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Former Arizona Cardinal and now free agent LaMarr Woodley had some strong criticisms of Cardinals defensive coordinator James Bettcher in a recent podcast with Avenue 56.
During the interview Woodley criticized both the Raiders and Cardinals DC's stating they were "dumb" and that they played defense like it was Madden. In the podcast he states that neither DC listened to their players and just wanted plays run "their way."
"They’d draw something up and on paper it looked good, but the players still have to go out there and run it. Those guys didn’t really listen to their players.
- Woodley
Woodley's last two seasons didn't amount to much with just one sack and 12 tackles between sixteen games between the Cardinals (10) and Raiders (6). At age 31 Woodley is clearly in the decline and may not play again with back-to-back injury shortened seasons. So is this interview just sour grapes or does the former star from Pittsburgh actually know what he is talking about?
Considering that the Cardinals were a top ranked defense most the season it seems like Woodley's head is in the clouds. Woodley stated that the Cardinals would have done better against the Panthers if he had been out there and if Bettcher would have listened to his players. Maybe, but Carson Palmer not turning the ball over seven times probably would have helped more.
What do you think? Sour grapes or something to consider?