Arizona Cardinals Column

By: Rod Goebel

10/30/09

Looking GOOD at 4-2 !

After a frustrating start against conference opponent San Fran. 49ers, and a loss to Peyton Manning and the Colts, both HOME games, it was a cause for concern for many of us long time supporters! Primarily because last years home games were the Cards "bread and butter"!

However, with the exciting win over the Giants IN New York, the Cardinals have shown that they CAN win consistently on the road (3 straight) as well as on the east coast (2).

The team also shows great determination these days as when DRC tipped a ball directly into the outstretched arms of Hicks where he sprinted into the end zone for an easy 6 points just before half time!

A few years back the Cards would have been deflated and had a very hard time of getting back into the game.

I am certain that there are two factors that we can attribute to this turn-around, the key factor is Coach Whiz and the positive attitude he has brought to the team, the other is the teams strength and conditioning coach, John Lott! As mentioned in an earlier article, It is no fluke that the injuries have been held to a minimum.

I am also VERY impressed with the teams new Defensive hire! Coach Davis has shown some great defensive plays! He must have a tremendous amount of confidence in the teams C B s and Safteys to have still blitzed Eli late in the fourth quarter for what could have been a score to tie the game.

I love that attitude (which seems new to the Cards) of playing TO WIN as opposed to playing NOT TO LOSE.

Keep it up guys!

The Cardinals have earned respect after last years Super Bowl appearance and are showing everyone the team was not a fluke, they do deserve to be taken seriously!

On a different note.. On October 22^nd I attended a dinner/auction celebrating the NFL career of

Randall McDaniel. He graduated in "83" from Agua Fria in Avondale while I had graduated in "74". I have got to say that this is a man of real values. A man that very much reminds me of what we are seeing in Fitzgerald and Warner!

During McDaniel’s 14 NFL years, the first 12 with the Vikings, all of which he was selected to play in the Pro Bowl and was named ALL PRO following his first nine seasons! As far as durability, can you imagine playing in the NFL for 14 seasons and only missing two games!

As to his character, after learning he was being inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame this year, it was a former coach, mentor that McDaniel asked to present him, his former Athletic Director from Agua Fria. Coach O.K. Fulton was honored to be asked and became a little choked up upon hearing Randall say "Mr. Fulton was proud of what I did as an athlete, But he never focused on that, He cared about me as a student and as a person. He told me that sports were part of who I was, but not who I was. He told me to take advantage of all the opportunities sports had to offer me- but not let sports define me or my future."

McDaniel has followed in Fulton’s footsteps as an educator and serves as a special-education teacher for second-grade students in a Minneapolis suburb.

8/8/09

2009 Draft

1.) Chris (Beanie) Wells RB from Ohio State

2.) Cody Brown OLB from UCONN

3.) Rashad Johnson S from Alabama

4.) Gregory Toler CB from St. Pauls College

5.) Herman Johnson OG from LSU

6.) Will Davis OLB from Illinois

7A) LaRod Stephens Howling RB from Pittsburgh

7B.) Trevor Canfield OG from Cinn.

Beanie Wells, the final draft pick was signed to a five year contract just before the Cardinals Training Camp opened in Flagstaff, Arizona. The running back out of Ohio State had been projected as a High First Round Pick. He dropped to the Cardinals at the 31^st pick because many thought he had a tendency to be frequently INJURED.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY

The Good

With the signing of Beanie Wells, the Cardinals organization did what they had not accomplished in MANY years! A first round draft pick in training camp on the first day!

The Bad

During the first workout, just 15 minutes before the workout ended, Beanie Wells suffered a left ankle injury during a run play.. He is only expected to miss 4 or 5 days of practice but that certainly did not help matters with him trying to show he is not an injury prone back.

The Ugly

Draft negotiations….

There had been times in the Cardinals history where they would waste a First Round pick on a player that would threaten not to sign primarily for money reasons, most notably Kelly Stoeffer in 1987. Thankfully with the signing of Coach Whisenhunt and Russ Grimm a few years back and the influence Michael Bidwell and Rod Graves have had on the direction of the team the new draft signings have been going smoothly over the past few years!

However, the San Francisco 49ers have that very problem on their hands with Michael Crabtree. He is a very promising wide receiver that had been projected as a top 5 pick in Aprils draft. From what I know of him he seems to be a smart guy so perhaps it is his agent or the people around him that are telling him to hold out for a contract that will pay him as if he were a 5^th, 6^th, or 7^th pick in the first round as opposed to a 10^th pick, which is where the 49ers drafted him..

