Breaking down the Cardinals win over the Steelers
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by Crixtopher
Topsy-turvy. Parity. A hair shy. These are all qualities of life in the NFL and some of the reasons it has become my favorite sport. More often than not it is the small details that separate the winners from the losers. I would like to address some of the details of the Cardinals upset of the Steelers yesterday as living proof.
The Cardinals came into the game not having allowed a RB to eclipse the 100-yard mark this season. Not too shabby, but it sounds better to say than the reality, that is they did allow Willis McGahee 98 yards in Week 3. Still, when you consider the other two RBs were Frank Gore and Shaun Alexander, that's 3 of the best RBs in the league that Arizona has successfully held under the century mark. Willie Parker came into the game as the NFL's leading rusher, and his speed strikes fear into any defense. The key to stopping him as Dan Dierdorf explained during the game, is to not let him square up his shoulder pads or he may be gone for six. In other words, keep him running sideways towards the sidelines and prevent him from running up field where his speed is deadly. It is fair to say the Cardinals defensive line beat up the Steelers offensive line, holding Parker to 37 yards rushing which is quite an accomplishment. Looking deeper, if you take away Parker's 20-yard scamper late in the fourth quarter, he had a meager 18 carries for 17 yards, which is a phenomenal effort.
Jerheme Urban. I said Jerheme Urban, you know the guy who has been in the league since 2003, playing as a reserve WR on Seattle's roster for 3 years and then was on the Cowboys practice squad before being released and picked up by the Cardinals right before the 2007 season opener? You know, the guy who was a legend at Trinity University, where he was track and field Male Athlete of the Year in each of his four years there? You know the guy who had a total of 13 catches in his NFL career before Sunday? (I love Wikipedia, but I digress...) Urban had been inactive for the first 3 games of the season, but he must have been learning the playbook and impressing the coaches because with Anquan Boldin inactive for this one, Urban suited up and made the most of his opportunity. In a defensive battle every catch is huge, he caught 5 for 53 yards, one going for 20 yards and one went for their only touchdown catch on the day.
The Arizona draft class of 2007 included decorated collegiate return man Steve Breaston. Any good coach stresses the importance of special teams play, and the Cardinals have really never had an outstanding return game to speak of. I heard it all through training camp and then in preseason, just wait they all said, he is going to break one. I don't know, I thought, he looks nervous and timid to me, kind of like J.J. Arrington looked his rookie year as a hot prospect out of California. In a tooth and nail battle, Steve Breaston finally did give the team the much anticipated punt return for touchdown, and the one moment when they needed it the most, flipping six in the 4th quarter to put them ahead by a touchdown with the home crowd behind them.
Thinking outside of the box, one my favorite attributes. Last week when it was only 6-0 and with Matt Leinart struggling, Ken Whisenhunt brought in Kurt Warner and my jaw hit the floor. It was like a bad flashback to typical panic style impatience displayed by Dennis Green during his tenure, unsuccessfully. Then Warner caught fire and I thought, well okay, sit Leinart for the rest of the year and let Warner lead this team to a million points and the playoffs for his last stand. What? Leinart comes back into the game, they flip flop, what the hell is going on!? After the game Whisenhunt gives his speech about how Warner runs a special package and yada yada yada, I figured it was just coach speak for, "I don't want to hurt Matt's confidence but I don't have confidence in him for real though". As it turns out, it wasn't coach speak. He had the same plan for this game and again it seemed to work, this time probably better than last in that both QBs genuinely seemed in support of each other and the rotation was based on the package design for that given moment, and not pulling one QB for poor performance. I have to give coach respect for that alone. More so than that, that he put in Leinart for the final game winning drive, when Warner seemed to be playing better, with the game on the line...Leinart responded with a perfectly directed clock-killing touchdown-scoring 14-play drive that sealed the game. Whisenhunt proved that he trusted his own scheme, and didn't give in to panic. He stuck to his , well, bizarre method and it worked great. You'd be hard pressed to find any other current NFL coach who would go for such a wacky strategy, a 2-QB rotation. Remember this NFL fans, this rotation isn't because of a lack of trust or lack of ability by either player. This is genuinely a bold coaching move that so far is working. How bold was it to stick with it in the franchise's biggest moments in recent memory?
