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The heat is on
By Jerry Magee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
July 18, 2004
A coaching whirlwind named Dennis Green came whipping into San Diego this week, moving so fast that one had to wonder if his Arizona Cardinals can catch up with him.
None of that we'll-take-'em-one-at-a-time stuff for this man. During an appearance at a "Sports at Lunch" function at the San Diego Hall of Champions, Green delivered himself of these positions:
He expects the Cardinals to be a playoff team. This, though the Arizona club has been a party to the postseason only once in the last 25 years – in 1998.
In Josh McCown, he has a quarterback "who is going to set the NFL on fire." Never mind that in two previous seasons in Tempe, McCown has started just three games, only one of which the Cardinals won.
That as many persons who arrived in Arizona before him did, he has come to the state seeking opportunity. "And when you do that, you have to take advantage of it," he announced.
One measure of how Green has proceeded: on Jan. 6, he agreed to become Dave McGinnis' coaching successor. Two hours later, he said his wife, Marie, had found an Arizona home for the Greens, who also have a home in Del Mar. "The table was set," he said. "And so it began."
His reference was to the process of creating a winner in a commmunity that since the Cardinals showed up in 1988 has experienced almost nothing but defeat. So is Green dissuaded? Hardly.
"I am convinced that every team in the NFL should get a nice, juicy bite of that apple," he said. "No team should always be best or worst."
As Green reconstructed it, his first assignment in Arizona was screening his squad for 10 athletes "who would love to be where the New England Patriots are now." The Patriots are the NFL champions, having captured Super Bowl XXXVIII with a 32-29 conquest of Carolina.
Green said he has found his 10 players, whom he termed "tremendous players." Among them is McCown, of whom not a lot of people are aware.
"McCown can be like Brett Favre; he reminds me a lot of Favre," Green said of the former Sam Houston State athlete. "He is a tremendous athlete, 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds, with 4.6 speed and a vertical leap of 39 inches."
Before the college draft, Green had handed the football to McCown. A number of persons refused to accept that Green was being sincere. After all, the Cardinals possessed the No. 3 selection in the first round. They were positioned to claim an Eli Manning or a Philip Rivers or a Ben Roethlisberger. They had to take one of them. Surely, in identifying McCown, Green was acting to deceive his NFL peers.
Not at all, according to Green. His rationale: "I did not want to waste the period between January and the April draft and then find out that none of those college quarterbacks was ready to play, and none of them are."
He includes Manning, whom the Chargers claimed at the top of the draft before dealing negotiation title for him to the New York Giants.
"I think if you had gone to the Giants' minicamps, you would have found that there are questions about how ready Eli is to play," said Green.
The Manning family has not detailed why it advised the Chargers in the period prior to the draft not to select Eli. Green said there were two reasons: because the Mannings did not consider San Diego a large enough market, and because the family wanted Eli to be the No. 1 selection and thus compensated as No. 1 selections are.
"I'm just not sure that's best for the game," Green said of the Mannings' stance. "I wouldn"t let a guy come to Arizona and pull that. I get worked up about things like that," he admitted.
Green's choice in the draft was the player he had said he would be choosing, Pittsburgh wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald.
"I came out and said Fitzgerald was the No. 1 player in the country," Green said. "He's a fabulous player. I still say he is the best, and he has been incredible in our practices."
About those exercises. After some members of the Cardinals filed a grievance with the NFL Players Association in which they complained that the team's offseason nip-ups were too intensive, the Arizona club was ordered to shorten its pre-training camp program by a week.
"You're always going to have one or two guys who can't accept the intensity and tempo of a program," he said, "but we're going to outwork New England. If the Patriots work from 9 to 4, we're going to work from 8 to 5. I know how many games these players have lost. Guys are going to get paid on Tuesdays whether they win or lose and whether they block the guy in front of them or they don't. But we have 10 players who understand how you win."
