Cardinal Spotlight - Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie

May 20th, 2009

Around these parts in Arizona, for all the loyal and die-hard Cardinals fans, he’s just simply known as DRC. I can still remember when the Arizona Cardinals held their press conference for DRC to introduce him to the media, which was on a Thursday which the Cardinals always do. Kind of a quirk they have I guess, everyone else introduces their number one picks usually on Monday or Tuesday after the draft, but not the Cardinals. Bless them, they like to keep us in suspense I guess.

Let me just say something about their 2009 NFL Draft class. That was a kick-butt draft Rod Graves and Co. had, from top to bottom that draft really set the cornerstone for this franchise in my opinion. But they’ve had good drafts for the last several years anyway, but this draft got them primed and poised for bigger and better things to come. Let’s get back to DRC. During the introduction to the press he was so humble and soft spoken this guy, it was, “yes sir” and “no sir’, you just couldn’t help but to like him right away. Humble would be a good word to describe him too. But don’t let that quiet confidence fool you though, this man is an assassin, not like a Jack Tatum type of assassin, but a ball-hawking game changing shut-down corner type. So smooth with world class speed and make-up ability, it’s just crazy.

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Arizona Loses Bid for Super Bowl In 2013

May 19th, 2009

Ah come on, didn’t we put out a good spread for Super Bowl 42? I thought we were great hosts for that matter. The New England Patriots and New York Giants played in one of the better Super Bowl’s, so what gives? The University Of Phoenix Stadium is one of the marvels of the NFL as far as modern stadiums are concerned. We already lost the bid last year for the Super Bowl in 2012, to Indianapolis.

It came down to three hosts;  Arizona, New Orleans and Miami. New Orleans ended up getting the nod so I guess I can’t say they probably need a nice Super Bowl jolt into their economy over there. But this will also be their 10th hosting for the Big Game.

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Arizona Cardinals Draft Coverage - Greg Toler

May 19th, 2009

4th Round Draft Choice: Greg Toler - CB - St. Paul’s - 5′11″ 191 lbs.

The Cardinals take yet another defensive player, this time in the 4th round. I can give you 426 reasons why they took another defensive player, it’s because they gave up 426 points as opposed to scoring 427. A nice scoring to points given up ratio would be around 427/300. But who’s complaining, the Cardinals did advance to the Big Dance in spite of that. Adding another corner back was the right thing to do here. Rod Hood was capable and had some timely picks, but just got exposed too many times in my book, add that Eric Green is gone. The Cards also upgraded the position via free agency by the addition of Bryant McFadden, that’s a solid pick up and glad to have him away from the Steelers. This kid is raw and will need some development at the NFL level.

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Monday Night Football - Brings Jon Gruden on Board

May 18th, 2009

At the expense of Tony Kornheiser that is. I couldn’t really put a finger on one single thing, but Tony Kornheiser just got on my nerves and not in a good way. The MNF legend of all time by the name of Howard Cosell got on my nerves sometimes too, but in a good way. He brought flair to the booth with certain dramatics. Tony K. brought  a biting wit and sarcasm that I thought was more suited towards sports talk radio, that way I just had to listen to him and not have to look at him.

I don’t know, maybe it was the way he parted his hair too. Jon “Chucky” Gruden, now that’s what I’m talking about here. MNF needed a blue-collar down to earth guy way up in that booth. He brings a breath of fresh air and a different angle, when you watch and listen to Jon Gruden you can identify with the guy, he has a way of coming down to the common level, just an oridnary kind of guy you know. Not like some un-touchable out of this world super sports commentator. He’s funny and brings great knowledge with his sometimes rough edge. Good going MNF for bringing a good guy on board, now I won’t have to turn down the volume anymore.

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Arizona Cardinals Running Game - To Run More, Or Not To Run More

May 18th, 2009

That is the question. Don’t worry guys, I’m not going to get all philosophical on you, after all this is a sports blog. But it is a topic that has been coming up quite a bit lately on discussion boards, so allow me to offer my opinion. First off let’s start with Head Coach Ken Whisenhunt, he’s a smart guy and knows how to utilize the players and talent he has on his team. He’s flexible and doesn’t try to force a certain system on the players he has, as opposed to making his personnel adopt to a system that doesn’t fit there skills. When he first arrived I think Whiz wanted to foster a run and run first approach, but after arriving he realized that the run game wasn’t moving the chains like our passing game, so he went with and stuck with, passing first and passing often mentality.

Make no mistake, that’s been our bread and butter, we have arguably the best tandem of starting receivers in the NFL with Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, not to mention Steve Breaston as our third wideout, who also gained a 1000 yards. That’s a vaunted passing attack if I’ve ever seen one. That was Like Winslow, Jefferson and Joiner all over again, but what did they win? Passing games are exciting, beautiful to watch at times, almost ballet like. I mean it’s exciting to watch a running back take a handoff and go the distance for 70, 80 or 90 yards, but when you see a perfectly thrown 80 yard bomb, that’s a thing of beauty to see. It’s quick and it’s 6 right in your face.  That pass play just shaved a whopping 7 seconds off the game clock. It can be devastating to the defense to get scored on that quick, but for the team that just scored that quick, their defense was huffing and puffing on the sidelines still trying to catch their breath, now it’s back on the field.

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Arizona Cardinals Draft Coverage - Rashad Johnson

May 17th, 2009

3rd Round Draft Choice: Rashad Johnson - S - Alabama - 5′11″ 203 lbs.

The Cardinals draft just keeps looking better, and it got that way by them taking Rashad Johnson. Johnson was taken in the third round to help shore up the safety position on the team, at least in the nickle and dime packages for now, He’ll also lend a hand with his special teams presence. Before we get to ball skills I want to say why I like Rashad Johnson. He’s a good guy, well spoken and carries himself with maturity. That’s a key asset to have on your team, good character with good skills is a lot better than All-World skills with plenty of off the field problems. You know about those kinds of players, you read about them almost daily. The Cardinals want players who make positive contributions on and off the field, not negative ones.

Stats for Last Two Years at Alabama Crimson Tide: Read the rest of this entry »

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NFC West Breakdown: St. Louis Rams

May 16th, 2009

St. Louis Rams - Record in 2008 (2-14)

How the once mighty have fallen. It’s hard to imagine these Rams with the Rams from the “Greatest Show On Turf” days. DE Leonard Little is the lone remaining player from their Super Bowl days. Talk about a team in transition. I think the Rams have lost their past identity and haven’t discovered quite yet what they want their new identity to be. A passing team, a running team, a defensive stalwart maybe? Who knows, but I do know they just aren’t very good right now. The Edward Jones Dome used to be a noisy rocking place and now it’s pretty quiet, that’s what happens when you don’t win anymore. But the fans in St. Louis are great fans, they give the Rams a loyal fan base which is something they lacked especially after moving to Orange County, CA in 1980. Man, that was a long time ago.

January 15, 2005. That’s a significant date for the Rams in my opinion. Why? Because they took a drubbing from the Mike Vick led Atlanta Falcons and got beat 47-17 and haven’t been back to the post-season since then. I watched that game and still can see Marc Bulger crawling on his hands and knees after getting swamped from that fierce Falcons pass rush, it was an onslaught. I don’t think the franchise has fully recovered from that game, that happens sometimes, teams won’t admit it but it does happen. The Rams future is still in the hands of Marc Bulger though, there’s no doubting that especially after passing up on Mark Sanchez, QB - USC. They better be right because they potentially passed up on a QB that could have led them for the next 10-15 years. We’ll see, we all know the NFL Draft is an inexact science. Just ask Ryan Leaf.

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