Arizona Cardinals

Boldin appears to have a deep bone bruise. Which does take time to heal, but he can play if neeed be. This is good news for Cards fans because the scare was a tear - much more serious.

The thing that disappoints me the most about this game, was that I expected our offense to only get 13 points. But I also expected alot more from our defense, and thought they would keep us in the game, maybe score a touchdown for us, but somehow keep us in the game until the end. Our defense made the Dallas offense look like some jauggernaut. I am so tired of rookie runningbacks playing against us and we make them look like the second coming of Barry Sanders. Remember Nick Goings (Carolina) last year, also the kid form Detroit last year. When are we going to stand up and stop getting embarrassed by these rookie RB's? I bet that Marion Barber doesn't have a game like he had Sunday the rest of the year.

When are we going to stop giving up a TD on the opening drive? How hard is it for our defense to figure this out? Seattle is coming to town next week, so I guess we spot them 14 points now.

If there is a positive - at least we made some attempts to run the football. 24 attempts (unofficially) and 34 attempts to pass. That is alot more even and is a step in the right direction. The problem is, some of those attempts came when we were down 21 points. Green is pitiful.

Another week has gone by and Green shows why he does not care. I am going to start keeping track now of all the non-challenge calls that Green has made. These are calls that either clearly would have been over-turned, or at least shown your players that you care and want to win. These all happened when he had a timeout left and when he could legally challenge.

St. Louis Rams (home) - we are going for it on a 4th and inches. Shipp crosses over the marker, but refs rule no-go. No hanky - close one, but should have challenged it. Replays were close.

Seattle Seahawks (road) - Anquan Boldin makes a beautiful one-hand grap 4 feet in bounds. But because it was so freakish, the ref's were fooled and ruled out-of bounds. The replays clearly show he was in bounds, the play is on third down and keeps a drive alive. Green does not throw the red flag.

Tennessee Titans (Home) Anquan makes another beautiful catch near sideline - ruled out. It would have kept a drive alive and provided good field position. Replays on big screen show he was in. Again, no challenge from Green.

Tennessee Titans - home - next series, same thing, but on other sideline. Anqan makes big third down catch, Green just stands there. This one was hard to tell if would have been overturned, but "Q" was very adament, yelling at the refs, challenging the play would have shown the team that you at least care.

Dallas Cowboys (road)- Shipp carries the ball well past the first down marker. His waist falls on the "yellow line." No challenge! This was an easy challenge victory.

I really am starting to dis-like our coach.

Although I agree with the decision - I am very nervous about the start. But I am very nervous about Kurt as well). It seems Josh performs better when he doesn't have to look over his shoulder. He did very well against SF and Carolina when Kurt was in street clothes. The last 4 games of last year, he did well after he came back in and he knew Green wasn't going to yank him for the pathetic back-ups on our roster. Green should just come out and say - "Josh, play like there is no tomorrow - I am not going to yank you."

I'm ok with Moses on the team, seems to be better than swinton as a KR. The problem I have is now that Green cut Charles Lee - we do not have a legitmate 4th WR. Leron McCoy was not that great in pre-season and has been inactive every game this year. Lee showed some toughness and started to emerge as a decent 4th option. After Johnson, all our receivers are small.

This game was bad. But there are no astricks at the end of the standings - a win is a win. After giving up the opening drive and a fg on the next possession, Cardinals defense came alive against an injury depleted Titan team and never allowed another score. Titans lost their starting RB (Chris Brown), then lost their long-snapper (proved costly later) then lost their other experienced WR, and eventually lost Billy Volek who got the start because of injuries to Mcnair. So Cardinals should have had a field day. The offense never got in sync. McCown was really bad, Boldin never had an official reception (more on that later), the running game was pitiful, the O-line could make the Texans line look good - ok that's a stretch -but they were really bad!

• Macklin is my player of the game. He played really well against those young Tennessee receivers.
• The hit Dansby put on Volik was worth the price of admission. He was like Batman around the corner and stole the ball as well - I didn't even know he had it, we were celebrating the hit, then he is running to the sideline showing the fans the ball!
• Kyle VanDenbousch of the Titans had a field day against his best friend Fred Wakefield
• Boldin had no official catches, but he had 2 that were catches, but Green is too stupid to challenge - or doesn't care.
  

Green doesn't plan on announcing starter until game time. He thinks this will be some great advantage over Tennessee. Woo - big trick! The Titans know if its Kurt - they bring the house. If its Josh - they show a little respect. Big game changing difference. My wish - It is Josh the rest of the year, he does very well and gets a new 5 year deal. We have a QB we can stick with. Offer Kurt another one-year back-up deal. He seems to be a good mentor for Josh.

This news is breaking, and coach Green doesn't even know which arm, but apparently Pace fell when he was in Florida and lacerated his arm, and says he will be out for the year.

This actually hurts the Cardinals even though Pace is a backup. He provided much needed depth on our line and and gave a little edge. Pace was competeing for another contract and this could hurt his market value as well.

After 20 years of coaching - Green decides to look at other NFL teams to see how they run!

He hinted that after the bye, we might see a conventional set with 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 FB, and 1 RB

Green finally quit wasting a roster spot w/ 4 QB's. (He cut Rohan Davey)
They recently added 4 players to the roster .
CB Dyshod Carter
CB/S Aaron Francisco
FB Jarrod Baxtor
G Jeremy Bridges

Dyshid played with us last year, spent some time in Cleveland before being cut. He shores up our injured CB position. - a hole filler
Francisco - gritty player from BYU - hole filler
Jarron Baxtor - blocking FB and mostly special teams
Jeremy Bridges should not have been cut and should have been our opening day starter at right guard - but Green insisted on his so far pathetic rookie Elton Brown. Maybe he will play.
It comes back to why does he I.R. Mayes and Eric Johnson for hamstring injuries, but still has Antrel Rolle on roster for a torn miniscus?
He also put Ian Allen on I.R. for back spasms. Coach - make up your mind!

