Last week we addressed the top five most surprising moments of the Cardinals 2008 season. This week, we'll go over the top five disappointments. The bright side of the story is that the 2008 season was a successful surprise so it is difficult to find 5 major disappointments. I went through all the scenarios in my head and came up with these top five disappointments:
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Inconsistency During the Regular Season - The Cardinals never failed to repeat their success during the 2008 season. After they started off 2-0, they lost their next 2 games including a 35-56 loss to the Jets. Then, after a 7-3 start, they went 2-4 to finish out the regular season, with a combined score of 138-198. You could say that carried over in the post season when they won 4 straight going into the Super Bowl but couldn't finish the big game.
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Dirk Johnson, Leonard Pope, Matt Leinart, Eric Green and Alan Branch - It wasn't easy to single out just one of these players as a big disappoint, so they all made the list. You could say Leinart was since he was the starter throughout training camp and lost his job to Warner. Perhaps they weren't complete disappointments because without them, Stephen Spach, Kurt Warner, Dominque Rodgers-Cromartie, and Bryan Robinson wouldn't have had the great seasons that they had.
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Anquan Boldin Wanting Out x2- This one was a surprise but it also qualifies as a disappointment. It always becomes dissatisfying when one of the star players and faces of the franchise asks several times to be released or traded from their team. Boldin disappointed many fans when he did just this. Going off on offensive coordinator Todd Haley in the NFC Championship game, and then not celebrating with his team after
wards, didn't help his case with the fans as well. -
Edgerrin James Production - Nobody expected James to have a pro bowl season this year, but he did gain over 1,000 yards in his previous two seasons in the desert. After a slow start, he was benched to a rookie and he later asked to be released. He resurged the running game in the post season but immediately asked to be released after the season ended.
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Clancy Pendergast - There were moments when the defense looked like a fantastic and dominating defense. Then there was the New England game. Clancy's defense was too inconsistent and at times looked lost. It was the defense that blew the final drive of the Super Bowl and may be the reason he lost his job.
Other then these, there aren't a whole lot of disappoints for the 2008 season and for a team that almost won the Super Bowl. What are some other disappointments? Who didn't live up to expectations or do their part like they should've?