Post Game Reaction: Arizona Cardinals Terrible 4th Down Defense Results in 20-17 Loss To Titans
by Andrew602 on Nov 29, 2009 6:11 PM MST
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PrintI'll keep this one as short as I can - the Cardinals had plenty of chances to win this game. Their 3rd down defense may be the best in the league, but between this week and last week their fourth down defense(4-4 today) is flat-out horrible.
The Cardinals started off the day stale on the offensive side of the ball, only scoring 3 points in the first half. In the third quarter, Matt Leinart, a late replacement for blurry-visioned Kurt Warner, started to open up, completing more passes that resulted in first downs. After the 85 yard touchdown run by Chris Johnson (above) - which we all knew was going to happen sooner or later - LaRod Stephens Howling returned the following kick off to keep the Cardinals within three. The Cardinals best offensive drive resulted in a touchdown run to give the Cardinals the lead 17-14. The Cardinals offense however, couldn't milk enough of the clock and couldn't keep the ball away. The Titans went 99 yards on the final drive of the game, and on 4th and goal, Vince Young threw the game-winning touchdown to Kenny Britt as time expired.
The Positives
- After getting warmed up, Matt Leinart finally started looking comfortable in the pocket. Leinart also didn't turn the ball over and was only sacked one time. That's really all I can say about him for today as he didn't do a lot the entire game. He was average at best today but for now it gets him on the positive list.
- LaRod Stephens-Howling had the best day of his career today. After an 85 yard touchdown run by Chris Johnson, a deflated Arizona Cardinals team was pumped after LSH returned the ensuing kick-off 98 yards to bring the Cardinals within three. He also had a big special teams tackle, and was great on punt coverage by downing a couple punts at the 1 yard line.
- Darnell Dockett had a monster game as well, recording 3 sacks (although I think he had that last one) and limiting Vince Young's running lanes. Nine-O played his best game and now leads the Cardinals with 7 sacks on the year.
- Ben Graham had another great game all around and deserves to go to the pro bowl. We'll touch up on that later in the week.
The Negatives
- As crazy as it sounds, Matt Leinart shows up on the negatives list as well because the offense went nowhere the whole game with the exception of one drive. Before anyone accuses me of being a sore loser, the Titans deserved this win, and out-played the Cardinals. However, if Kurt Warner had played this game, the score would not have been so close and the Cardinals would have easily won the game. I don't want to hear that Leinart "deserves an apology", or he can "side-step" better then Warner, when he could only lead the Cardinals to 10 offensive points on a team featuring Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Steve Breaston, Tim Hightower, and Beanie Wells. This game showed promise and I want Leinart to be the future, but he's clearly not as good as Warner, and I for one hope that Warner is ready to go next week.
- The running game was okay, but 75 yards is not getting it done,enough said.
- The fact that the defense couldn't stop the Titans 4 times on fourth down is pathetic. Young threw the same pass to the flats I don't know how many times. Bill Davis showed signs of good ole Clancy Pendergast on the last drive of the game.
- The holding call on Reggie Wells on the Cardinals last offensive drive was brutal at that time in the game, and I blame him and the defense for this loss. The Cardinals were working the clock and Hightower had just run the ball 7 yards. The Cardinals play calling after that was questionable, as they ran once and threw two screen passes that didn't do much. They were forced to punt away and we know what happened next.
- The 49ers won today making the next two games extremely important for both teams.
FInal thoughts
I'll repeat myself again in saying the Titans out-played the Cardinals and deserve recognition for the win. The only argument I'm making is that Kurt Warner would have put a lot more points on the board then Leinart. The defense held up in the first half but crumbled in the second. I'm not sure what to think of them as they've been torched against the pass and the run the last few games. The Cardinals need to play their best football next Sunday night against the Vikings.
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We should be leaving Matty alone.
He went into the game with barely any time in practice, and he gave us a chance to win. Its obvious that he won’t play as well as Warner, but he played very well for a backup who found out he was going to start a couple hours before the game even started.
I bet that if he did have the full week of practice, we would have scored more than 17 points.
As for the rest of the game, LSH was amazing, but we lost the game because of some ******* Clancy Prevent.
Lifelong Arizona Cardinals/Chicago Bears fan.
No band-wagoner fans allowed, pick a team and stick with em, throughout the good and the bad.
vince young
i can’t believe vince young went off for 387 passing yards.
... we sittin here talking about practice. not a game, not a game.
Let's face it... titans showed up to play
Young was absolutely incredible… I don’t think anyone expected this kind of game from him. That being said I do believe had Warner been able to play the Cardinals would have put up a couple of touchdowns in the first half and probably would have ran away with it as the defense was incredible the first half.
