As I was perusing the normal Cards sources for information and checking on a few things today I came across this article posted on azcardinals.com entitled, “A Night to Remember”, and after reading it I have to say I was more than a little discouraged. I read a similar article on azcentral.com entitled “Night practice good for future” which seemed to be missing the point also while focusing on the frills. I’ll stop right here for now, just read the following excerpt from the azcardinals.com article and tell me what strikes you as just a little…….off:
(These guys don’t seem too concerned……..but maybe they should be?)
_____________________________________________________________
FLAGSTAFF – Still unsigned, Arizona Cardinals No. 1 pick Levi Brown missed the most electric practice sequence the team has had since getting to camp.In an effort to avoid the boredom of a repetitive schedule, coach Ken Whisenhunt held the first of two night practices at NAU’s Lumberjack Stadium Wednesday. And at the end of the full-padded workout, the Cards conducted their first live goal line drills.
With the first-string offense starting at the five-yard line, the first-string defense held over four downs, stuffing Edgerrin James on fourth down and leading to a vocal celebration by the defense.
The second-team offense needed just one play for redemption when Marcel Shipp barged in for a touchdown, bringing the entire offense over yelling and congratulating Shipp like he had just won the Super Bowl.
“We got a chance to lay a hat on them,” said starting linebacker Karlos Dansby, who was among the biggest trash-talkers of the sequence. “Coach did a great job planning it, giving us a chance to go live.
“It keeps you motivated. It teases you a little bit with a little live action. It keeps you going.”
_____________________________________________________________
Okay, back up a second, The FIRST TEAM OFFENSE WITH EDGE COULDN’T PUNCH THE BALL IN FROM 5 YARDS OUT AGAINST THE FIRST TEAM DEFENSE!?!? I got news for you guys, the Cards defense is anything from the best in the league, and you’re gonna be facing first team defenses all year. I know it’s early in camp, we haven’t played a single preseason game yet and we just got into pads, but guys……come on. The second team got it in on the first play?
Look, I know we always want to focus on the positives here in Arizona, we have to in order to survive. But we have to be able to punch the ball in when inside the redzone, it just has to be there from day one. The fact that Edge didn’t get the ball into the endzone with four tries and only 5 yards to go gives me a moment of pause. Is the O-Line really improving? Obviously we need Levi Brown in camp more than we want to admit.
While both of these articles want to focus on how great it was to practice at night to break up the mundane days out in the heat and how Whisenhunt should be applauded for coming up with this great schedule, I want to see an article pretty soon about how Todd Haley and Co. are going to fix this redzone deficiency.
To use Karlos Dansby’s own words, fixing our redzone woes is what will “keep us motivated.” It’s a little reality check guys, we got a long way to go and just a few more weeks to fix it.
Mike Duggan
AZCardsfan4life