Arizona Cardinals Lack Of Ball Control A Cause Of Concern

by Andrew602 on Dec 15, 2009 10:29 AM MST Comment 11 comments

Five fumbles plagued the Arizona Cardinals offense last night, in a loss to the now 6-7 San Francisco 49ers. It was a painful pill to swallow, and after hearing some of the praise the media(ESPN to be exact) was giving the Cardinals, this one hurt.

Rank	Team	Fumbles Lost
1	AZ	15
2	NYG	14
3	JAX	13
4	TEN	13
5	OAK	13

Ball security has been a problem at this point in the season as the Cardinals have fumbled the ball a league-leading 15 times. Tim Hightower- who had 2 fumbles in all of 2008(both were recovered by the Cardinals) - has a team-high 5 fumbles on the year. Four of the five have been lost, and all of them happened in the 1st quarter. Beanie Wells is a not-far second, with 4 fumbles, and only 2 being lost(Wells lost two fumbles against the Rams and Titans, but they were credited to Warner and Leinart). Wells fumble also came at a critical time when the Cardinals were driving at their 11 yard line.

"It was definitely hard, knowing they were counting on me, giving me the ball in crunch time, and I came up short," Wells said. "I felt I had the ball as tight as I could but it was a hell of a play. You try to (move past it), but at times like this you can’t ignore it, you have to really focus on it," Wells said. "It all comes down to focus on that ball. Obviously I felt I had it as tight as I could but something wasn’t good enough."

Last night should have been proof enough that the Arizona Cardinals are clearly not a team that can overcome turnovers. In their 5 losses this year, the Cardinals have an astonishing -13 turnover differential. Ken Whisenhunt faced the same issues last season when the Cardinals couldn't clinch the division at first opportunity. With the Detroit Lions(2-10) up next, the Cardinals can still clinch the division with a win and a 49ers loss at Philadelphia next week.

"We’ve worked on it earlier in the year and it hasn’t been as much of a problem," coach Ken Whisenhunt said. "Each one of our backs had a fumble and that’s certainly unacceptable, so we will have to work on how they are carrying the football. We just can’t do that."

Unacceptable might be an understatement. What are your thoughts and how can the Cardinals solve this problem? Who gets the start at running back next week?

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I would let Beanie get the ball first.

Since Timmy seems to enjoy fumbling during the first quarter. Just don’t pitch the ball to him and we will be okay.

Lifelong Arizona Cardinals/Chicago Bears fan.

No band-wagoner fans allowed, pick a team and stick with em, throughout the good and the bad.

by JoeCB1991 on Dec 15, 2009 10:39 AM MST reply actions

Beanie time

The fumble at the end was awful, but he had a very solid game, against a good deffense against the run, he can have big games against Detroit and St. Louis… GO CARDINALS

paco cabrera

by pacocab on Dec 15, 2009 11:59 AM MST reply actions

It's Complicated

but in the end, Beanie should get the start. Although, I see it for a different reason. The reason Hightower has been a safer bet as a starter is because of his pass blocking. Like it or not, Hightower is an above average pass blocker and we like to come out throwing. However, he is still a threat to run so it forces the defense to watch both the run and pass right out of the gate. It makes us multi-dimensional to start the game with Hightower.

Beanie has just been too sporadic in his pass blocking. He’ll get it down, but for now he’s just not as solid. So, teams notice that when Beanie is in the game, he runs the ball. It doesn’t take long to figure out we’re going to hand him the ball most times he lines up in the backfield. THAT is exactly why we start him though. The Cardinals need to start using their weaknesses as a strength and exploiting the opponents’ strengths. It’s called strategy.

If everybody knows we are going to start Beanie because the opponent has a weak rush defense. And, if everybody knows that starting Beanie means we’re going to hand him the ball. Then the other team will know what to game plan against. So, we start off exactly as we say, with Beanie in the backfield, and play action from the first snap. Use a quick pass so that lack of blocking is’t an issue. Maybe hit Beanie in a dump down, or line up with 2 tight ends and hit Patrick on an out. We need to be a step ahead and we are going to do that by using what other teams see as our weakness and making them our keys to victory.

So start Beanie, rotate in Timmy, and once you have them ontheir heels, then you can transition the game however you want whether it be smashmouth running or letting it fly through the air.

by SundayBlitz on Dec 15, 2009 1:37 PM MST reply actions

Beanie really should start

Fumbling on the 1st drive the last two games really hurt Hightower’s chances.

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.
Revenge of the Birds

by Andrew602 on Dec 15, 2009 2:37 PM MST up reply actions

candy asses!

Total lack of importance of game,Warner is to unconcerned about the game at hand he is trying to preserve his energy for the easy games ahead.This game wasn’t that important in the big picture.Warner controls alot more than most realize.All Warner cares about is the playoffs!

by getwarnerout on Dec 15, 2009 2:38 PM MST reply actions

fumbling

fumbling is a part of the game. Some of the better RBs in the history of the game fumbled more than Hightower and Wells have this year. Some RBs that have trouble with fumbling at some point in their careers, end up developing into some of the best protectors of the ball after they work on it. I don’t think this is an epidemic as much as it is an opportunity to get better about ball security

http://undrafteds.com/

by Undrafteds on Dec 15, 2009 5:08 PM MST reply actions

Richie Incognito

Was released by the Rams today. Could he be an improvement over either of our guards?

Life's too short. Be a fan. Orlando Magic, Arizona Cardinals,Tampa Bay Rays and of course "the U"! What a winning combo.

by hevchv on Dec 15, 2009 7:33 PM MST via mobile reply actions

just say no to Incognito

Don’t like anything I have seen character-wise from him. I’d be shocked if they brought him in.

http://undrafteds.com/

by Undrafteds on Dec 15, 2009 8:16 PM MST up reply actions

Incognito and Dockett couldn't co-exist in the same state together, let alone the same team

Homicide investigations in NFL locker rooms, not good publicity.

We all leave footprints in the sands of time, just watch out for the discarded fish hooks!

by Hawkwind on Dec 16, 2009 5:30 AM MST up reply actions

LOL, they have beef?

What’s the dirt on that?

I have always been a little partial to madmen O-lineman, ie. Kyle Turley, Kevin Mawai and Incognito. He’s a beast and maybe he’s just frustrated with the system and coaching over in St. Louis. Grimm might be able to take that raw ass kicking talent and teach him a little discipline, he is a freakin mauler…

Who would win in a fight, Whisenhunt or a Hurricane?
Hold on, hold on, what if the Hurricanes name was Whisenhunt?
Daaaaaaaaaa Cards, Da Cards Da Cards Da Cards Da Cards!!!

by boogatt66 on Dec 16, 2009 1:30 PM MST up reply actions

Oh yeah. It was...'06 ('07?) when 9-O and 'Nito got into a brawl on the field in StL...

…and didn’t one or both get ejected? The comments in the paper were very colourful as each talked about the other. Dirt begets dirt. Each Rams game after that it was WWE time between the two, well, at least when Incognito wasn’t out with an injury. I’ll miss that match-up but not the flags it drew.

Don't waste time or Time will waste you.

by Hawkwind on Dec 17, 2009 9:09 AM MST up reply actions