Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone. Today is typically spent celebrating the life of one of the more amazing men who ever lived. Some call him "Jesus", others simply "Jake", but i've always been partial to "The Snake". A bit of a recommendation, watch the video with sound on. Happy Holidays from everyone at Wadsworth.

On the Horizon

Maybe it was wrong of me to choose a less than flattering picture of Mr. Graves here to illustrate the greater post. Maybe. The truth is however, most Cardinal fans still do not have a lot of faith in ownership and the front office. No doubt things have improved greatly with the new stadium (more revenue), as well as Michael Bidwill taking on a more prominent role (willing to spend some of said revenue), but this organization has a long way to go before it can be considered a model front office. The forthcoming offseason will go a long way in either changing peoples opinions for the better, or reaffirming their already established notions. The Arizona Republic recently ran a piece outlining some of the questions and concerns the birds face this off season. The Wadsworth brain trust got together and assessed some priorities, solutions, and answers to the Cards off season quandary. Heres how we see it.

We'll start with the easy decision, the coaches:

Whiz needs to-and will- be resigned this off season. He shouldn't be the highest paid coach in the league, but he most certainly needs to be making above the average. Whiz is hands down the best coach in franchise history and with only one year remaining on his deal after this season, its time the franchise treats him as such. I really think this will be a no-brainer for both sides. Thats not to say there will not be haggling and delays in the inevitable, but I have full faith and confidence it will happen.

Strength and Conditioning Coach John Lott too must be resigned. Lott is the best in the business at what he does. Under Lott's watch the Cards have been one of the healthiest teams in the NFL. This no doubt has been a major factor in the Cards being back-t0-back NFC West champions. Plain and simple, Lott must be retained. J.L. will have plenty of options elsewhere if the Cards do not make him a priority and it would be a grave mistake to let him walk.

The players:

There is little doubt that this is the off season in which we bid adieu to Q. I've written several times about my admiration for Quan but the time has come. As the saying goes, "if you love something give it away." Despite the recent success, this team has way too many holes to be so stacked at one position. Trading Q for a draft pick(s) and or player who can upgrade a weaker position is both smart financially and football wise. We'll explore potential Quan trades during the off season but an early guess would be either Baltimore of Miami being the best trading partners.

Karlos Dansby: It is my belief that one way or another this team is forced to keep Los. I am a huge Dansby supporter so ideally I would like to see them work out a long term contract. Applying the franchise tag on him again would make little sense financially but might be a necessary evil football wise. The cards are very thin at ILB. Behind Los and Gerald Hayes sits Monty Beisel and Ali Highsmith after his triumphant return to the practice squad. Neither of those players comes even remotely close to Karlos' talent and versatility. For further evidence of Dansby's impact see Vince Young's 99 yard drive while Los was sidelined with a shoulder injury. The Brids swung and missed at a contract extention with Los last off season. With Dansby having much of the leverage here its hard to imagine this one working out any better. Sadly the franchise tag appears the most logical conclusion.

Trel: One look at my pseudonym and my fondness for Antrel Rolle is quite clear. His cap number next year is absurd and there is a 0% chance he is brought back with the same contract in place. If the Birds can work out an extension that greatly lowers his cap impact than I am all for it. He has continued to develop into a quality FS and most certainly is a playmaker, now on both sides of the ball. That said, this team drafted Rashard Johnson last year in the 3rd round and many pundits praised that pick. Shard has struggled his rookie season, but that is not uncommon. While Rashard remains a bit of an unknown commodity, he is the contingency plan the Cards lack with the Dansby situation. Our best guess is tragically Trel suits up for another franchise next season and Rashard competes with a veteran free agent in training camp for the starting FS spot. It remains to be seen what this blogger's name will become. Suggestions are welcome in the comment section.

