It would be way too easy to place the onus of the blame on
head coach Steve Wilks for the Cardinals’ egregious ineptitude through two
weeks.If Wilks is to be blamed for
anything
youth
Chandler Jones Jersey , it might be for accepting the terms of his
employment in Arizona. He was the first and only coaching candidate to accept
Michael Bidwill’s conditions that the new head coach be amenable to developing
Steve Keim’s previous draft picks, many of whom have thus far floundered. Wilks
was also asked to embrace players with quirky personalities, rather than
alienate them. When Wilks was hired and was explaining his plan at his
introductory presser, it felt like he was reading a script written by Michael
Bidwill. It was detailed expose of how to counter everything that went awry
during the last two years of Bruce Arians’ tenure. The problem is—-some of the
things Wilks said he was open to were things that his owner and GM would later
handcuff—-like espousing open competitions at all positions.Knowing that Wilks
is a defensive oriented coach, Steve Keim wanted to make sure that Wilks was
paired with an experienced offensive coordinator. From the get-go local pundits
like Mike Jurecki and John Gambadoro were feverishly promoting Mike McCoy and
reminding listeners that Keim wanted to interview McCoy for the head coaching
job back in 2013, well before Keim ever reached out to Bruce Arians.Thus, Keim
set a plan in motion—-to hire McCoy and set him up with two veteran QBs in Sam
Bradford and Mike Glennon—-then to insist that the Cardinals were simply
“retooling” and shouldn’t miss a beat—-and finally to stock the offensive talent
cupboard in the 2018 NFL Draft by selecting 5 offensive players out of his six
picks.However—-it is important to note that Keim’s offensive retooling plan was
a 2 year plan—-he signed McCoy, Bradford and Glennon to two year windows—-and
that wasn’t just by coincidence. Over the years, McCoy has fared better with
veteran QBs—-so pairing him with Bradford and Glennon for two years was the
plan. At the time it seemed very reasonable because even though Keim had his
sights set on drafting the QBOF in the first round, sitting at #15, the
likelihood of him being able to draft one of the top rated, most NFL-ready QBs
in the draft were not
high
Stitched
Chandler Jones Jersey , unless Keim would be willing to give up a plethora
of high draft picks.Thus—-the thought was that Keim would wind up drafting a
project like Josh Allen, who would need a couple of years in practice to
develop. Rumor was that when Keim had a deal in place with the Broncos at #5,
Allen was Keim’s target. As we know, the Broncos stayed at #5 to take DE Bradley
Chubb and two picks later at #7 the Bills traded up for Allen.But then—-Josh
Rosen happened. It felt like a miracle of sorts. Not only that Rosen, billed as
the most precocious and NFL-ready QB in the draft was still available at
#10—-but that Keim didn't have to give up multiple first round picks to draft
him.The minute the Cardinals were able to acquire Josh Rosen—-Keim’s initial 2
year plan of McCoy with Bradford and Glennon should have been modified.Even
Bruce Arians, who is leery and disdainful of how college QBs are being
developed, insists that if you draft a QB high in the top half of the first
round it does no good to sit him. Drafting Rosen should have been a game
changer.Unfortunately, Steve Keim wasn’t around for the majority of training
camp—-but—-Wilks had to have been given a memo that the McCoy/Bradford plan was
still a full go—-and thus the QB situation was a fait accompli and not a
competition.As it turned out—-Rosen showed good promise in pre-season game 2,
but was shut down by the head coach in games 3 and 4 due to Rosen’s bruised
thumb, which Rosen said wasn’t hampering him at all.After two bad losses to
start the season which included cascades of boos from the fans at home—-there is
now every reason to scrap the McCoy/Bradford plan—-except it would appear that
Steve Keim is still pulling the strings. You have probably heard Keim gush about
Bradford and say how immensely excited he is to see Sam Bradford with his elite
skillset lead the offense.You see—-the problem with Keim’s two year
McCoy/Bradford plan is that who wants to root for and get emotionally attached
to a coach and a QB who will be gone in a year or two?From Bradford’s end—-why
should he want to get too excited about once again being the veteran QB on a
team that has just drafted their QBOF? Bradford has to know that he’s one and
done in Arizona. That might explain why Bradford is playing hot potato with the
football. He likely wants to play beyond this year and knows that if he doesn’t
get injured, new teams will be lined up (he said he turned down more money from
two teams when he signed with the Cardinals). Why would Bradford want to get too
attached to new teammates whom he is likely going to be saying goodbye to in
January? Sure some would say that Bradford’s greatest incentive should be to
light up the scoreboard so that he gets another lucrative contract elsewhere.
