Q@A with Jeff Fitzgerald..I like his 1 answer..It kinda give the cardinals hope!

AzWins23

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Do you think this team is ready to compete for the playoffs right now?

As of today, March 7, we are not ready to compete in the play-offs. We need to shore up the rest of our team up through free agency and the draft. Meeting the objectives we have in the free agent market and the draft, then yes, after that I believe we will be able and ready to compete for the play-offs.

How do you rate the defense in terms of aggressiveness and the desire to win?

You have to start a defense with aggressive people and then you have to let them play aggressively. You accomplish that by not having to think too much when the ball is snapped. We want to know what our responsibilities are prior to the snap of the ball and we want to make all of our calls and adjustments prior to the snap. Once that ball is snapped, we want to fly around and get after people. I think the guys have that instilled in them and it is our job to let them play that way. The desire to win in our football team is great. This is one of the better groups of linebackers and defenses that I have been around in my career as far as guys doing whatever you ask them to do and doing it to the very best of their ability.

Do you see Thompson and Fisher being impact players next year? If we get Rosevelt Colvin, what are your expectations of him?

I expect impact to be made with Raynoch Thompson. He’s a player that progressed greatly in his professional career last year and I have great expectations for him this year. Levar Fisher I have great expectations for as well, but I have a little more patience with Levar. He wasn’t able to compete throughout the whole season last year due to injury and he needed to compete to get some valuable experience. He will continue to do that this year and I expect good things from him. Great things will come in the near future. If we are able to sign Colvin, I would expect immediate impact from him for the type of player he is. He is a proven player. He has shown that he can rush the passer and he’s got the sacks to back it up. He’s been an effective player in all of the packages when he hasn’t been a designated pass rusher and he’s done a fine job.

Did Fisher at least learn a lot while injured?

Absolutely, Levar learned a lot last year. Even though he was unable to participate at times on the practice field and in games, he spent all the time with the linebacker group in the meeting room. He was still held responsible for learning everything in the game plan each week and held responsible for watching film. The only thing he couldn’t do was physically participate. Everything else in terms of the mental aspects, we were constantly working with him.

Coach, with Thompson's speed why don't you use him to rush the passer off the corner more?

We did quite a bit last year. When you watch some of the defenses we started to implement and emphasize more throughout the year, you’ll see Raynoch Thompson coming off the edge a pretty good bit. He proved that he could get to the quarterback and get the quarterback down to the ground and he also had quite a few pressures last year. He’ll have more opportunity to do that this year but I don’t want to say that he was cut short in his opportunities to do that last year.

Appears, Fredrickson is injured way too much...will you be drafting another backer?

I would say yes, we would draft another linebacker but that isn’t hinging upon the health of Rob Fredrickson. You are always trying to infuse your group – that is something you have to do each year. You hope that you are fortunate enough to have a draft pick each year so that you have a guy at some point – if he’s a high draft pick, participate early. If he’s a middle-round pick he’ll have a year or so to develop. We always like to bring in an extra guy, who at the very least can make an immediate positive contribution on special teams.

What round do you think you may address a linebacker?

As far as rounds go and where to address a linebacker, that is a good question. We have to address two things in the draft. First of all, primary needs. Areas where we have lost players in either free agency or retirement or whatever the reason they have been excluded from our football team. That is one factor. The second factor is what kind of guys are available when your draft pick rolls around. Often times, you have a player at your spot that you can’t avoid to take even if he isn’t a primary need that you have. Sometimes he’ll be a real steal at that spot and that has to be considered. It’s all based on the draft philosophy implemented. I don’t want to dodge your question, but I honestly don’t know at the present time.

It seemed that our linebackers were stopped up at the line by linemen many times when they blitzed, whereas when we were blitzed people would fly through untouched. I was wondering if our defensive line could do something different to free up the blitzers or what other teams were doing to allow for a more free path to the quarterback?

If you are mixing run and pass blitzes on first and second downs, it is a coordination in terms of the defensive line working with the linebackers and vice versa. Sometimes things look like they are in an all out blitz but in fact you have the defensive line up front actually trying to use up specific blockers in specific areas to free up a linebacker that may be shooting a seam. Overloading certain sides of the line and the confusion factor we can cause the offensive linemen just prior to the snap of the ball on first and second down with some of our run/pass blitzes are also very helpful.

On third downs, blitzing and a free pass to the quarterback are determined, in part, upon being able to break down the opponent’s pass protections in terms of what they try to do and how you can influence to create a mismatch somewhere along the line, either from an inside or outside blitzing position. Once you figure out what they are trying to do and how you can control their pass protections, then you get into the game where you are disguising and trying to influence one look to make them do what you would expect them to do in that situation and then change what you are doing just prior to the snap of the ball. Again, that primarily occurs on third downs with a predictable passing situation.

Rod Graves suggested in a recent interview that an upgrade at LB was one of the team’s priorities. What changes, if any, would you like to see in the unit from the standpoint of productivity and personnel?

I always want more productivity. I don’t know at what point I’d be satisfied with the productivity of the linebackers. I say that knowing our players are continually getting better and will reach higher standards and expectations. I would never limit those expectations. I know we have linebackers ranked in high statistical categories, but I can’t accept that with satisfaction based on the type of record and ranking we have on defense.

Also – do you foresee any change in the way our LB’s are used within the context of the over all defensive scheme of the Cardinals?

No, I don’t see them being used drastically different, unless we change and or alter our defensive scheme. They’ve got a lot of different responsibilities. They participate in the coverages –man, zone, the blitzes inside and out, their alignments and responsibilities constantly change. We have the type of guys we can do that with, smart and for the most part, versatile.

Will Levar Fisher have a shot at starting this year?

Fisher will have a shot at starting. I expect whether he becomes a starter or not, he’ll be a great special teams player. All the linebackers are responsible for vital roles on special teams. Our play on special teams is expected and he’ll definitely play a major role in that area. He was a designated rusher for us in some of our outside blitz packages on defense. We put him in our nickel packages which characteristically have two linebackers and we put him in as a third just to get him in as a rusher. He just needs to learn and get some more experience and I think he’ll do fine, but he’ll have every opportunity to start and have the type of impact that is expected of him.

Is Greg Jones a weakside or strongside linebacker?

Strongside. He made his living when I had the opportunity to coach him in Washington at SAM linebacker. A linebacker that lines up to the tight end side and lines up on the line of scrimmage over the tight end. That is his primary forte, however, he can play off the line of scrimmage as well as long as it is to his tight end side. Those are the probably best two positions for him.

If the Cards signed Colvin would you use his strengths rushing the passer and keeping him closer to the line playing the run or would you try to use him as a complete player dropping back and covering running backs and tight ends which he is not that strong at? I guess what I'm trying to say is are you a coach that believes in using player strengths or a coach that takes any player regardless of his strengths and molds him to fit a defensive scheme?

Personally, I believe you take the players and you use the players to their strength. I am not one to take as square peg and try to jam it into a round hole. I think you can design your defense, your scheme and what you are doing with your players by trying to exemplify what they do best.
 
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