Lastly, Mr. Dockett. This one is a mess. Dock is one of the best and most talented d-linemen in the league. At times he is simply unblock-able. He is someone you build a defense around, not let walk in free agency. That said, he continually talks(tweets) about wanting Albert Haynesworth money and that simply is not/will not/ should not happen. After this season Dock will have two years left on his contract. That is a fair and appropriate time to sit down with a player who like dock has most certainly out preformed his current contract (despite just signing that one a few seasons back.) Im very skeptical that the Cards will let Dock walk any time soon but I remain even more skeptical they will ever give him anything close to Fat Al type dollars. The official Wadsworth stance on Dock is thus: attempt to resign him this off season. More than likely the two sides will be very far apart. Once this happens the Cards will put the Dock situation on the back burner and address other more pressing issues (Dansby, Trel, coaches etc.) This will anger Darnell and he will say a lot of stupid shit via twitter. His next step will be to skip mini camps and quite possibly training camp. He will not however sit out regular season games. No player ever will. They will threaten but it simply costs them too much money. At that point one hopes Dock will play up to his usual dominant self and management towards the middle of the season should again attempt to work out an extension.

Thats how we at Wadsworth see it, what say you?

Back-to-Back

Christmas came early for Cardinals fans. The NFC West has officially been clinched (ed note: no Denny Green "crown em" jokes will ever be made on this blog. If you honestly still enjoy that, I don't like you). News reached the team somewhere over Iowa. After the Cards snuck out of Detroit with a fairly pathetic win, a 49ers loss was all that stood in the way. Alex Smith did his best Alex Smith impression and soon enough champagne bottles were being popped all over the team charter. Ok, that's not entirely accurate, but hats were distributed throughout and coaches and players rejoiced. This of course is the good news. I mean shit, this is great news. So why doesn't it feel that way? I'm sure part of the tempered excitement has to do with the expectations now associated with this team. From the start of the season wining the NFC West was not a goal, it was assumed. That's not the whole story though. My apathy towards this playoff bound team is for one reason and one reason alone, they have looked awful the past two weeks. I'm bypassing any and all discussions and breakdowns of the MNF debacle because honestly, fuck that. Seven turnovers deserves no other analysis. So with that in mind lets take a look at yesterdays game.

Billy Davis, I can't figure you out. Seriously, I don't understand what the hell you are doing half the time. The defensive play-calling in the first half was maddening. Yes, I understand the Lions were scoreless in the first half but that seemed more a product of their ineptness than our influence. Where was the pressure? Why won't you blitz A-dub? What happened to the creativity displayed in the Minnesota game? Why won't you blitz A-dub!?!?! This may seem completely convoluted given when the scoring took place but I thought the play-calling in the second half was much improved. When Davis took over as DC he talked about simplifying the playbook to ensure players knew where they were supposed to be and what they were supposed to be doing. In principle that is great, but it seems he has taken that too far. I've already talked about Adrian Wilson's role in this defense ad nauseum. Karlos Dansby, while not the best, is arguably the most versatile LB in the entire NFL. I mean shit, against the vikings he played several snaps at safety, twice resulting in interceptions (his own and Michael Adams). Bring back a bit of the creativity. Bring back a bit more than 3 or 4 man fronts and please, get A-dub that half-sack he needs to make it 20. He may not be trippin, but I am.

The offense is out of sync. There is no other way to look at it. After a stunning performance against the Vikings, the Oline has regressed. The run blocking has improved no doubt-and part of that is Beanie being much quicker to and through the hole than timmy- but the pass blocking has been poor at best. If this team is going to go anywhere in the playoffs they are going to have to clean that up right quick. Kurt is not getting the time he needs to get through his progressions and make the right throws. Kurt has also just plain struggled of late. Several poor reads (one of which resulted in an INT and several more could/should have) and many other instances where he had time and just delivered a poorly thrown ball. I do feel though that the offense is a few very quick fixes and thus offer my solutions.

1) Get the ball to Q early and often. I have harped on this before and I am going to do it again. When Quan gets going, the team goes with him. The game winning TD was vintage Q. Why we don't run that play more often in general but especially at the goal line is baffling. I truly feel that our initial offensive series should always open up with Q. The sooner he is established as a major weapon the sooner Fitz gets single coverage opportunities. I can't stress this enough. Everyone says 81 is the heart and soul of the team but many offensive series he seems like an afterthought. Q is best in the short/intermediate passing game and those quick strike plays are the best way to gain some offensive rhythm. Feed the beast.

