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Arizona wide receiver Anquan Boldin said he’s “moved on” after Sunday’s critical comments directed at coach Ken Whisenhunt and his staff.
Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner has been named the “NFC Offensive Player of the Week” for his performance in last Sunday’s 41-21 victory against the Chicago Bears.
Being an Arizona Cardinals fan for so many years I've learned that there's no such thing as a bad win. A Cards win is kind of like a back massage... I always appreciate them even if they're not that great. Well the Cardinals were not that great on Sunday but were good enough to get the win and that will always put a smile on my face. What doesn't put a smile on my face is the lingering issues that could be a sign of bad things to come for Arizona.
When the Cardinals took a 21-0 lead into the half I told my Dad this game is far from over. I went as far as predicting the final score would be 24-21 Arizona and I was almost right. I knew the Texans would come back for two reasons... One the Cardinals won't run the ball which is something you have to effectively do when you have a lead. Two, coach Whisenhunt has a past history as an offensive coordinator of playing ultra conservative when he gets a big lead early. It's the NFL not Pop Warner, If you beat a team by 40 then great. These are paid players not little kids who cares if we blow them out. Go look at Whisenhunts history with leads it's a common theme. He's the best coach Arizona's ever had and I love'em to death for what he's done with the Cardinals but I'm critical of some things he's doing right now.
I keep hearing Cardinal fans in the stands at games saying we need to pass the ball more and complaining when they run. Really? I
mean I get it we have the best wide receivers in the league but what
game are you watching? When we pass on every down our quarterback can't
get the ball off because teams don't have to respect the run so
defenses are just pass rushing all game and killing Kurt. That's what
happened in the Colts game and in the second half of the Texans game.
Houston who was ranked 29th in run defense realized in the second half
that they don't have to worry about stopping the run because Arizona
isn't going to do it. So they made a point of disrupting the pass
attack by getting in Kurt's face. Play action was killer last year
during the playoff run. But play action doesn't work when you don't run
the ball. What I'm saying is common sense but nothing seems to be done
about it. If the Cardinals don't start running the ball this season could end quickly.
Defense. I don't know what to make of it with the Cardinals. They seem to be great in the first half of games but teams always adjust and pick Arizona apart in the second half. Is this coaching or the players lack of execution? The Cardinals haven't recorded a sack in the last two games. Is this going to continue? Is the pass rush really an issue or are they just in a slump? Something has to be done about this because Matt Schaub looked like Peyton Manning in the second half. I don't know that Karlos Dansby and Adrian Wilson are having bad years. But I haven't seen either of them make a play this season. They've combined for 45 tackles 0 interceptions an 0.5 sacks. Those are mediocre numbers for guys that will be combining for just under $20 million this year on the salary cap. They're both on pace for their worst seasons since their rookie year. I'm not worried about those two they just need to get going.
The defense really has been Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde this season. The defense was great in the first half then awful in the second half. DRC makes a great play to give the Cardinals the lead then the Texans march down the field easily on them to set up what should've been an easy score on the goal line. Then when needed the D-line steps up and stuffs Houston to win the game. So props to the defense for stepping up when needed at the end of the game because God knows the offense wasn't going to do anything in overtime if we needed them.
Also props to Calais Campell who had another blocked field goal and an all around good game. He's really becoming a great player and a fan favorite.
There was good and bad in this game. I left the game happy but discouraged. But I'm still hopeful that the Cardinals can find a way to get the run game going and bring some consistancy to the defense. Arizona is in a solid position to make another run at the division and that's still something I'm not use to saying as a Cardinals fan. So as long as I can say that then I'm happy.
Keys to today's game...
1. Get the run game going. The Texans have the 29th ranked run defense in the NFL. If the Cardinals can't get the run game going against Houston then this could be a long season. Run the ball to set up the pass. Get some balance going with this high power offense
2. Protect Kurt Warner. To me this goes hand in hand with running the ball. If the Cards can run the ball it will keep Mario Williams and the rest of the Texans defensive line on their heels.
3. Contain Andre Johnson. Johnson is great at burning people deep and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie has been
great at getting beat deep. DRC when covering Andre needs to keep him
in front of him. DRC has the ability to do it as long as he has no mental mistakes.