Yes, but Bradford got a lucrative contract this year while only playing in one
game last year——teams know about his talent—-all they really want to know is
that his knee is fine.As for McCoy—-it appears the coach is incorrigible. First
of all
Hakeem
Butler Arizona Cardinals Jersey , he could have adopted the verbiage of
the play calling from Arians’ offense so as to cash in on the players’
familiarity with the language—-instead, much to Larry Fitzgerald and others’
dismay, he decided to change everything over to his language. Secondly, the rap
on him in Denver was that his playbook was too thick and difficult for the
players to master, which was one of the main reasons why he got fired in the
middle of the season last year. Steve Wilks said yesterday that the team needed
to “scale back” the offense—-which seems absurdly ironic, seeing as the few
plays the Cardinals have run have been so redundantly vanilla.Thirdly, McCoy
could have spent his unemployed months getting up to snuff on the current rage
of innovative play-calling in the NFL—-as manifested by the likes of Doug
Pederson, Sean McVay, Josh McDaniels, Pat Shurmur and last night from new Bears’
head coach Matt Nagy. We have been watching the Cardinals for a few months
now—-through 4 pre-season games and 2 regular season games—-have you once seen
even one play from McCoy and thought, wow that was clever?Winning in today's NFL
often comes down to the competitive advantage the coaches give their players.
Every team has talent to work with, but not every coaching staff can give their
players the confidence that they have the strategic advantage that wins games.To
me
Cheap
Hakeem Butler Jersey , it is clear what the Cardinals should do. They
should release McCoy andBradford. McCoy was hired for Bradford, not for Rosen.
Keep Byron Leftwich as QB coach and promote WR coach Kevin Garver to offensive
coordinator. Garver is the young hidden gem on the Cardinals’ coaching staff.
Well, not so hidden, that is, because back in January the Cardinals had to deny
the Seahawks permission to interview Garver.Garver was Nick Saban’s offensive
analyst in 2011 and 2012—-both national championship years. He also is a
favorite of Larry Fitzgerald’s...which says and means a lot. If Garver shows
signs that he can get this offense rolling, there's a decent chance that Larry
Fitzgerald could return next year. Garver’s youthful energy would be a boon and
a gust of fresh air for Josh Rosen. Tomorrow I want to write about Steve Wilks’
challenges on the defensive side of the ball—-where there have been some
positive flashes and signs for a promising future.But, for today—-it’s time to
encourage the Cardinals to be bold enough to move on from a plan that should
have been modified the very minute Josh Rosen became an Arizona Cardinal.Having
a fresh start with Rosen should excite the team and the fans—-and should allow
everyone to feel a little more patient and understanding of the process of
bringing the present into the future. It may be a bit of a cop out, but ESPN put
out a list of 15 players who landed in a perfect spot.You’d hope the first
overall pick would be on it, and they didn’t disappoint, as Matt Bowen
talks...The Revenge of the Birds podcastESPN lists Cardinals 1st overall pick
Kyler Murray as one of few players drafted to the perfect teamNew,6comments ESPN
lists Cardinals 1st overall pick Kyler Murray as one of few players drafted to
the perfect teamThe Arizona Republic-USA TODAY NIt may be a bit of a cop out,
but ESPN put out a list of 15 players who landed in a perfect spot.You’d hope
the first overall pick would be on
it
Hakeem Butler
Arizona Cardinals Jersey , and they didn’t disappoint, as Matt Bowen talks
about Murray’s fit with Arizona and Mike Clay projects his statistical
output.Kyler Murray, QB, Arizona Cardinals (Pick No. 1)First, that’s an
incredible rookie season, but for the Cardinals it would be the sixth most yards
passing in team history, and the 11th most passing touchdowns in team history in
a single season.That is historic.Bowen agrees with Clay’s projections:Getting
over 4,000 yards from scrimmage from a rookie quarterback and 25 total
touchdowns would surely be a boost for the Cardinals not only offensively, but
as a team overall.
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