Like a typical Cardinal Fan - I will blame some of the loss on the referees. But before I go further - good teams find a way to overcome adversity and our team can't seem to overcome a crazy fumble or obvious bad call. The rest of the blame is on Coach "Buddy" Green as some fans are starting to call him.

The bad call was right before half, Cardinals have the opportunity to go up by 14 into the half. They are on the 2 yard line, fade pass to Fitz, Fitz is manhandled and thrown to ground before ball gets there, they intercept and run it down field - end of story. No points, no field goal try for the birds, nothing. Seeing it live - I thought it was an obvious flag - but sometimes live is mis-leading. I then saw it on the replay, and it makes you want to go down and rip the flag out of the referee yourself and say something your mother wouldn't like. Why do the Cardinals not get these kinds of calls. Does God hate the Cardinals?

McCown is the no-brainer choice as the starter for this team. Sorry Kurt - but you would have been killed back there. McCown has thrown for over 750 yards in 2 games, both Boldin and Fitz have over 100 yards each game and a TD a piece in each game.
I am very impresssed with McCown's pocket presence last game. There were many times I thought we were going to get crushed and lose the ball back there, but he just stepped up past the defender and made the throw.

If this loss was the first week of the season, or even the second and we were 0-2, we would be thinking - this was a great game, we feel like we are there and our Redbirds are going to do something special. But since this was a must win for us, this loss hurts and we are out of the playoff picture. They have to be able to hold on to leads if they want to win in the NFL.

Shipp had a few good runs, but his total yardage was pitiful because of the negative yard runs. He had one run on a first and 15 - he ran 15 yards for a first down. Awesome, but coach doesn't run to him again.
Here is an interesting stat - 2 years ago when the Patriots won the Super-Bowl, they were 27th in the league in rushing, but 6th in rushing attemps! That tells you that they just kept pounding tha ball, even though they were zero yard runs. It still wore down defenses. This is what the Cardinals should learn. I know its hard to give up what may be big yards - but sometimes this is what it takes.

I blame Green because of lack of discipline. Lenoard Davis has a false start every game. We had penalties that killed us again. We did not stick with the run. 20-10 going into the 4th qtr - we should just pound the ball and run it. Green also gave up - 2 timouts left and he did not use them with 55 seconds left. He conceded! Green sucks!

I heard an interview with Adrian Wilson on the Bickley and MJ show on 910am. They asked Wilson about the trip, soaking in the atmosphere, etc. Wilson says (paraphrase) "We took it as a business trip and stayed in the hotel. I got the most rest I have ever had on a road trip" What the heck is going on the other times - clubbing all night! Green needs to discipline these guys. When they arrive, they should be with the team and stick together. Stay in the hotel except when on the practice fields. Watch College games in the rooms or lobby and prepare yourselves for the Sunday showdown. Let's bear down and win some games!

We are going into the Carolina game with 3 healthy cornerbacks? An they are back-ups to backups?
We have 4 qb's on the roster, Antrell Rolle is out for the year - cut a qb and IR Rolle, then we have two roster spots open.

I know the thinking of Rolle that if he is out only 8 weeks, he will be ready for the playoffs. But that means we are to make the playoffs! If we hurry him back and he gets hurt again, then what? I think coach is waiting to see if we beat the Panthers. If we do - we're on our way I suppose. But what if we lose another CB during the game - one of our slow safeties will play CB? Cut John Navarre - put him on the practice squad - give us aroster spot for the defense. We have a CB on the PS, plus there has to be somone out there that is unhappy tha could be traded for to fill a postion on our defense. It's a gamble that I hope pays off for coach Green, but right now, I do not see it as a chance to help our team win.
These comments courtesy of Roger Chow.

Latest edition of my family

Bottom line - we need to have Shipp carry the ball for 20-25 times each game for us to win. It is not as exciting as the 35 yard pass, but it wins football games in the long run. I do not think it will happen, because even with a huge lead against SF - we still did not run the ball. The game was fun to watch, but let's run the ball.

Why do we have 4 QB's on our roster? We need a DB and a D-lineman with all the injuries. When will Green wake up? My fear is that he will cut Josh McCown after Kurt comes back. But if we are winning, even winning ugly, I want to see Josh McCown as our starter all the way through. Play him until he deserves to be benched. I hope Green checks his ego and allows our team to win.

I apologize to my loyal readers for not posting earlier after the game, but my wife had our baby that night and of course football takes a back seat. I will post pictures later.

This game was a game of Finally's!
Finally ... we put together a watchable game (after the first 2 minutes)
Finally ... the defense palyed to their potential
... Josh McCown settled down and had a really good game.
... the team played with a little more discipline and committed only 4 penalties
... the NFL provided decent referees for us (Ed Hockolee's (SP) crew)
... Boldin got into the endzone - a very nice catch
... did we score form the redzone?

This win was nice, but there still are plenty of concerns. I know this was an injured 49-er team and a weak defense. But you can't apologize for winning in the NFL. Plus, if we lose this game ... let's talk about something else.

I am still puzzled why we cannot commit to the run. We had the lead and we still did not run the ball. Give it to Shipp!

Give Josh a chance, and I think his confidence grows and he plays better. No INT's was nice, but Carolina will be a much tougher test.

I'm glad to see Fred Wakefield on the field. I thought he did pretty good, and much better than Oliver Ross. He goes up against Julias Peppers this week. Yikes!

Boldin and Fitz get over 100 yards receiving! That's what I am talking about!