There have been rumors that if he is not signed to a contract similar to those higher picks he will sit out this season and re enter the draft next year! BIG MISTAKE

Myself, as well as many long suffering Cardinals fans are very thankful that we are not sitting in the same boat as Mike Singletary and the 49ers!

Go Cards!

6/13/09

NFL Football Hall of Fame

Canton, Ohio August 8^th 2009

It was just reported in the Arizona Republic and the West Valley View that Randall McDaniel’s choice for who he would like to present him at the 2009 Hall of Fame is O.K. Fulton. Coach Fulton had been coach or Athletic Dirctor at McDaniels High School (Agua Fria) from 1963 to 1986 and had been a mentor to many of the students from Agua Fria which is located west of Phoenix.. McDaniel graduated in 1983 and went on to play at A.S.U.

McDaniel was the 19^th overall pick in the first round of the NFL draft in 1988 by the Minnesota Vikings. He earned All Rookie Honors and started 13 straight Playoff games for the Vikings. He also embarked on a streak of 202 consecutive starts that continued from his second year through the end of his career!

Mike Russo, sports editor of the West Valley View quoted Fulton as saying "I was humbled and thrilled to death!" Russo quoted McDaniel with the following as to how he came to choose Fulton. "I thought of a couple of coaches and even my best friend, but there was truly no one better than Mr. Fulton to represent where I came from and how I got there," he said "Many people have helped me get where I am- in sports, in college, in the NFL and in my second career in education- but as I really thought of a person who impacted the direction of my life from the beginning, I kept coming back to Mr. Fulton. He was the first person, outside of my family, who saw me as a whole person, NOT just an athlete."

Coach Fulton will be a presenter with the likes of Chris Berman and other well known sports names.

I am confident he will do Arizona and my high school, Agua Fria, proud!

4/27/09

I am thrilled with the Cardinals first Pick (at 31) in the NFL Draft! They drafted Chris “Beanie” Wells, a recent scouting report listed him as an effective downhill runner with good vision and the ability to move the pile, also good lateral moves. He was listed as being difficult to bring down however durability was a concern. Overall, I feel he was the best running back in this year’s draft!

However, let me share with you two opposing views from an Az. paper just hours after the draft.

“I’ll call beanie a bust right now, he will never play more than 6 games with the cardinals, and i would be surprised if he gets more than 100 yards in more than 2 games. Redbird fans get ready for a bigger wuss than Leinart”. Posted by “Iforgiveyourstupidity”

I however agree with the following post….

Slow? average speed? uh.....did you see how average his speed was in the first drive of the championship game against LSU? Slow enough to go 70 yards UNTOUCHED. And did you get to watch ANY of his games against Michigan? He averaged over 200 yards a game and had five TDs of over 50 yards against Michigan in those three games. Wells might be alot of things but at 235 lbs you won't find a single RB in the NFL faster than him. If you aren't happy getting Chris Wells, the consensus #1 high school playear in the nation coming out of Akron, Ohio you wouldn't be happy with Jim Brown! No he won't be Jim Brown but this guy is a hammer who can grind out first downs. And if you havn't watched OSU play he can take it to the house on ANY play. The fact he won't be 'the man' on the Cards is a great thing. Nobody is going to be keying on him allowing him to be very effective. Initially he and Hightower may split time but by the 6-8th game he'll be the starter. Great guy who was never in any kind of trouble at OSU. Comes from a stable family background, anything but a Clarette type. If there's a knock on him he gets dinged up now and then but I doubt Whisenhunt will be giving him 25+ carries every game the way OSU did. He'll be fresh getting 15 or so carries and the clowns whining about him will look like the clowns they are. He may miss a game or two but how many NFL backs play every down of every game for 16 games? The Cards offense will be #1 in the league next year as long as they keep Bolding and Warner doesn't get hurt. Posted by “dlaw61”

More on the addition picks coming soon

4/1/09

What a GREAT SEASON.

Rarely are the teams strength and conditioning coaches mentioned but I have got to say that the Cardinals are very fortunate to have a man like John Lott on board! With the Cardinals being one of the healthier teams in the NFL last year I feel a lot of credit goes to LOTT. The training regiments he has developed with the players have been very successful.

The team has resigned Kurt Warner to a two year 23 million dollar contract which he had easily deserved after his big numbers last year. Completing 401 of 598 passes for 4,583 yards, 30 touchdowns and only 14 interceptions in the regular season, while setting multiple franchise records in the process! His playoff numbers were even better. He completed 92 of 135 passes for 1,147 yards, 11 touchdowns and only 3 interceptions in the postseason games.