2) Fuck Tim Hightower- er I mean use Beanie more. There is no doubt that Beanie is the primary back now. I don't care who starts the game, all i care about is who gets the majority of the carries. Beanie for the past two weeks has. It is time however to start integrating him in passing plays. There has been no indication that he struggles catching the ball, a knock on him coming out of college. Run some screen plays and swing plays with him. The sooner he becomes a multi-threat back, the better off this offense is. I have to admit, I was not thrilled when we drafted Beanie. I knew he was talented but I have never been a fan of Ohio State players and Beanie was no exception. Oh how that has changed. I get giddy now when he touches the ball. That home run is coming soon and I for one can't wait.

At the end a wins a win and this one clinched a second straight division title. In the coming days we'll preview the Cards-Rams game. I'm guessing they will be playing the starters and go for that 10th win on the home tuff.

A few quick links:

Todd McShay's first Mock Draft. I am a draft nut. Draft day is by far my favorite sports day of the entire year. Thats what 20 years of following a terrible team does to you.

Seriously, Fuck you Ben Rothlisberger. There isn't a Jack Daniels bottle big enough to erase the flashbacks. Will it stop me from drinking one hoping for that? No, of course not. A handle of Jack and the fetal position is how I will be spending this victory monday.

Game Day

http://blog.azcardinals.com/2009/12/14/willis-lays-down-the-gauntlet/

First off let me get the praise out of the way. Patrick WIllis might be the best middle linebacker in all of football. He is fucking incredible.

Next, shut the fuck up patrick, your team sucks fat dick and we are going to run the ball on you. You know why we are, because youre not going to be able to stop one god damn pass play tonight. Once that happens, id like to introduce you to a friend of mine, his name is beanie.

Beanie was wired up for last weeks minni game. He had a pretty average game, nothing terrible, nothing spectacular, just did what he had to do, but watching the cardinals overtime show and hearing him wired up got me so much more on board with beanie. First off during pre game he was free styling and im not sure he knows how to spell his own name which is a quality i love and respect in athletes. Generally speaking the dummer you are, the better you are (see dockett, darnell for further evidence.) His free style went something like this "its the B-E-A-the double N-I-E..." Brilliant. But then after that he was just clowning around in warmups getting fired up saying "they got this" (and they did) and then during the game hearing how hard he is churning and how hard he is getting hit was just nuts and sweet. Fuck em up beanie, fuck-em-up!

Cards-9ers MNF: Not for the faint hearted.

Obviously this video kind of sucks but it serves to illustrate my point. When the Cards and Niners get together for Moday Night Football it's bound to be bizarre. Two years ago we witnessed Eric Green's inability to recover a fumble in the endzone and instead more or less boot the ball out of bounds. Last year we had Chike Okeafor barely tackle Frank Gore, Mike Singletary's abysmal clock management, and Clark Haggans stuffing Michael Robinson at the 1 for a gut wrenching Cardinals victory. As a Cards season ticket holder I have seen some of the greatest highs and many of the incredible lows in which this team has been a part of. Even just this current season the Cards played host for two Sunday Night games and nothing better illustrates the Jekyll/Hyde nature of our beloved birds quite like these two games. Week 3 we saw a listless Cards team get simply dominated by Peyton and the Colts, whereas last week's game against the Vikings seemed to legitimize the Cardinals to the rest of the nation as well as proving truly how good this team can be when it hits on all cylinders. The point I'm trying to make is this; no matter how poor an effort the Cardinals put forth, no matter how lopsided the final score had been, I have never left a Cardinals game feeling worse and sicker than I did after last years monday night miracle---and we won. To this day Ill never be able to explain what this win did to me. I couldn't celebrate, I was in way to much of a haze for that. I couldn't drink my sorrows away since we had a) won and b) I truly felt sick. I did the one thing my mind and body allowed of me. I got into bed, curled up into some sort of pseudo-fetal position, and passed out. If memory serves, I didn't leave said bad/position until about 2 pm the next day. When I look at this week's matchup, I'm extremely optimistic. I have never really believed in this 9ers team. I think Mike Singletary is vastly overrated, their Oline is porous, and they're quarterbacked by Alex "small hands" Smith. Once you factor in how motivated this Cardinals team is (more national exposure, can clinch the division, and the revenge factor) and I forecast a Cardinals win, with a chance at complete domination. All that being said, I still know in the back of my mind what a Cards-9ers MNF game usually boils down to and I got to say I'm glad this game is in S.F. Despite my confidence, I kind like knowing Ill be able to comfortably sit on my couch and the beer necessary to take the edge off is a quick trip to the fridge away.

