Why hiring Dennis Green was the best move the Cards ever made
by TBru on Jun 15, 2009 11:36 AM MDT
Email
PrintOk stick with me on this one, In my opinion hiring Dennis Green was the best move in the history of the Arizona Cardinals. Denny was a cheerleader for drafting Fitz. If Green was not around who do we draft, Roethlisberger? A fine player in his own right but I think he was the right player at the right time for the Steelers, My guess with the Cardinals O line at the time he would have been flat on his back too many times. And out of the League or being a back up in Houston by now if he was originally drafted in AZ. Of couse Warner never would have been signed either. If Big Ben was on the Cardinals than he and Whisenhunt never would had their dispute in the steel city and Whiz would probably be the head coach in Pittsburgh right now. I am sure coach Grimm would be right there in the burgh with him.
Ok the record under coach Green sucked, the team was disgraced with the Chicago temper tantrum. I am certained if he was retained the birds would still be terible, but without the hiring and eventual firing of Mr Green I don't think anyone would be using the words "Defending NFC Champions" and "Arizona Cardinals" in the same sentance.
So call me nuts but I extend a big Revenge of the Birds thank you to Coach Green and his contributions to the team.
This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Revenge of the Birds' (ROTB) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of ROTB's editors.
14 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
I know it's fun to mock Green but he did an awful lot to build this team
Consider that he was only here three years and in that short time he drafted Larry Fitzgerald, Karlos Dansby, Darnell Dockett, Antonio Smith, Antrel Rolle, Gabe Watson, Deuce Lutui and some other decent role players like JJ, Elton Brown and Leinart. His ‘04 draft has to be one of the best in franchise history. I’ll certainly give him credit for doing something with all those top ten picks.
Credit due yes but,.....
Green did a good job drafting guys yes but what about development & leadership? There-in lies the problem with Denny. I mean look at what he did witht the Vikings. Took a talented team to the playoffs 2 years in a row but that team was already in place.
I give him credit for SOME smart draft picks but (given some guys that never turned out) but zero cred as a coach.
Never do card tricks for the group you play poker with.
Sorry Tb, do not agree
He made some good draft picks, most notably Larry Fitz, however he was a terrible coach, he wasted this talent, he wasted three good years, what if he was good at drafting he was terrible at developing talent… Fitz became a great player under Whisenhunt and Todd Haley, Dansby hadn’t been a consistent performer until lately, same with Docket, Antonio Smith was a good but not great player (overpaid by the Texans), Rolle, Watson and Lutui have underachieved… Brown is a backup and Leinart still has questions to be answered… I am glad we got rid of Green (mr. Josh McCown is going to be the next Brett Favre) and we have a real coach who is getting the most from his players and playing the best ones regardless of their contract or the round they were drafted in… and by the way he didn’t draft Boldin or Wilson, so don’t give him too much credit…GO CARDINALS
paco cabrera
Denny blows
he had a lot of input from scouts and position coaches on his drafts….
He was hired in AZ to be a coach, not director of scouting.
he deserves minimal credit for the players brought in during his time in the valley.
I have to agree that Fitzgerald wouldn't have been a Cardinal if Green weren't lobbying for him
Fitz wasn’t the “sexy” pick it turned out to be at the time. QB was foremost on our minds after a season of Jeff Blake and Josh McCown and we had an obvious #1 WR in Boldin. At the time I was pretty miffed that we had selected Fitz over Rivers or Roethlisberger. So I suppose I do owe a small thanks to Denny; Fitz almost makes up for all the other crap I had to live with for those three seasons. I’ll be getting my dose of Denny-schadenfreude care of the UFL this fall; a perfect use of TiVo and something decidedly more entertaining than most pre-game shows on Sunday AM before “real” football is on…
We all leave footprints in the sands of time, just watch out for the discarded fish hooks!
sure he helped set up this successful season in some ways
But those Cards games in Dennys last season as the cardinals HC where we crumbled at the end time and time again im pretty sure took years off of my life…
Denny did good bringing in some decent talent
But then the Cardinals brought in a coach who could lead them.
A man from Dallas who bleeds red, not silver and blue.
I'll call your Dennis Green and raise you one Buddy Ryan...
Let me start with an observation: "We all tend to paint everything as “all black” or “all white.”
Let me follow with a second observation: "In trying to shore up one coaching or management weakness, in doing so, we sometimes go overboard and wind up with one or more new weaknesses.
The move to hire Buddy was a good thing in that it (a) shook up the status quo and (b) brought new viewpoints and ways of doing things to a Cardinal organization suffering a bit from “tired blood.” The team needed a swagger not present since perhaps Coryell. And it was the first Cardinal team I can remember that was aggressive and physical defensively.
Unfortunately, this came at the cost of (a) wrecking our salary cap budget, (b) creating unit vs. unit disunity on the roster, © neglecting the offense – most notably the O-line, (d) overpromising and (e) underdelivering.