His passer rating was 112.2!

I sure hope that Warner can stay healthy next year but if not, Matt Leinart is proving to be a great team player. When Leinarts day does come he will be one of the best quarterbacks with the least miles on him! He will have learned from a future Hall of Famer and should have a knowledge of the game and defenses beyond his playing years! When the time comes for Leinart to lead this team I think we may see some of the QB magic from his USC days!

It sure is looking like the 10^th overall pick of Leinart a few years back may really pay off compared to his counterparts from that years draft, Vince Young (not playing) and Jay Cutler (not happy).

2/3/09

THE ARIZONA CARDINALS MADE IT TO THE SUPER BOWL!!!

First and foremost a BIG Thank You is in order to the entire Cardinals organization!

Starting with the BIDWILL FAMILY, AND ROD GRAVES for their wisdom in hiring

KEN WHISENHUNT AND RUSS GRIMM!

ALSO A BIG THANKS TO DENNIS GREEN, Coach for the Cardinals from January 04 to January 07. It was Coach Green and his recruiting staff that signed Edgerton James, an unrestricted free agent in the Spring of 2006. Other key players signed by Green that helped make this playoff run possible were LARRY FITZGERALD, KARLOS DANSBY, DARNELL DOCKETT, ANTONIO SMITH, ANTREL ROLLE, JJ ARRINGTON, ELTON BROWN, LEONARD POPE, & DUECE LUTUI.

These players all turned out to truly be "what he thought they were!"as well as "who he thought they were!", that being excellent motivated players!

When Fitzgerald galloped through the Steelers defense like a thoroughbred, scoring a touchdown that capped the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history, the Cardinals were only 157 seconds from immortality. They were 157 seconds from ending the second-longest drought in professional sports.

Then the magic disappeared. Destiny, like most everyone else in the stadium, was wearing black and gold.

"Some say we could not top last year’s Super Bowl," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said.

"But the Steelers and Cardinals did that tonight."

In the end, in my view the loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers (27 to 23) came down to too many penalties by the Cardinals allowing the Steelers to continue drives. On a personal note, a few penalties which should have been called against the Steelers at critical times were not.

I feel badly for Kurt Warner, what will this loss do to him?

"I don’t know if I am going to play next year," he said. "I haven’t thought about that. I’m going to enjoy what we accomplished as a football team. I’m going to enjoy this great game we just played in, and I’m going to take some time away from the game and make that decision."

Will it leave a bad enough taste to make him want to avoid the agony of defeat again? Warner has a life outside football fuller than most. Seven kids. His Charities. His faith.

Or will it leave him hungry for more?

The Cardinals want him back and likely will offer a two year deal somewhere in the neighborhood of $18 million. That’s a hard paycheck to pass up, especially when you still have many more years to do the things you want to do.

Again, as a long time fan I want to thank the Bidwill family, this season represents a huge victory for them. When campaigning for Proposition 302, team President Michael Bidwill said a state of the art facility was the missing bridge between his team and a championship. I thoroughly believed him because I had the team mail me stats and information on the stadium Proposition and gave a 8-10 minute speech in Toastmasters trying to rally support in favor of the stadium. I was thrilled for the fans and team that it passed!

Now, three years after the doors to that new stadium opened, the Cardinals made it all the way to the Super Bowl. The Bidwill family kept a promise, and that has done wonders for its image and legacy in Arizona!

THANK YOU CARDS FOR THIS ELEVATED, ELEVATOR, "ELLOFA" RIDE!

My thanks to Paula Boivin and Dan Bickley (Arizona Republic) for some items used in this column.

1/22/09

A Cardinals win on the road in Carolina and the Cardinals could be playing another HOME playoff Game against the Philadelphia Eagles! IF, the Cardinals could beat Carolina , the MEDIA said the Cardinals would FALL in that game but as it turned out, the CARDS did not FALL that way!

Part two of getting a second home Playoff game for the Cards continues....

Now, I have been a die hard Cardinals fan for 20 years BUT I became a serious Band Wagon fan of the Philadelphia Eagles on January 11^th! If the Wild Card Eagles could defeat the #1 seeded NFC Super Bowl Champs in the Meadowlands on that day, then the Cards (4^th seeded) would host the Eagles(6th seeded) in Glendale, Az.

The Eagles were serious underdogs but I believe with ALL the Arizona Band Wagon fans supporting the Eagles in their quest to advance to the NFC Championship game, it was just enough to help them soar over the Giants!

So here we are, The Arizona Cardinals very first hosting of the NFC Championship game!