With players such as Emmitt Smith. Green has made Smith, a 15-year veteran, his ranking tailback, aligning him ahead of the accomplished Marcel Shipp. Green, it should be noted, first sought to measure how Smith would respond to his presence.
"I wanted to make sure that Emmitt was on board," Green explained. "He had to accept his role. It was clear that he would. The problem was that Marcel was not ready to accept a leadership role. Emmitt can still play; he's going to make those big guys in our offensive line start blocking."
Green is nothing if not opinionated. He listed New England's Bill Belichick as the NFL's ranking coach and said during his season here a year ago, David Boston did not have any idea of what it meant to be a Chargers receiver.
"He puts himself above everybody else," Green said of Boston.
Further, Green listed Denver as the team he expects will win the AFC West "because Mike Shanahan gets whatever he wants."
Green said he does not anticipate that Kansas City will be improved defensively.
"Those are probably going to be the two teams that make the playoffs," Green said of the Broncos and the Chiefs. "The Raiders are still in a rebuilding mode, and so is San Diego."
Believe their coach, meantime, and the Cardinals are bound for the playoffs.
"When I say that," he noted, "people cringe." Dennis Green is not cringing.
The grass is Green-er
Dennis Green, now the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, has been a head coach three times before:
Northwestern
(1981-85)
Win. pct: .181
(10-45)
This record isn't impressive until you take into account previous coach Rick Venturini was 1-31. After an 0-11 start, Green posted seasons of 3-8, 2-9 (twice) and 3-8 before moving on to Stanford.
Stanford
(1989-91)
Win. pct: .470
(16-18
Bettered his record each season, going from 3-8 to 5-6 to 8-4 and a berth in the 1991 Aloha Bowl, which he lost 18-17 to Georgia Tech.
Minnesota Vikings
(1992-2001)
Win. pct: .610
(97-62)
Took the Vikes to the playoffs eight times in 10 seasons, but his teams were a disappointing 4-8 in the playoffs. His best team was the 1998 squad that was 15-1.
By Jerry Magee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
July 18, 2004
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A coaching whirlwind named Dennis Green came whipping into San Diego this week, moving so fast that one had to wonder if his Arizona Cardinals can catch up with him.
None of that we'll-take-'em-one-at-a-time stuff for this man. During an appearance at a "Sports at Lunch" function at the San Diego Hall of Champions, Green delivered himself of these positions:
He expects the Cardinals to be a playoff team. This, though the Arizona club has been a party to the postseason only once in the last 25 years – in 1998.
In Josh McCown, he has a quarterback "who is going to set the NFL on fire." Never mind that in two previous seasons in Tempe, McCown has started just three games, only one of which the Cardinals won.
That as many persons who arrived in Arizona before him did, he has come to the state seeking opportunity. "And when you do that, you have to take advantage of it," he announced.
One measure of how Green has proceeded: on Jan. 6, he agreed to become Dave McGinnis' coaching successor. Two hours later, he said his wife, Marie, had found an Arizona home for the Greens, who also have a home in Del Mar. "The table was set," he said. "And so it began."
His reference was to the process of creating a winner in a commmunity that since the Cardinals showed up in 1988 has experienced almost nothing but defeat. So is Green dissuaded? Hardly.
"I am convinced that every team in the NFL should get a nice, juicy bite of that apple," he said. "No team should always be best or worst."
As Green reconstructed it, his first assignment in Arizona was screening his squad for 10 athletes "who would love to be where the New England Patriots are now." The Patriots are the NFL champions, having captured Super Bowl XXXVIII with a 32-29 conquest of Carolina.
Green said he has found his 10 players, whom he termed "tremendous players." Among them is McCown, of whom not a lot of people are aware.
"McCown can be like Brett Favre; he reminds me a lot of Favre," Green said of the former Sam Houston State athlete. "He is a tremendous athlete, 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds, with 4.6 speed and a vertical leap of 39 inches."