Generally speaking when I device my keys to Cards victories they are done with general terms, today however we're looking at 2 players as the difference makers.

Adrian Wilson: To date I have not been thrilled with the way in which Bill Davis has utilized A-dub. In talking with my dad about this we came the conclusion that Wilson has had a rather pedestrian season but we do not believe his play has dropped. He and I feel as though A-dub has been used much more as a decoy than an actual threat. He is constantly stalking around the line of scrimmage and then dropping back into coverage. I certainly am not advocating for Wilson to become an exclusive blitzer, nor would I want to see Clancy Pendergast running this D again solely for the purpose of getting Adrian more involved, but there has to be some sort of middle ground. This matchup against the 9ers will force A-dub to put forth one of his most well-rounded efforts. The 9ers have a top RB in Frank Gore, a top TE in Vernon Davis, and a suspect offensive line. Often times when the cards face teams with top TEs this season we have seen A-dub play almost exclusively as a coverage safety and one who matches up against said TE. This has generally yielded poor results (see: Greg Olsen, Bears). Billy Davis must find other ways of minimizing Vernon Davis' effect, allowing for A-dub to assist in run support as well as generating some pressure on the QB. Plus, with A-dub 1 sack away from joining the illustrious 20-20 club, what better stage than Monday Night Football.

Anquan Boldin: Simply put, the return of a healthy Q has allowed for this offense to dominate. After sitting for the Chicago game, Q came back for a home game against Seattle. While watching the offense sputter to an inferior Seahawks team in the first half, I commented several times that Anquan had been open and yet was not seeing the ball come his way. The offense's first half showing was so lackluster that a disappointed home crowd booed the birds as they went to the locker room at the half. Many things changed for the offense in the second half, including Beanie Wells taking over for an extended stretch, but nothing was more noticeable than the emergence of Anquan. Q's final numbers for that game read 8 catches for 105 yards and without assigning an arbitrary number to this, I can confidently say the vast majority of this was in the 2nd half. Since then Q and the Cards offense have been on a roll. Bringing this full circle and back to the forthcoming MNF matchup I see Q as the biggest weapon in this game. The 9ers like to attempt to "out-physical" the Cardinals and nobody is more physical at his postion than Quan. During the week 1 matchup the 9ers focused on Fitz (and rightfully so), often bracketing him with a safety over the top. Hobbled with a hamstring injury, Q was not able to take advantage of the single coverage. This time around that won't be. Q will have single coverage most of the night and plenty of opportunities to hit on those short and intermediate routes that he so effectively runs. For the Cardinals to continue to dominate on offense the goal should be to get the ball to Q early and often. Allow him to beat up a few cornerbacks and safeties and slowly watch that 9ers D soften. Once this happens the running game should open up and Fitz can start streaking down the sidelines.

Lastly two personal notes: 1) I can't put into words how excited I am to watch this game and many years of DRC v Michael Crabtree. A few years down the road both these guys *should* be at or near the top of their respective positions and watching them square off twice a year should truly be a treat. 2) A personal request to Whiz- Please let us see more offensive plays with Trel lined up at QB. I know its hard to take a future HOFer out of the game, but seriously, is there anything more exciting right now than Antrel Rolle with the ball in his hands? He is simply electric. Whether it be the 2 times he has lined up as QB or when he gets the ball on a turnover I literally start freaking out. I automatically assume he will score a TD. I do not think Im the only one who feels this way either. Please Whiz, make this happen!

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Andre Wadsworth