4. Get the ball to the playmakers. Larry is often doubled covered. But I can tell you that wasn't the case on every play. When Fitzgerald has one on one coverage down field he needs to get the ball thrown his way every time. Beanie Wells should see more carries today so I expect this to be a break out game for him.
Alright well this game is kind of a make or break for the Cards. I don't call games "must wins" unless they actually are must wins, but this is a big one. You don't see a lot of teams recovering from a 1-3 record. Hopefully the Cardinals put away the Texans so we don't have to get into that conversation.
Prediction: Cardinals 31 Texans 17
We all watched the game Sunday night and we're all miserable over it. But now that the initial shock of the 31 to 10 loss has worn off I'd like to talk about the state of the Cardinals...
The offensive line obviously got owned Sunday night. I was saying all week leading up to the game if the Cardinals tackles can handle the Colts defensive ends then we win. If the Colts DE's get to Kurt it will be a long day. Unfortunately the latter happened. It is what it is, the Colts D line is just better than the Cards O line. Even though this may be true, I still feel Arizona played to the strengths of the Colts by predictably having there immobile quarterback sit back in the pocket all day. Yes, I know the Cardinals were down most of the game which requires them to pass more and yes I'm aware we have the best wide receivers in the league. But when you have a defense that's awful at stopping the run and beat up in the middle of their line, you have to run the ball early in the game. The Cards gave up too early on the run game and I like everyone else would've liked to see our first round draft pick get more than two carries in the game. We needed to make an emphasis of running the ball to set up our stud WR's and we didn't do that.
I am critical of some of the play calling as you can tell. I mean how much did losing Todd Haley really affect us? Is
Whisenhunt this bad at calling the plays? Maybe it's just hard to be head coach and call the plays at the same time, I don't know but
something needs to change. The interception on the goal line was part
of a bad play call. We should've run it but from what I hear it was
Kurt that audibled to a throw from a run. So that one's on Warner. But
not establishing a run game is mostly on the coaches.
Kurt didn't play a great game but I'd say most of that has to do with getting planted in the ground on every play. The over throw to Larry was inexcusable for a guy of his accuracy but when your use to getting hit on every play it can be tough to step up and deliver a pass on target. He's a tough guy and hung in there but with his lack of mobility there wasn't much he could do.
I have to give my Dad credit... up in the stands after a TV timeout my Dad says " they're gonna get DRC (Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie) on a stop and go rout for a touchdown, they've been setting him up all game." Well my Dad couldn't have been more right. The ball was snapped, Peyton pumped, DRC bit on the fake and the rest was history. Cromartie is a freakish athlete and I'm still glad we drafted him. But he just has to learn how to play football in the NFL. This isn't division II where your athletic ability alone can make you dominate a game. DRC has to learn how to play zone and has to become more discipline. Until he learns we're going to see him burned more and more for touchdowns.
State of the Cardinals
Although I just wrote a lot of negative things I'm still confident the Cards can win the NFC West. Arizona has the talent and proven past history that shows they can beat anyone when at the top of their game. But what needs to change for the Cards to get back on top of their game?
Some kind of run game needs to be established in the up and coming weeks. The only reason why the Cardinals made the playoff run last year was because the run game came alive. If the run game comes around so will the rest of the offense. If we run the ball we won't have to see games where Warner gets hit a dozen times, teams won't be pinning their ears back and rushing Kurt if they have to respect the run.
The play calling in general needs to improve. It's not a good thing that our running back is leading the team in receptions especially with the wide receivers Arizona has. A lot of that falls on Kurt. There were multiple times I'd see the best jump ball WR of all time running one on one down the sideline and Warner would dump it off to a RB. I'd rather lose throwing it deep to Fitzgerald in one on one coverage than dumping it off to Hightower. Kurt usually makes the right decision and I trust him, I just think some shots down field couldn't hurt. That's more of a decision making issue but still it's all part of Whisenhunt and Warner needing to get on the same page.
The defense like last year needs to get more consistent. Showing up one week and not the next won't cut. the D looked good in the first quarter but as soon as Manning got a few looks at what they were doing it was game over. Some of this might be play calling some of it might be the players but either way the defense needs to step it up.
The season is far from over and a bye week might be a good thing. Don't jump off the bandwagon just yet. The team is full of talent and in a weak division. I still expect to see them make another run at the playoffs.Nobody has added any discussions yet! Add a discussion to get started.
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