It goes without saying that my band wagon days are over, back to my "true love" (okay now Sandy, true love by NFL standards) ... My true love, the Arizona Cardinals!

This will be the first hosting of such a game in the past 61 years! Wasn’t Truman President then?

I have been tailgating before Cardinals games (for these many years) with good friends Rex and Karen. Together we have been through the good (Vince Tobin) and the bad (Buddy Ryan & the Ryanettes) in hopes of making it to the Big Dance... The Super Bowl!

Here we are, early Sunday morning outside of the University of Phoenix stadium knowing that if the Cards beat the Eagles in the short 60 minutes of this game then we (the Cardinals) are going to the Super Bowl!

The first half could not have been more enjoyable! A trick play (flee flicker from Warner to Fitzgerald) and a lot of good running by the "Edge".

Now the second half I was a nervous wreck! This half started out with the cards having a 24 to 6 lead. The Eagles came out determined, McNabb was throwing well and his receivers were able to hold on to the ball. Also their blitzing of Warner was starting to work for them.

I have to tell you that after (all these) years of "supporting" the Arizona Cardinals, I was very worried that the "New" Cards were going to revert to the "Same old Cardinals" by letting this moment get away from them!

However, being down 25 to 24 with over 10 minutes to go our proud "New Arizona Cardinals" controlled the ball and the clock driving for what would be the winning touchdown!

We have a terrific Calm, Cool, Confident Coach in Ken Whisenhunt and some outstanding players that no matter the outcome of Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa, deserve some RESPECT!!

By the Way, my tailgating friends really came prepared that day, Karen had two bottles of Champagne on ICE!

Thanks Karen and Thank You to the entire Cardinals Organization for this wild ride!

One more WIN

1/7/09

Has ANYONE seen my voice?

It was last heard from in Section 108 around the 48 yard line at the University of Phoenix Stadium!

Wow!

This was by far the loudest I have heard the Cardinal fans since the team moved to Arizona!

Few fans stayed in their seats during most of this long awaited home playoff game, the first of its kind since 1947 when they were called the Chicago Cardinals.

Rarely did most fans sit for defensive plays and many remained standing for the offensive plays.

The Arizona Cardinals earned some long awaited RESPECT by beating the Atlanta Falcons 30 - 24 in front of a sellout crowd of 62,848 Fan-atics.

Prior to the game the media had called the Cardinals "the worst division winner in history", in fact a blowout loss to the Falcons in the first round was predicted by many. I applaud the Cardinals players and coaches character , preparation, and attitude for the way they played this game!

The Falcons have a feared rushing attack with over 152 yards per game, mostly provided by Michael Turner, the second leading rusher in the league. However he was held to only 42 yards by the Cardinals defense. Kudos to the Cardinals defense for making plays, tackling well and hitting hard!

While time of possession was nearly identical the turnovers offered up by the Falcons and a few key third down plays by the Cardinals made the difference in this long awaited Cinderella story!

With that exciting Eagles win over the Vikings in Minnesota the Eagles will be playing the Defending Super Bowl Champs and our Cardinals will take on the second seed Carolina Panthers this week.

The Cardinals had played the Panthers very well on the road back on October 26^th so I am expecting that they will give them a very solid game in Carolina!

Concerning Voice lost in Section 108. REWARD OFFERED if found prior to Saturdays game against the Carolina Panthers!

12/30/08

First, The Arizona Cardinals are in the PLAYOFFS!

By beating the St. Louis Rams a few weeks back, they won the NFC West Division! I would like to think that the Cardinals were coasting as to not have any key players injured while playing at home against the Vikings and in a blizzard against the Patriots.

But, I think not. I was embarrassed for the team with both of those games. Frankly, I hope the team will not see any more snow in future games! It is a given that the Arizona Cardinals do not DO snow.

Thankfully once back at home against the Seahawks the Cardinals looked very good in the last three quarters with Fitgerald making spectacular catches and Edgerrin James breaking thru the scrimmage line with some explosive runs!

As many sports reporters and local fans have been heard to say, we may have caught a break with the first round of the playoffs against the Atlanta Falcons. The team has an exciting rookie QB but he is still a rookie. Matt Ryan has been terrific for the Falcons but perhaps his lack of experience will be an advantage for the Cardinals. I worry a bit about the Cardinals defense and the cornerbacks (excluding Rogers-Cromartie) but if they can play well, along with getting Anquan Boldin back into the mix, I like the Arizona Cardinals chances in winning their first Playoff game in Arizona!

Go Cards!