411 NFL Breakdown 09.12.06
Posted by Mike Novak on 09.12.2006
The cardiac Cardinals are back.
Week 1 is in the books and if you're like me, you had an abysmal fantasy football performance. I lost in both the 411 Forum League as well as the 411 Staff League. In fact, as I type this I still have players left to play in the Monday night games and I'm so far behind I'm still positive I'm losing this week. It really was that bad.
Carnell Williams? 2 freakin points.
DeShaun Foster? 3 freakin points
Randy McMichael? 0 freakin points
Chad Johnson? 2 freakin points
So yea….unless Chris Cooley racks up 40 yards and 2 TD's tonight.
Okay moving on. I have confidence in my boys, they're all going to pull through for me. I'll start worrying around week 3.
I'll make my post-week 1 commentary later on this week. I've got plenty to say about every game that occurred this past weekend Look for that around Thursday. Today my friends….today I abuse my privileges and use up 411's precious bandwidth to do something selfish: Discuss the performance of my favorite team, the Arizona Cardinals. Man, I can just hear all of the Back clicks now.
Still with me? Good, let's talk some Cardinals football. As I'm sure you're aware by now, the Cardinals got their first week one win since 1999. They defeated the San Francisco 49er's by a score of 34-27. There are SO many things that I want to discuss here so I'll break them up by segment. This game basically had me going from one extreme to the next: From a thrilling joyous feeling, to wanting to beat my head against a wall.
So with that in mind, here are the thoughts that went through my head as I watched the Sunday afternoon game.
Best. Passing Game. Ever.
We saw yet another 300 yard, 3 TD performance for Kurt Warner. Seriously, his career has been reinvigorated since coming from the NY Giants. The guy has incredible vision on the field and is finding his receivers as well as any QB in the league right now. While Peyton Manning, Carson Palmer, & Donovan McNabb are getting the hype, Warner continues to quietly make that Arizona passing game lethal. And as for the WR's, I'll go on record and say that I think Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald are the BEST WR duo in the league. Yep, you read that. Better than Wayne & Harrison. Better than Holt & Bruce. Better than Johnson & Houshmanzadeh. Fitzgerald always finds a way to get 100 yards receiving and Boldin is without a doubt in my mind the best "after the catch" receiver in the league. I have seen him juke and break so many tackles, it's amazing. I've also been quite happy with what I've seen from Bryant Johnson this year. He's finally living up to his potential and finding ways to get open. Lastly, keep an eye on the rookie TE Leonard Pope as well. They only used him sparingly (one catch, 9 yards) and Adam Bergen was the TE chosen to get the TD throw, but Pope is a 6'8, 265lbs monster with tremendous potential to be a break-out star.
Welcome to the desert, Edge
Edgerrin James made his debut in Arizona and the result was….not bad. Not great, but not bad. I was seriously concerned during the entire summer and into the pre-season games for several reasons. The first reason being that while I was stoked when they signed James, I was very worried that they did nothing to address the offensive line. I was really scared that they spent millions on an elite running back and it would all go to waste because the O-Line was letting defenders into the backfield as soon as Warner called for the snap. The second reason I was concerned was because James took it upon himself to not play in the pre-season. He basically stated that he didn't want to play and Coach Denny Green allowed it. So with all of that in mind, I was pretty upset when the Edge had 8 carries for 4 yards in the 1st quarter. JJ Arrington & Marcel Shipp could have done that. As the game went on Edge was able to make chicken soup out of chicken poop and ended the night with 73 yards and a TD. Not great, but not terrible. Certainly better than my fantasy football RB's did…sorry, I still can't get past that. Regardless, Edge also had 2 ten-yard runs called back by penalties, so in reality he was pretty close to a 100 yards rushing. I'm hoping that as the season progresses the O-Line will develop like they seemed to do as the game went on.
288 yards passing by WHO?!?
Simply stated: The Cardinals allowed Alex freakin Smith to pass for 288 yards and no interceptions. Think about that. Alex Smith….burned them….for almost 300 yards passing. Now I give all the credit in the world to Alex Smith. He looked very good and I was impressed. He looked nothing like the debacle I saw last year. I honestly didn't think he was cut out for the NFL game after seeing some of his performances last year. I always root for guys to succeed so I'm hoping his performance on Sunday wasn't a fluke. With that out of the way, where in the hell was the Arizona defense?! The defensive backs got torched. It seemed like every time the Arizona offense went out on the field and got the Cards some breathing room, the defense was determined to let the San Francisco team answer right back. I was really worried that the defense was letting the 49ers hang around too long and that it would bite them. When the 49'ers recovered the onside kick all I could do was shake my head in typical Arizona Cardinal's fan fashion….same old Cards. Thankfully they decided it would be a nice gesture to win their home opener in the new stadium.
Quick hits:
Vernon Davis: Although he suffered from some rookie mistakes (ie nerves), Vernon Davis got his first career TD in this game and looked very strong in doing it. The guy has so much natural talent, it's scary.
JJ Arrington: 2 carries for 11 yards (5.5 yards per carry) and 5 good kick returns. JJ also performed very well in the pre-season. I think he's enjoying not having the weight of carrying the rushing game on his shoulders this year and has relaxed a bit. He'll make a good 3rd down change of pace running back.
Frank Gore: Kevin Bar-who? The Arizona defense made Kevin Barlow seem like he was Tiki Barber. 87 yards rushing, 2 TD's, 83 yards receiving. Yea, he fumbled but that's easy to over look when you have stats like that. (See Warner above).
All in all, I was glad to see that the Arizona passing game is just as potent as it was last yea and I'm also glad that they had some semblance of a rushing game, as that will take a little pressure off of the WR's by keeping defenses honest. That being said, the defense and offensive line were…..offensive. While I freely admit that the San Francisco offense was much better than I or probably anyone else expected, had the Cardinals been playing a legitimately good team they would have had their asses handed to them.
Regardless, kudos to the Cardinals for getting win #1 and to the 49'ers for coming a long ways offensively. How do I expect the Cardinals to perform this year?
Record: 9-7 wishful, 8-8 realistic.
Rushing: Edgerrin rushes for 1100 yards, maybe 13 TD's.
Passing: Warner passes for 3500-3800 yards, 22 TD's, 13 INT's (Please stay healthy!)
Don't worry, I wouldn't expect to get an "Arizona Cardinals Report" every week, I just had so much to say regarding this game that I figured I might as well put it in the form of a column. As I mentioned earlier, I'll be back later this week to cover all of the week 1 action. Until then, feel free to send your comments to mnovak@comcast.net if you want to talk some Cardinals/49'ers football or if you just want to shoot the breeze.