As far as Leinart goes, he did better than I thought he would. He played a good second half, but he was rusty in the first half.
Who is to blame? It’s hard to say. Sure, you could point the finger at the defense for failing to stop them on 3 4th downs, but for most the game they did their job. The play that I think hurts the most is the holding call on Reggie Wells when the Cardinals were supposed to run out the clock.
HEY guys
GOOD GAME !!! If Warner would have played this game could have went bad for us. I still cant belive what VY did. As a Titans fan watching him with a 2min drill on our 4 yrd line , i was already smoking my Game OVER Cigarette. I have to say ,though we won you guys are a sure bet for the Vikes. I think your D will be motivated enough to hold AP for less than 100yrds & “4” will get sacked 5 times by DOCKETT. GOOD GAME GUYS !!!
Holding by offense on the last possession
was a huge mistake. Put as @ 1st and 20 rather than 2nd & 3. OUCH!
by Drullin'OverDaCards on Nov 29, 2009 7:32 PM MST reply actions
Right on 602
You’re right on every point, in my opinion. In the first half the Cardinals seemed to be playing not to lose instead of to win. The play calling was much too conservative, which wouldn’t have been the case with Warner playing.
I was surprised Davis didn’t blitz on the final play. Young had all kinds of time to wait for an open receiver. The three rusher formations didn’t work well up to that point and gave Young much too much time to wait for things to develop. Also, McFadden seems to be having trouble keeping track of where the ball is once it’s in the air.
Leinart played okay but, like you, hope Kurt is back next week.
?? Don't get it.
However, if Kurt Warner had played this game, the score would not have been so close and the Cardinals would have easily won the game.
That being said I do believe had Warner been able to play the Cardinals would have put up a couple of touchdowns in the first half and probably would have ran away with it as the defense was incredible the first half.
Titans moved the ball easily in the first half but didn’t convert their red zone possessions into touchdowns. So I don’t see how the Titans would have been easily beaten.
Leinart, Final Drive, Holding
I will start with the Holding. The hold be Reggie did hurt us but what killed me (and I hate doing this) was the 2 platent holds on the final drive by Tennesse. I was screaming at the TV. Heck one of our guys got tackled from behind as he pressured Young. Enough of that since there is nothing that can be done. When we had them backed up on what I think was 4th down from their own 3 on the final down I just dont get why we rushed only 3. Rushing only 3 gives too many passing OR running lanes in such a circumstance. I thought Leinart played great given he got 10% of the reps in practice this last week. He looked rusty in the first half but that is to be expected. In the second half he was great i thought. Too bad VY played spoiler again. That win would have been bigger than big for us.
Never do card tricks for the group you play poker with.
The blatant holds by offenses on our D line and not being called is something that has been bothering me lately
It happened in Indy and it happened here. I am sorry an arm across the front of the defender as he tries to run around is holding. WTF? Does the league do that on purpose?
A man from Dallas who bleeds red, not silver and blue.
Matt played well enough to win
he also got hammered more than once without a call
tough loss … but u have to get pressure on Vince, bottom line
and now J. Allen comes to town … might be smart to sit kurt again
+1
I’m not one to complain about iffy calls and non-calls but I remember thinking to myself if that was Tom Brady there’d be laundry all over the field for some of those late hits/tackles on Leinart.
by Fitz Jizzle on Nov 30, 2009 12:47 AM MST up reply actions
VY got lucky
The Titans were lucky holding wasn’t called in the endzone (safety) and that Young wasn’t picked about 3 times on the last drive. But sometimes I guess it is better to be lucky than good. Pretty pleased with the way the Cards played considering Warner took all the reps during the week, and except for one run (Adrian Wilson out of position yet again) Chris Johnson was kept in check. Hope the D is left with a sour taste in their mouth that will make them ready to go against the Vikings!
P.S The Titans have the worst jerseys in ALL of professional sports.
I don't think they have bad jerseys
but they do have one of the lamest logos in all of professional sports.
by Fitz Jizzle on Nov 30, 2009 12:49 AM MST up reply actions
HardHat has been blaming Matt for the loss since the game ended...
And a lot of other people think he played like crap. The man just can’t catch a break.
Lifelong Arizona Cardinals/Chicago Bears fan.
No band-wagoner fans allowed, pick a team and stick with em, throughout the good and the bad.
Great game
Leinart looked real good for someone who hadn’t played much at all and didn’t practice with the first string. I think he can be your QB of the future. Your team kept VY bottled up pretty good.
Leinart
Though Leinart played okay in the second half, it’s amazing how low the expectations are, as if he’s a rookie with no previous experience. He has attempted almost 600 passes in his career in the NFL and people are ecstatic with any completion. For comparison, look at Chris Redmond of Atlanta. He came in for Ryan and the Falcons didn’t have to change their game plan at all, and he probably took no reps with the first string. The bottom line is the Cardinals offense scored 10 points against one of the weakest pass defenses in the NFL.
