Arizona Cardinals at Jacksonville Jaguars: Know Thy Enemy Edition

by Pyromnc on Sep 17, 2009 12:00 PM MDT

Since the Cardinals drafted offensive tackle Levi Brown with the 5th overall pick in the 2007 draft, there has been one consistent problem since then... containing the pass rush. In week one verses the 49ers, this season, Brown showed that he hasn't really progressed in this area, the way that the Cardinals hoped he would. He allowed defensive end Justin Smith and outside linebacker Parys Haralson, to get past him on what seemed like every play. That is why this weeks player for to watch is defensive end Derrick Harvey.

Derrick Harvey was a star defensive end for the Florida Gators, and was considered by many to quite possibly be a future star in the NFL. While he only started 5 out of 14 games in his sophomore year, he was still able to rack up 11 sacks and a Defensive MVP award for the BCS National Championship game in 2006. As a junior, his final year in college, he continued his dominance by getting a total of 8.5 sack and 17.5 tackles for a loss. His impressive play for the Gators made the Jaguars trade up in the 2008 draft, to the 8th overall pick to select him. Even though he had a nice college career, things have been somewhat rough for him at the pro level.

In Harvey's first full year, he was only able to get 3.5 sacks, which is not that great of a number. He did have some positives though, as he was able to get pressure on the opposing teams quarterbacks 29 times, as reported by the Jaguars SB Nation blog, Big Cat Country. That put him right behind the Colts Dwight Freeney with 33 and just ahead of Mario Williams with 25. That is pretty impressive company to be in, and if he can pull out the sacks with it, than he could become one of the better defensive ends in the league.

Derrick Harvey has proven he can get pressure on a quarterback, but has not been able to finish the play off with the sack. This could be Harvey's day to show that he can finish, as he will be facing Levi Brown, who has had problems with his pass protection. If Levi wants to keep Harvey from proving that he can finish plays, then he will need to improve his footwork problem, and start aiming higher in his blocks, something that is needed to be done in pass protection. This will be an interesting match up to watch for, and could have a major impact on the game.

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OL Troubles

Levi was not the only offensive lineman who had trouble with Justin Smith. Smith pushed Reggie Wells all over the field. I’ve never seen Reggie have such a bad game. He could not contain Smith. When he wasn’t blocking Smith, it seemed Patrick Willis was blowing him when he was pulling. If Reggie has another game like the San Fran game, maybe they should give someone else a try.

by WeiWuWei on Sep 17, 2009 2:26 PM MDT reply actions

Patrick Willis was blowing him UP

Yikes

by WeiWuWei on Sep 17, 2009 2:33 PM MDT up reply actions

Whoa

Bad typo man

Hey, hey, hey hey hey, watch the language, ok? I have a family.
Revenge of the Birds

by Andrew602 on Sep 17, 2009 3:11 PM MDT up reply actions

lol......he'd better hope badmatty and boogatt don't stumble across this

Be careful....to a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

by Bezekira on Sep 17, 2009 3:20 PM MDT up reply actions

he took all the fun out of it

by badmatty53 on Sep 18, 2009 10:37 AM MDT up reply actions

The offensive line as a whole had troubles but...

the only player from that starting line that cost a 1st round draft pick was Levi Brown, 5th pick overall. For someone that was drafted so high he should be better. Wells has had his struggles but for the most part he has been a pretty good offensive lineman and has been better than where we drafted him, 6th round. Levi has had constant struggles and need to start proving he was worth that high of a pick.

by Pyromnc on Sep 17, 2009 4:32 PM MDT up reply actions

Yeah

who needs A. Peterson anyways………………………………………………………………….

by badmatty53 on Sep 18, 2009 10:39 AM MDT up reply actions

Definitely has that going against him also.

Could have had AP…

by Pyromnc on Sep 18, 2009 10:48 AM MDT up reply actions

Not that I'm a huge Levi Brown fan or anything

but I’m so sick of hearing that argument

Section 135, Row 35

by AJ BirdWatcher on Sep 18, 2009 3:38 PM MDT up reply actions

I'm so sick of seeing him run over defenses and realize what we got instead...

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 Sep 18, 2009 11:23 PM MDT up reply actions

OL Troubles

by WeiWuWei on Sep 17, 2009 2:31 PM MDT reply actions

I'll worry about any decent pass rusher against Brown until I see him actually hold his own

Harvey has the tools to give Levi fits so hopefully Whiz isn’t as stubborn about giving him some help with a back or a TE.