Before the college draft, Green had handed the football to McCown. A number of persons refused to accept that Green was being sincere. After all, the Cardinals possessed the No. 3 selection in the first round. They were positioned to claim an Eli Manning or a Philip Rivers or a Ben Roethlisberger. They had to take one of them. Surely, in identifying McCown, Green was acting to deceive his NFL peers.
Not at all, according to Green. His rationale: "I did not want to waste the period between January and the April draft and then find out that none of those college quarterbacks was ready to play, and none of them are."
He includes Manning, whom the Chargers claimed at the top of the draft before dealing negotiation title for him to the New York Giants.
"I think if you had gone to the Giants' minicamps, you would have found that there are questions about how ready Eli is to play," said Green.
The Manning family has not detailed why it advised the Chargers in the period prior to the draft not to select Eli. Green said there were two reasons: because the Mannings did not consider San Diego a large enough market, and because the family wanted Eli to be the No. 1 selection and thus compensated as No. 1 selections are.
"I'm just not sure that's best for the game," Green said of the Mannings' stance. "I wouldn"t let a guy come to Arizona and pull that. I get worked up about things like that," he admitted.
Green's choice in the draft was the player he had said he would be choosing, Pittsburgh wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald.
"I came out and said Fitzgerald was the No. 1 player in the country," Green said. "He's a fabulous player. I still say he is the best, and he has been incredible in our practices."
About those exercises. After some members of the Cardinals filed a grievance with the NFL Players Association in which they complained that the team's offseason nip-ups were too intensive, the Arizona club was ordered to shorten its pre-training camp program by a week.
"You're always going to have one or two guys who can't accept the intensity and tempo of a program," he said, "but we're going to outwork New England. If the Patriots work from 9 to 4, we're going to work from 8 to 5. I know how many games these players have lost. Guys are going to get paid on Tuesdays whether they win or lose and whether they block the guy in front of them or they don't. But we have 10 players who understand how you win."
With players such as Emmitt Smith. Green has made Smith, a 15-year veteran, his ranking tailback, aligning him ahead of the accomplished Marcel Shipp. Green, it should be noted, first sought to measure how Smith would respond to his presence.
"I wanted to make sure that Emmitt was on board," Green explained. "He had to accept his role. It was clear that he would. The problem was that Marcel was not ready to accept a leadership role. Emmitt can still play; he's going to make those big guys in our offensive line start blocking."
Green is nothing if not opinionated. He listed New England's Bill Belichick as the NFL's ranking coach and said during his season here a year ago, David Boston did not have any idea of what it meant to be a Chargers receiver.
"He puts himself above everybody else," Green said of Boston.
Further, Green listed Denver as the team he expects will win the AFC West "because Mike Shanahan gets whatever he wants."
Green said he does not anticipate that Kansas City will be improved defensively.
"Those are probably going to be the two teams that make the playoffs," Green said of the Broncos and the Chiefs. "The Raiders are still in a rebuilding mode, and so is San Diego."
Believe their coach, meantime, and the Cardinals are bound for the playoffs.
"When I say that," he noted, "people cringe." Dennis Green is not cringing.
The grass is Green-er
Dennis Green, now the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, has been a head coach three times before:
Northwestern
(1981-85)
Win. pct: .181
(10-45)
This record isn't impressive until you take into account previous coach Rick Venturini was 1-31. After an 0-11 start, Green posted seasons of 3-8, 2-9 (twice) and 3-8 before moving on to Stanford.
Stanford
(1989-91)
Win. pct: .470
(16-18
Bettered his record each season, going from 3-8 to 5-6 to 8-4 and a berth in the 1991 Aloha Bowl, which he lost 18-17 to Georgia Tech.
Minnesota Vikings
(1992-2001)
Win. pct: .610
(97-62)
Took the Vikes to the playoffs eight times in 10 seasons, but his teams were a disappointing 4-8 in the playoffs. His best team was the 1998 squad that was 15-1.