VInce Tobin replaced Buddy “to bring structure, professionalism and maturity” to the squad. Unfortunately, in doing so, he also brought an overly-cautious, conservative, “beige” culture to the team – plus he didn’t win enough.
Dave McGinnis was supposed to add the fire, enthusiasm and unity of a true player’s coach, but his regime seemed to be all about “spirit” and little about all the other things that go into building a franchise. Plus – he didn’t win enough either.
Enter Dennis Green – He was presumably hired because he knew how to run a big-time pro football program and could bring those skills to a franchise not very good at such things as developing players, drafting philosophy or generating Culpepper-to-Moss offensive firepower.
One thing for which I will always be grateful to him was shifting our drafting philosophy away from the Dave McGinnis philosophy of (a) targeting specific players you want and (b) drafting them one round early (to make sure you get them). This resulted in our receiving one-round less value for every player we drafted after round one. Green changed this philosophy to one of (a) developing (and trusting) a Best Available Player board, (b) grabbing the top player left on that board at each pick , © adhering to the principle that there will always be a few player who will drop down to you so that (d) you were always receiving one or more rounds more value for each player you picked.
Unfortunately, Dennis also brought with him the arrogance of the “new sheriff”, an impulsive “my way or highway” style that caused us to lose good players without getting anything back for them, cronyism in the hiring of some assistants, mind-games and inexibly, a lack of discipline on both sides of the ball. Plus – he overpromised and then didn’t win.
In replacing Dennis with Wiz, the smart thing Rod Graves and the Bidwills did was to “not blow up the team” but instead to tweak the program – Bringing in John Lott. Upgrading the coaching staff with good teachers. Straight-arrow, low-key approach to communicating with and handling players. Giving a tad more weight to position-need"and “system-fit” when rating best available players prior to the draft.
So far Wiz’s approach seems to be working. But I think we have to view it from the standpoint of being at the end of a continuom involving good things worth keeping from previous coaches along with bad experiences we need to learn from.
CHICKEN LITTLE WAS RIGHT!
by JJeff88 on Jun 16, 2009 8:11 AM MDT reply actions 2 recs
Well Done
Nice big picture. I think we tend to pick a style apart when they lose, which was the common denominator among all of the coaches you mentioned. Nothing like going to the Super Bowl your second year to validate your style, which is why we like Whiz (that and he just has a porfessional way about him which I like). No one liked Belechik but now he is a Guru because he wins. Mangini tries to do the same and looses and looks like a fool doing it ( I mean really, sending the rookies off on a 20+ hour road trip on buses!?!). Winning and losses is the ultimate determination when we judge a coach.
MBN
About drafting
Intersting points JJeff, we have had worst than Deny Green… having said that he still was a very poor coach… you said he changed the drafting philosophy, and I agree, we all remember Dave McGinnis for passing on Terrel Suggs and drafting instead Calvin Pace and Brian Johnson (he did draft Anquan Boldin in the second round)… however even with the change of philosophy, the results were not that great, he had three drafts, his first one was his best by far, Fitz, Dansby, Docket and Antonio Smith (I still think we should give Big Ben some credit, love Fitz, but Ben showed up in the SB)…his second draft was less than stellar, Antrel Rolle has struggled to justify being the eight pick overall… JJ Arrington wasn’t tough enough to be a RB in this league… Eric Green and Darryl Blackstock are no longer with the team and Elton Brown is a back up… his last draft he brought Leinart (still think he is the future), Lutui, Leonard Pope and Gabe Watson… not that impresive… what I remember most about these drafts is that they look very good on draft day, but 2 or 3 years later don’t look that good… as for Wiz, he is working with some talent, but he is more than that, he brought a very solid coaching staff (remember who was the OL coach before Russ Grimm?), he comes from the Bill Cowher school but is smart enough to be flexible adjusting his game planning to the team strenghts, he is a great find and I am sure will be our HC for a long time… one last thing that has not been mentiones, is that we got lucky with Pitsburgh hiring Tomlin, that way Whis has brought some great coaches who worked with him in Pitsburgh…
paco cabrera
by pacocab on Jun 16, 2009 11:50 AM MDT reply actions 1 recs
well
I wrote it kind of tongue in cheek as a point to how many factors build up a good football team. I think it was probably take too seriously by some. but interesting to think how things could have come out all together differently if Wiz, Fitz and Greybeard were somehow taken out of the equation.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
In Association With
Shutdown Corner - NFL - Yahoo! Sports
- Giants get ahead of themselves with ‘Super Bowl Champions’ home page … on Saturday
- Smarter Stats: Super Bowl Edition — Giants’ offense vs. Patriots’ defense
- Curtis Martin’s mother helped drive him to the Hall of Fame
- Patriots heartlessly release Tiquan Underwood on the eve of Super Bowl XLVI
- Butler, Dawson, Doleman, Kennedy, Martin and Roaf make the 2012 Hall of Fame cut
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
