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Im going to be honest and up front here, my title was sarcasm, just in case you didn't know. That being said here we go:
What the hell is wrong with everybody? I have heard enough about this crap of, "oh, God, the Cardinals are going to suck because Karlos Dansby and Daryl Washington are not going to be here this year." Were they both, as Bruce Arians would say, dynamic play-makers? Hell yes. Is this team doomed because they are not there? Far from it.
In every level of football that has ever been played in life, your coach talks about winning the three areas of the game, and most of the time you need to win two of the three and you will be a winner -- offense, defense and special teams. This is the same for all levels of football, including the pros.
Let's see where we have improved over last year's team:
Offense:
I am pretty sure that everyone can agree that our offensive line is potentially far superior to what we had on the field last year. It will provide better run blocking. it will provide that extra time, that half second longer, to allow Carson Palmer to complete a pass. We have faster slot receivers in Ted Ginn and John Brown and a legit tight end core now.
Defense:
As Yoda would say, "two inside linebackers does not a defense make." You have arguably a Top-10 defensive line. You have perhaps a Top-10 secondary with the addition of Antonio Cromartie and Deone Bucannon. And stuck in the middle is a very young ILB with one snap to his name last year, and an aging (if you can call 33 aging) ILB with too many miles on his body. But what you don't see is one ILB makes up for the flaws of the other. Kevin Minter's youth and inexperience his a huge question mark, and Larry Foote's experience makes up for that.
I'm not delusional here. I understand that these ILB may not make up for all of the 9.5 sacks, 6INT, and 2 TD between Washington and Dansby. I can expect them to cover 2 or 3 sacks each and maybe 1 INT each this year. That means we need people in the secondary to step up and make the other INT's, or Darnell Docket and Calais Campbell needs to get 2 more sacks this year. We have excellent players on this team and we need every single one of them to step up.
Special Teams:
Honestly, I think we already had the best special teams unit in the NFL. Adding John Brown and Ted Ginn now just makes our return game that much better. I cant wait. I hate to say it this way, but I cannot wait until our first punt and see Justin Bethel and Brown get down the field just as the ball does. I think we have legit return men now without sacrificing our playmakers in the process.
So basically I see this team as superior to last year's team overall. Will Washington and Dansby be missed? For sure they will, but I don't really want an ILB that can't put down the blunt long enough to pass a piss test. And I don't want an ILB (and I'm sure Mr. Dockett is with me on this) that takes money over a championship to play in Cleveland.
