Wisenhunt has Cardinals headed in right direction
Is there anyone questioning Ken Whisenhunt’s philosophy now? The coach of the Arizona Cardinals has been scrutinized for play calling, personnel decisions, hotel arrangements, travel accommodations, and probably the team spread after games. It has taken him some time to get a good mix of running and passing, blitzing and ball hawking on this team but he has finally left his stamp. He brought in some good o-line coaches and a philosophy of grind it out control the clock and basically try to be the Pittsburgh Steelers, but upon arrival he realized his roster was filled with big play receivers who had become accustomed to piling up stats when their team was down by 20 points, so he had to make them believe in his strategy, along with adapting to his roster which he has finally started to do this season.
The team has an incredible mix of speed rushing to the outside with Edgerin James, tough between the tackle and short yardage running out of Tim Hightower (watch out, he’s starting to catch passes in open space and no, he doesn’t go down after the first hit), incredible route running and possession receiving out of Anquan Boldin and the unheralded Steve Breaston (with Early Doucet starting to also emerge), as well as the freakish ability to just go make plays even when they are not there by Larry Fitzgerald, and as a bonus are starting to get something out of former highly touted back JJ Arrington in the return game as well as dump off’s and draws. The only missing piece to a perfect offense would be the strangely non-existent development of physically gifted Leonard Pope the TE who had a lot of promise coming out of Georgia. This offense is going to be a factor for many years to come if they can lock up Mr. Boldin after this season, and at some point in the next 3 years get something out of Matt Leinart or find a jewel in the draft at the quarterback position. Now that is not to say Kurt Warner cannot lead this team to a special season or two, but the way this team is going they have one of those rare opportunities to be a legit power contender for a long period of time which is so very difficult in this balanced NFL today.
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They are in this position because the players have bought into the system, and they have impact players at all important positions, as well as having strong depth at wide out, running back, defensive line, as well as sporting what could be one of the best safety tandems in the NFL if Antrel Rolle continues to develop at safety after switching over from corner this off season, as his numbers have climbed all season long, which coincidentally started with the return of superstar Adrian Wilson. If Rolle keeps progressing and continues to listen to Wilson there will be many turnover opportunities in the secondary due to the pressure Darnell Dockett, Travis Laboy, Bertrand Berry, Chike Okefor, and the man child Karlos Dansby put on opposing QB’s all game long from all different angles (look out for Alan Branch, Clark Haggans and Ali Highsmith to start getting in on these meetings in the backfield with their teammates). With their defensive front 7 rotation being so deep they are able to keep fresh bodies on the field and keep attacking all game long, so what are these NFC West teams to do when they are attacked at all times on offense and defense by these Arizona Cardinals?
The answer in Arizona and increasingly across the country is this: Bow down to the NFC West king, and then warn those “premier” NFC East teams that these Cardinals are not going anywhere anytime soon.
By Dan Sausville
ProFootball-fans.com Arizona Cardinals Correspondent