The Pass That Spiraled the Arizona Cardinals on a Path to the Super Bowl

[football karma]

just some well after the fact stuff:

background: I got to "stand in" for my boss at a reception the Phoenix Leadership Council had to meet and greet Denny Green.

I asked Denny Green what he thought about the QBs coming out. His take was that Eli Manning was rated higher than he should be due to Peyton. He was very clear that he thought Roethlisberger was the very best Qb in the draft, then Rivers, then Eli. He also described Fitz at the time as spectacular.

This reception was also the night before free agency opened at 12 midnight. I asked him who was on his speed dial -- and he told me that guy a little under the radar from Denver named Betrand Berry was his #1 target.

Based on such, I really believe that had the Cardinals gone Qb or had the Raiders taken Fitz, they would have stood pat and taken Roethlisberger.

 

[chickenhead]

The Cardinals holding the #1 pick and targeting Eli would have been a nightmare. San Diego is often polled as the place players most want to play--at that time Arizona would have been bottom five. We probably would have drafted Manning, not traded him to the Giants, and had the mother of all holdouts on our hands.

Eli's a good field general and I think is overly criticized at times, but he's not the Larry Fitzgerald of quarterbacks. We came out ahead.

 

[TJ]

The Cardinals holding the #1 pick and targeting Eli would have been a nightmare. San Diego is often polled as the place players most want to play--at that time Arizona would have been bottom five. We probably would have drafted Manning, not traded him to the Giants, and had the mother of all holdouts on our hands.

Eli's a good field general and I think is overly criticized at times, but he's not the Larry Fitzgerald of quarterbacks. We came out ahead.

Denny was hell bent on taking Fitz. Even if the Minnesota pass never happened, Fitz would have been drafted #1, just paid a bigger salary. In effect, McCown's TD pass saved the Cards a couple mil