You failed to mention the fact that Redman was playing an awful team in Tampa Bay while Leinart was playing against the hottest team in the NFL right now.
Part of the reason for Tennessee being bad against the pass was the fact that they were unhelthy in the secondary. They have been getting those player back slowly and they have been playing better each and every week.
Easy to set high standards for Leinart when he was almost unstoppable in college and he has to come in and replace a future Hall of Famer.
Tennessee doesn't have an awful pass defense
They were depleted by injuries earlier in the season but now that they’re back to full strength they’re performing much better.
Be careful....to a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Everyone else seems to ignore that...
Lifelong Arizona Cardinals/Chicago Bears fan.
No band-wagoner fans allowed, pick a team and stick with em, throughout the good and the bad.
Tennessee
I take your point. I’m sure they’re much better now, though Shaub threw for over 300 yards against them last week. Their overall ranking on pass defense is skewed from their earlier disasters.
Schaub is also in the top 5 for passing yards right now.
Lifelong Arizona Cardinals/Chicago Bears fan.
No band-wagoner fans allowed, pick a team and stick with em, throughout the good and the bad.
I'm sorry but I gotta go with BPual on this one
I know it is not popular to be critical of Leinart. Let me explain. With Leinart under center this becomes a “restrictor plate offense”. The football field becomes compressed. The threat of the down field elements of the passing game become non-existent. Leinart is not the kind of QB that “drives the football” down the field. Oppossing DC’s know this and squat on the underneath routes because they do not fear the vertical passing game with Leinart at QB.
Whisenhunt needs to open up the playbook more and at least threaten the defense deep with Leinart. If not the rushing lanes will also continue to shrink with Matt at QB. I’m not sure Whisenhunt is putting Matt in the best position with such consistently conservative play-calling. Is this a trust issue with Leinart ?
Leinart displays two habits during the games that a player that has played the number of snaps he has played should not be doing. The first is staring down his WR’s which leads to the player catching the football and taking shots because defenders have been drawn to that area. Second is poor ball placement /location. Too mant times a WR has to contort his body to catch a Matt Leinart pass resulting in almost no ability to run after the catch. His high passes could cause one these WR’s to get hurt going after it trying to make a play. Not good. To be fair here I think Matt should be further along in his developement. The expectations for Matt should be higher.
Did Leinart show progress against the Titans? Yes. Can the team win with Leinart under center short term/long term ? Now that’s the 64,000 dollar question. Because at the end of day……that’s what inquiring minds want to know.
I think that's a valid point
But Leinart is not a rookie and that’s why I prefaced the comment the why I did Pyro. Leinart did show progress and I’m encouraged by this developement. All I’m saying is Whiz can help his young QB out by looking deep once in a while. If Warner can’t go this week, will we see an expanded playbook or what we have seen thus far from Whisenhunt ?
Whiz
When are you guys gonna stop giving Whiz a pass……he makes more mistakes than any coach ever yet you fail to question him….its inexcusable for Matt to not work with 1st team in practice all week….also once again he gets conservative at end of game, he does it all the time, he never puts his team in position to be the best they can
what?
its inexcusable for Matt to not work with 1st team in practice all week
Warner felt fine all week long and everything pointed towards him playing. Whiz isn’t a fortune teller, he simply makes decisions based on the information he has and the information at the time said that Warner felt fine and was passing all the necessary tests.
How exactly did he get conservative? The Cardinals final drive was torpedoed a holding call on first down and he called a run and then two passes. On the previous drive he called four passes versus just two runs.
also once again he gets conservative at end of game, he does it all the time, he never puts his team in position to be the best they can
Be careful....to a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Warner the difference?
I don’t know… We have had sizable leads against many teams this year, only to get stagnent late in the games on offense and give teams a chance to win in the end (see: Seattle, Rams, Texans). If Kurt was in the game, would we have gotten complacent on offense again and put it on the defense? Granted, the hold on our last offensive drive was HUGE (2nd and three vs. 1st and 20?), but even still, we had 2 different opportunities to drive the field, chew up clock, and maybe put a few more points on the game. BTW… am I high, or did Young not even burn a timeout until they were in the redzone???? Until this offense learns how to manage the clock well at the end of games, and put teams away, we are in for more rollercoaster rides!!
- Never go in against a sicilian when DEATH is on the line!
You're not
The Titans still have 1 timeout left afte the game too.
What? I didn't break it, I was just testing its durability, and then I placed it in the woods becuase it's made out of wood and I just thought he should be with his family.
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