The big news in Cardinal land right now, Beanie's knee, Linebacker Joey Porter calling a players only meeting between the entire Defense yesterday, and how everyone in the media thinks Derek Anderson is a steaming pile of garbage who will bring the Cardinals back to being a 4-12 team, then they all smile and pray that the Cardinals will stop being relevant.
On to the links, maybe it will distract everyone from how our "confidence rating" is at 15 on here right now.
In-depth look at Cardinals' offensive line - NFC West Blog - ESPN
Ben Muth grew up in Phoenix, played offensive tackle at Stanford and signed with the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted free agent. That makes him a good resource for assessing line play -- something Muth does in detail for Football Outsiders in this report on the Arizona Cardinals' front five in Week 2.
KTAR.com - Cards' defensive leaders call players-only meeting
The leaders of Arizona's embattled defense called a players-only meeting to address the unit's lousy performance. Pro Bowl cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie said the session, called by outside linebacker Joey Porter, among others, was held before practice on Wednesday.
KTAR.com - Cardinals know they must stop the run
The Cardinals, in recent years, have been known as a team that was solid against the run.
NFL.com news: In a passing league, what is with all these ugly QB situations?
This is the golden era for quarterbacks. At least that's what they tell us.
Derek Anderson Clings to Starting Job During Week of QB Shake-Ups -- NFL FanHouse
The name has changed, but the controversy hasn't gone away. Two games into their season without Matt Leinart calling the signals, the Arizona Cardinals are wondering what to do with the man who replaced him, Derek Anderson.
ProFootballWeekly.com - Faneca pulling his weight for Cardinals
Don't tell the Cardinals that OLG Alan Faneca is over the hill. The way we hear it, the perennial Pro Bowler is more than pulling his weight in the desert. "He still moves pretty well," one team insider said of Faneca, a free-agent addition this offseason after being released by the Jets. "He's still very good at pulling and finding defenders in space. He just has a really good feel for picking up guys at the second level. They thought he still had something left when they signed him, and they've been pretty satisfied." Faneca also has been an effective decoy. "Sometimes they'll pull him and then run in the other direction, so that's another good thing he's doing," the insider said. As for Faneca's pass protection, our sources believe he's been holding his own. "I haven't seen any major breakdowns," the insider said. "They have much bigger concerns elsewhere on the line."
Arizona Cardinals' rookie receivers learn on the job
Everyone loves the story from training camp about the plucky kid who comes from nowhere (or close, Toledo) to make the team.
Cardinals defense holds players only meeting
Cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie on the meeting held after 41-7 loss to Atlanta
Beanie Returns To Practice; Whis, DA Talk Raiders
Arizona Cardinals' Beanie Wells increases workload
Running back Beanie Wells practiced in shoulder pads and a helmet on Wednesday for the first time in weeks, an indication he might make his season debut Sunday against the Raiders.
NFC West: Injury situations that matter - NFC West Blog - ESPN
Arizona Cardinals: The waiting game continues with second-year running back Beanie Wells, but at least he was practicing in pads Wednesday. Wells told reporters he would definitely play Sunday. Tim Hightower's 80-yard touchdown run presumably did not stunt the healing process. Wells is clearly eager to get onto the field. The Cardinals could use Wells to help solidify their running game. Derek Anderson has taken too much punishment, including a few shots that might have knocked out other quarterbacks. His durability has been tested. The Cardinals expect Steve Breaston to play despite a bruised knee. Breaston's all-out style would seem to put his body at risk, but he has missed only one game in three-plus NFL seasons. Fellow receiver Larry Fitzgerald looked better in Week 2 and his sprained knee might no longer be a factor.
Changing Quarterbacks
NFL teams seem to be quicker to make a move in a quest to improve
Down To Third
Cards want to improve conversions; Beanie expects to play Sunday
Beanie, Cards get back to work
The Cards got back to work for the first practice of the week and running back Beanie Wells (knee) was out there and on schedule to return against the Raiders. "It was terrible (sitting out)," Wells said. "I wanted to be out there with the guys. Seeing Tim last week (with 115 yards rushing) gave me extra motivation."
Cardinals Underground Podcast (OAK Preview)
Paul Calvisi, Darren Urban, and Ron Wolfley preview the upcoming game against the Raiders.
azcentral.com blogs - Kent Somers - KentSomers - Beanie steps it up
Running back Beanie Wells wore shoulder pads and helmet in practice on Wednesday, which is progress over what's he's been doing.
