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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.

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