good. Ellington---pretty darned good---and both bring sorely needed speed to what is a boringly slow offense otherwise.
8. Rob Housler? Comes off as a way over-hyped space cadet who does not command the ball. Charles Hawkins commanded the ball in this offense. If he can---why can't Housler? Does he strike anyone as a hungry competitor? Or just another ghost on game-days?
9. Patrick Peterson---not into punt returns for the second straight year. He's fair catch happy and far more tentative than he was as a rookie. I really have to question too how badly he wants to play of offense. He's functioning in the role---but do you get the sense that he really doesn't want the role? He says he does---but what would it say about him if he says otherwise?
However, his role on offense might be in some way helping him on defense as he is playing smoothly and well within himself and the rule in coverage. In other words, he not over-playing as he sometimes has been prone to do.
10. Why in the world was Larry Fitzgerald playing late in the game? What, to add another 8 yard catch for his stats? The previous HC did the same---and this time having been out all week, it was absurd to play him once the game was a rout. Even if he didn't miss the week---is it really worth the risk of a senseless and thoroughly avoidable injury?
With each week now I am going to end with a question of the week---
Would you trade the 2014 and 2015 1st round picks to Cleveland for LT Joe Thomas? (assuming that is what it would take to acquire him)
