The Good and the Not-So-Good from the Cardinals first home victory of 2009

Okay Cardinals fans, now collectively…1, 2, 3…PHEW!

1-3 puts you in the company of Detroit, Oakland, Buffalo, Miami, Carolina, and Cleveland.  As your parents might say, not company you want to be keeping.  Instead, the Cardinals are hanging with teams like Dallas, Green Bay, New England, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, San Diego, and yes, the San Francisco 49ers, who dropped to 3-2 after getting crushed by the Atlanta Falcons.  If the Cardinals end up going to the playoffs in a close division race, look back at this game as a very pivotal moment.  I’ve watched the Cardinals-Texans game a couple of times now and here are my semi-objective thoughts.

Let’s start with the not-so-good:

- Penalties at key times are still killing momentum and big plays.  Early in the 3rd quarter, Warner completed a nice short pass over the middle to larry Fitzgerald which ended up going for 24 yards, but offensive interference brought it back (the refs on the field and the boxscore give it to Becht, the tight end, but it looked more like it was the running back out of the backfield who they called it on - regardless, the penalty remained).  Instead of driving down the field to go up 28-0, the Cardinals had to punt.

- Turnovers in the red zone are now becoming something of a pattern, and that is the last thing you want as a successful football team.  Granted, the Cardinals haven’t turned the ball over all that much this season, but when they have, it’s been big.  I won’t rehash the Colts game or Beanie Wells’ goalline drops against Jacksonville, but when Boldin got nailed to pop the ball lose at the one yard line, it made three games in a row that the Cardinals have had a red zone fumble.  That has to stop for this team to continue to win.

- The Cardinals offense played one good quarter of football all game long (not an entire half like most of the media is making it out to be - and on that note, if I hear the term, “Tale of two halves” one more time, I’m going to lose it).  The first drive of the first quarter was a thing of beauty, but remember, many of the plays in an opening drive are scripted, so it should be flawless if the coaches get the scheme right and the players execute as they should.  Past that, the offense struggled to move the ball.  Period.  In fact, after that first drive, the Cardinals offense really only played 3 minutes and 5 seconds of good-looking football, coming all at the end of the second quarter.

- Balance, balance, balance…I continue to chirp about this and I probably will all season unless we see some improvement.  Look, the Cardinals run game is NOT abysmal.  The running backs just don’t get the ball.  Tim Hightower, Beanie Wells, Jason Wright, and LaRod Stephens-Howling are talented NFL players and the Cardinals offensive line has played a full season together already…How about we see what these guys can do when given the ball.  Oh, wait, that’s right, we have…and the product for the most part has been good.  Remember that piece I did about “balance equaling wins?”  Well, if Houston kicks a field goal instead of going for it on fourth down at the beginning of the third quarter, I might be using the balance statistic once again to show why the Cardinals lost.

Here’s the balance breakdown from Sunday’s game:
Run plays - 16 - 29.6%
Passing plays - 38 - 70.4%

Not good enough.  Boldin, Breaston, Fitzgerald, blah, blah, blah…I know the Cardinals have weapons in the pass game, but they are that much more effective when the safeties, defensive backs, and corners must also anticipate the run.  Please Whisenhunt, just run the ball and see what happens.  For the record, I think we will see a lot more Lean and Bean next week against the Seahawks.

Okay, enough Negative Nelly - let’s look at the good (and there’s a lot of it):

- If you’re an opposing team about to play the Cardinals, you better have a couple of plays up your sleeve that can gain one yard.  This defense came up huge on two different drives to stop Houston from getting a yard when they needed it most.  After four quarters of football (and a mostly inept Cardinals offense that kept the defense on the field), it is not easy to muster every bit of strength left to beat the man in front of you.  Gabe Watson, thank you.  Darnell Dockett, thank you.  Bryan Robinson, thank you.  It wasn’t pretty, but you got it done when it counted.  Did anyone else rewind their DVR to watch Darnell Dockett flop on the ground in excitement and exhaustion and pound his fist in victory?  I did.  This is what it means to be a Cardinals fan.  it is a new day.  Enjoy it.

- On that note, kudos to the “new” Cardinals.  People who know I write on the Cardinals have been asking me what this game meant for the future and if I thought their let down was a sign of things to come.  In every case, I have simply answered their question with a couple questions of my own.  Would the Cardinals of two years ago won or lost that game against the Texans on Sunday?  What would the press conference with Dennis Green have been like?  Which media member would Buddy Ryan have cursed at?  More on this in my final thought.

- Calais Campbell, you are my hero.  I mean that.  I want to be like you.  Campbell blocks kicks, pressures quarterbacks, and then, when the Cardinals are short-staffed on special teams, makes huge tackles on kickoffs.  I’m thinking maybe we use Calais as a running back a la William “the Refrigerator” Perry, where as soon as he touches the ball, the defense screams like a bunch of little school girls and he walks in for a touchdown.  But seriously, what doesn’t this guy do?  Are we missing Antonio Smith?  Not hardly.  In fact, when was the last time Antonio Smith blocked a field goal?

- Beanie Wells still looks like he’s about to break a huge gainer at any moment.  He bounces off tackles with ease and always seems to keeps his feet (and the pile of tacklers) moving, which is exactly what makes good running backs into great running backs.  I know Whisenhunt is trying to bring him along slowly, but man, he’s gotta be antsy to see what this kid can do when he is unleashed.

- A lot is being made about Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie’s confidence.  One week, the media is talking about him losing it, the next week, he’s got it all back after one interception for a touchdown.  Look, confidence isn’t necessarily something you have one week and then don’t have the next - In fact, I would be willing to go as far as to say it was his over-confidence that had him chasing after the men he was supposed to be covering.  A little humble pie never hurt anyone, especially a young player who is still learning the NFL game.  As DRC progresses, the big plays will start to outweigh the slip-ups and he could be one of the best cornerbacks the NFL has ever seen.

My final thought: Just like after the Cardinals’ huge goalline stand against San Francisco last year (which ended up being the difference between going to the playoffs and staying home), you can’t help but think that under Whisenhunt, this team can actually pull out close end-game victories.  Sure, at times on Sunday, it looked like the Cardinals of old, as they did almost everything they could to lose the game, but in the end, they did NOT lose the game…and that is the difference.  The Cardinals of old lose that game against the Texans…The Whiz era Cardinals do not.  Welcome to the future, Cardinals fans.

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