Be careful....to a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

by Bezekira on Sep 17, 2009 2:38 PM MDT reply actions

That's the other big issue

There’s no reason to have a guy like Becht if they’re not going to utilize him!

by tw3kr on Sep 17, 2009 3:30 PM MDT up reply actions

This is relevant now

“The 49ers are better at defensive end because they can rush the passer from both spots. On Justin Smith: “94 does a great job rushing the passer.” 49ers coaches said Smith hit Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner nine times and pressured him 13 times, Matt Maiocco tweets." (from Sando at the ESPN NFC-W blog)

by tw3kr on Sep 17, 2009 4:13 PM MDT reply actions

Hello Cardinals

harvey might have a good day but the expectation is low till he proves himself. Can’t wait to see the game.

"HULU: An evil plot to destroy the world. Enjoy"
The Flavour of the Day is Turf. - Courtesy of the Jacksonville Jaguars
"As for me, Life goes on."-TheTealDeal

by TheTealDeal on Sep 17, 2009 5:13 PM MDT reply actions

I hate to say 'must win' so early

but if we lose this game we’re may be looking at 0-3 and a bye

… at least this is a warm weather away game … but jax needs a win to … this is such a trap game against a good team

by quid pro quo on Sep 17, 2009 5:58 PM MDT reply actions

It will be

a tough match that’s for sure. Harvey is not the man to watch. I think the pass rush of my team is the biggest Questionmark. Sometimes I wish we drafted your Calais Cambell, instead of trading away a ton of draftpicks and receive nothing for that.
I think the key matchup will be Cardinals rundefense VS Maurice Drew. I heard the Cards defense played lightsout speciall against the run. And with Maurice is the only relaible weapon in the offense, if the defense can take him out, the Jaguars will be forced to throw the ball. Which is not always the strongest area of the team…

By the way what can we expect, will Boldin and Breaston play on Sunday?

Can’t wait for sunday, I think it will be a very tough match for both teams.

Life without knowledge is death in disguise

by Zoltan from Budapest on Sep 17, 2009 7:24 PM MDT up reply actions

RIght now it looks like both are probable for the game.

Hey, hey, hey hey hey, watch the language, ok? I have a family.
Revenge of the Birds

by Andrew602 on Sep 17, 2009 10:43 PM MDT up reply actions

Us stopping your run game is a key matchup.

I almost did that as the know your enemy segment but based on how bad our offensive line was against the Niners I decided this would be the match up to watch. I also chose it because both match ups (Levi vs Harvey) have underachieved since being drafted and it makes for an interesting match up to see which one actually produces.

by Pyromnc on Sep 17, 2009 11:47 PM MDT up reply actions

NFL network ...

… ripped Q for playing … saying he couldn’t finish routs

but I don’t blame Q for playing, there is an awful lot of pressure on players to play, and though there are varying opinions of Boldin because of his ongoing contract dispute, on the field I’ve always seen him as a selfless team player and a warrior

Q was blunt as usual … he said (http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-cardinals-boldin&prov=ap&type=lgns )
"We’re all grown men. We’ve played this game for a long time," Boldin said. "We all know what we have to do and we’ve got to take it upon ourselves as an individual, as a man. You’ve got to look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself `Did I do everything I’m supposed to do?"’

After being penalized 12 times for 82 yards, the Cardinals should realize that correcting the mistakes is "not a mystery," he said.

"Offsides is not hard to fix. Delay of game is not hard to fix," Boldin said. "We probably had six pre-snap penalties. That’s something that you can control."

…..

so I would pretty much guarantee Q is on the field … hurt or not … Breaston is a knee injury, and apparently there is still some swelling in the knee (I don’t really know, of course), but everyone knows thats not a good injury for a WR to have

by quid pro quo on Sep 18, 2009 9:09 AM MDT up reply actions

Q,

excuse my questioning but is Q a reference to Q from Star Trek: The Next generation or Anquan Boldin?

"HULU: An evil plot to destroy the world. Enjoy"
The Flavour of the Day is Turf. - Courtesy of the Jacksonville Jaguars
"As for me, Life goes on."-TheTealDeal

by TheTealDeal on Sep 18, 2009 7:20 PM MDT up reply actions