All in all it was a very good showing by the Cardinals' defense at Soldier Stadium last Saturday night. They bottled up RB Matt Forte, they sacked Jay Cutler 4 times and they intercepted him twice. But, perhaps most significant of all is the way they came out of the lockerroom at half-time protecting a 7 point lead and laid the wood on the Bears' offense in one of the most impressive shut-down 3 and outs one will see...to the point where Forte was getting stonewalled and Cutler had little choice but to cave in under the pressure.

Continue reading this post »

This is for those who like reading in-depth commentaries. For those who don't and find them "long-winded", that's fine, I understand that. Simply browse for other blogs that better suit your liking. Thanks.

Continue reading this post »

Whiz has already said this is going to be his most difficult year to make roster decisions. When you look at the tough decisions that Whiz and his staff are going to have to make, it's no wonder Whiz is feeling so anxious.

Continue reading this post »

Yes, there was the hiring of Head Coach Ken Whisenhunt...but he arrived with two conditions: retain DC Clancy Pendergast and start the Bidwills' and Rod Graves' golden boy QB, Matt Leinart.

Incredibly fortunate for the Whiz and the Cardinals, as it turned out, there was a Hall of Fame QB on the roster who was hoping for one more shot at glory. In order to appease the front office, Whiz created a scenario where he would play BOTH Leinart and Warner...and in that interim the disparity in their play was clear: Leinart struggled to move the chains and almost immedaitely upon his insertion to the game Warner was hitting passes bing bing bing and the chains were moving at record pace.

Then Leinart was injured and Warner took what was once a totally dormant and whimpish offense and turned them into a 27 point per game dynamo. And Warner did this---get this one---with one arm tied behind his back after he suffered a dislocated left elbow.

Warner was clearly a godsend...all to everyone but the Bidwills and Rod Graves. He wanted a new deal...something in the neighborhood of $7M a year (which would have been the signing of the century when they were asking for ti)...that was summarily rejected.

The instructions to Ken Whisenhunt were: go back to Leinart as the starter next year...no competition necessary...name him the starter in January on the first day of the off-season.

Whiz complied...but when it came to doing what was best for his team, Whiz ushered Warner back in as the starter at the end of training camp. The rest is history including the Cardinals' first NFC West Championship, 3 stunning wins in the playoffs to earn the 2008 NFC Championship and their first Super Bowl berth...a game in which the Cardinals were in the lead with 2:37 to go, only to lose the game on easy passes given up by a loose defense that could not pressure the QB, especially from the edges.

This was Clancy Pendergast's defense. Not Whiz's own choice, but the Bidwills' and Rod Graves'.

One had to wonder...if Whiz had been given his own choice as DC...???

The next off-season was a real head scratcher. One would think that Bill Bidwill would be punch drunk from suddenly finding his perennial cellar-dwelling self sipping out of the Halas Trophy and 2:37 from sleeping with the sexiest prize of all: The Lombardi.

No such thing. The one good move he did approve was Whiz wanting to move on from Pendergast. Everything else smacked of indecision and a significant lack of football decision making prowess. Of all things, Bidwill nearly blew relations with the greatest player he ever had happen to him...Kurt Warner. We know the story there. Then, despite coming off a Super Bowl the best he could do with the defensive coordinator position was to hire the LB coach...a coach who would wind up helping to set an NFL record of giving up 90 ppints in consecutive playoff games. Ouch. And, when it was clear that adding a couple of legitmate edge pass rushers could make up the 2:37 that exposed the Cardinals for their greatest weakness...all Bidwill and Graves could muster was 2nd and 6th round draft picks and re-sigining Bertrand Berry who in that last 2:37 was stopped in his tracks, actually stonewalled, play after play and to compound matters Berry decided to be a no-show at OTAs and the 2nd round pick went on the IR in training camp. There were no other moves made to acquire another edge rusher.

In this off-season there were numerous players wishing to bolt the comfy confines of U of P Stadium in Glendale. Why? The worst of which was QB Kurt Warner...who not only left the team in the lurch, claiming he had lost the love of the game...but even worse that Warner could not offer a positive endorsement for Matt Leinart when asked by the media after his retirement. Warner, who wished to become a TV analyst, was not going to say something to cause someone to question his credibility. The fact was, Warner did not believe in Matt Leinart as the QB to continue to move the Cardinals forward.

Unfortunately, the Bidwills and Rod Graves, who still hoped to be vindicacted for making Leinart, one of their top ten picks prior to the Whiz era, did not heed Kurt Warner.

There were efforts to trade for Charlie Whitehurst...but they were headed off at the pass by NFC West rivals, the Seahawks.

Then there were wide-open opportunities to make a deal for Donovan McNabb, already an AZ resident, who proclaimed he wanted to be a Cardinal (which was a refreshing antedote to the Parthian shot clamorings of Karlos Dansby, Antrel Rolle and Anquan Boldin). As weak as the Cardinals' interest in McNabb was...the Eagles decided eventually to trade McNabb within their own division...something they would have been very happy to avoid.

Then Redskins dangled Jason Campbell for a 3rd or 4th rounder. Never a report of serious interest from the Cardinals.

Instead the Bidwills and Rod Graves decided to throw $3M guaranteed at Derek Anderson, who was so bad and inaccurate the past two years in Cleveland that the fans cheered when he was injured.

That signing at the time seemed particulary odd. There was speculation that the Cardinals were going to wait for Marc Bulger whom the Rams were inevitably going to release.

When Bulger became available, many of the Cardinals' coaches were pleading with the Bidwills and Rod Graves to sign him. But, according to Mike Jurecki, the coaches were told to stick it out with Leinart and Anderson and 5th round draft pick John Skelton.

The best move of the off-season was signing Ken Whisenhunt to an extension...but today Whisenhunt still finds himself with the Bidwills' and Graves' albatross around his neck...because neither Lienart nor Anderson makes this team a playoff contender, let alone a Super Bowl contender. Whiz is juggling them presently. One can only guess at what he will do next.

Not only that...the Bidwills and Graves have left some gaping roster vulnerabilties at FB, TE, OLB, ILB, CB...which is unacceptable for a team a year and a half removed from the Super Bowl.

There have been some good drafts...some decent free agent signings...but there hasn't been the most important thing: an understanding and appreciation for what an effective QB can do for the fortunes of the offense and the entire team. Not after it was right under their noses for the last three years. Hard to imagine.