Inside Tim Hightower's 80-yard TD run - NFC West Blog - ESPN
There's no sugar-coating allowed following brutal performances. An affinity for sweets is still OK.
2010 NFL Draft: NFC West player updates - NFC West Blog - ESPN
Arizona Cardinals: Most of the Arizona Cardinals' defense had problems in run defense against Atlanta in Week 2. Rookie nose tackle Dan Williams was no exception. I did not focus on him for the full game, but the Falcons pushed around Williams and veteran nose tackle Bryan Robinson, among others, early in their 41-7 victory.
Ball-control offense minus Warner? Not yet - NFC West Blog - ESPN
Kurt Warner's retirement might still turn the Arizona Cardinals into a ball-control running team.
Ware, teammates, Twitter and free tickets
In a quest to help some teammates elevate their Twitter followers — and, I suppose, his own list — safety Matt Ware is holding a Twitter contest this week. First, he wants to get as many people as he can to join Twitter pages of himself (@MattWare22), receivers Max Komar (@MDKomar22) and Stephen Williams (@SteveWill_14) and defensive backs Trumaine McBride (@TruMcBride) and Hamza Abdullah (@HamzaAbdullah21).
azcentral.com blogs - Kent Somers - KentSomers - Evaluating offensive problems
Ben Muth of footballoutsiders.com has a fascinating column about the Cardinals offensive line play last week against the Falcons. Muth, a former lineman at Stanford, is writing a weekly piece about the offensive line play of one of three teams: the Cardinals, Cowboys and Redskins.
Beanie Wells Knee Injury Update - SB Nation Arizona
Beanie Wells practiced in pads for the first time in weeks yesterday, but still didn't participate in any team activity, which makes you wonder what the pads were for if he's not taking any hits? Conditioning, one would imagine, and perhaps hitting of tackling dummies.
NFL Power Rankings, Week 3: Saints Barely Keep Top Spot -- NFL FanHouse
The defending champion New Orleans Saints hold the top spot again, but not by much. They barely beat San Francisco Monday night, but they stay at No. 1 while the rest of the league continues to sort itself out. More impressively, the rest of this week's top three had to shake off slow starts to win in different ways. Houston fell behind by 17 and won in overtime, while Green Bay was sleepwalking through the first half against Buffalo before catching fire in the second half.
NFL.com Blogs " Blog Archive Playbook picks: Sorry, Jets, Dolphins are too tough "
It is rare all three Playbook analysts agree on what are seemingly toss-up games, but consider this week an exception.
(Two of them picked the Raiders over the Cardinals, Billick was the only one who picked us)
NFL.com news: Classic NFC North rivalry headlines Week 3 schedule
The storyline: The Raiders will likely go back to Jason Campbell as a starter, but Bruce "The Gamer" Gradkowski is great off the bench. Cardinals QB Max Hall is inching closer to starting, too, after Derek Anderson struggled in Week 2.
Chat wrap: Too much work for Gore? - NFC West Blog - ESPN
The latest NFC West chat has come and gone. The Seattle Seahawks are introducing St. Louis Blues executive Peter McLoughlin as their new president right now. More on that later Thursday. For now, I'll link to the full chat transcipt and pass along some highlights:
Texas Community Mourns Quarterback Whose Last Pass Was a Touchdown --FanHouse
Reggie Garrett was going places.
Mike Singletary won't do any more interviews with Dennis O'Donnell | ProFootballTalk.com
49ers coach Mike Singletary engaged in a highly entertaining interview with Dennis O'Donnell on KPIX in San Francisco last week, consisting mostly of O'Donnell asking relatively innocuous questions and an angry Singletary offering terse repsonses. KPIX later pulled the interview from its web site, and today comes the sad news that we won't get to see a Singletary-O'Donnell redux.
Gisele Bundchen won't allow Tom Brady to cut his hair - Shutdown Corner - NFL - Yahoo! Sports
Tom Brady may earn more money than his supermodel wife, Gisele Bundchen, but that doesn't mean he wears the pants in their relationship.
(I remember when Brady looked like a football player, not Justin Bieber)
So, lets end this thing with a video of Vince Young getting drilled by James Harrision.
James Harrison and Aaron Smith PLANT Vince Young (via BrKu789)
Just posting this because it reminds me of the days you could actually touch a Quarterback without getting flagged... I love seeing big hits like that, even though it still makes me cringe watching the Steelers after you know what.