Coach Whisenhunt Sets Record Straight, Winning More Important

As I've been saying for the past several weeks, winning is more important than 2011 NFL Draft positioning.  Playing for anything else other than winning the game is ridiculous, selfish, unprofessional, and a complete waste of time.  Today, Arizona Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt was asked about winning or draft positioning and he agreed with what I've been trying, pleading with people to understand, that winning football games is MUCH more important than trying to lose a game to improve your draft position.

We can all joke about it as a cool thing to say, "Wouldn't it be great if the Cards lost all their remaining games and went 3-13 and got Andrew Luck in the draft?".  Yes it would be cool, but it's not cool to be 3-13.  It's not cool to waste people's time and money by tanking football games, losing on purpose.  In addition to everything I said above, it also kills the integrity of the game.

I'm with you on the thought process.  Yes, I would love to see Andrew Luck or Ryan Mallet in a Cards uniform next season.  What guarantees do you have that you'll get either one of those guys even if you do lose out?  Even if they had lost to the Denver Broncos last night, you still have the Detroit Lions, Buffalo Bills, and Carolina Panthers to compete with and last time I looked, two of those three may be looking at the quarterback position as well.  Now with a win, which this team needed in a bad way no matter where they are in the standings, you can include the Broncos and Dallas Cowboys competing for that higher draft position.  Too many teams, too many possibilities.

So, enough with the please loose for a better draft pick mentality.  The Cards need wins, playoffs or no playoffs.  They need to end the season strong.  They need to see what they have in John Skelton.  Maybe Skelton plays well enough to forget drafting a quarterback high in the draft.  Although even if Skelton plays well in the last three games, the thought is the Cards will still address the position in the draft and in free agency or via trade.  They would be prudent to do so in order to avoid another season like this one.