FanPost

This Cards team is not a bust

Get some perspective people

A loss is always disappointing, a close loss even more so and we’ve had more than our fair share of close losses this season. As AQ said, they wear you down. They wear us fans down as well, our team is the laughing stock of the league and as the background noise of the naysayers rises to a deafening crescendo, the doubts start to creep back in. What fools we were to hire KK and pick K1.

Our record is 3-9-1, we’re losers. And yet, this year has not been a failure. Not even close. Never mind PFF or whichever stats you choose as ‘evidence’, our team has progressed massively from last year. Games this year have mostly been close and with a little bit of good fortune results could have gone our way. With the exception of 2 games and a few big names, the players have given their all. Personally I’m proud to support this team.

The Steelers loss hurt. There were moments when we were bad, but more when we were good and had their much vaunted defence reeling and on the ropes. We had hope but then 2 unfortunate plays stopped our momentum – the INT’s. For many fans this was the final straw and they erupted: our defence sucks and now our rookie QB doesn’t even know which team to throw the ball to. Kyler is a bust, etc etc etc….. But seriously people, was this hysterical response warranted? Personally I don’t think so.

I found Kyler’s post game interview very interesting. He was asked about the 2 INT’s and his response was really enlightening:

INT 1 to Haden: The Steelers baited Kyler and he fell for the trap. Haden had seen that the Rams had success vs Kyler by jumping the route. Haden finds himself in a passing situation covering a TE, an unlikely receiver. He sees the opportunity to bait Kyler is on. From the snap he locks on Kyler. As the play develops and he sees Edmonds running the crossing route towards him into space he knows the play is on. Clay runs past him and so Haden backs off a bit to give the impression he is covering the TE. Both potential receivers are now in Kyler’s field of view so there is no way that Haden could actually tell who Kyler’s target was, but Haden had already made his decision: he is going to gamble on Edmonds. If you look at the play closely you’ll see that as Kyler starts his throw Clay is covered and Edmonds (the bait) is apparently wide open, his covering LB way behind. The trap has been set. Haden knows that once a QB starts his throwing sequence he can’t switch targets so when he sees Kyler begin he immediately breaks away from covering Clay, launches himself in front of Edmonds and makes the INT. Simultaneously the LB who had been loosely covering Edmonds breaks away to cover Clay. It all happens so fast that this can’t be a reactive play, it was pre-planned and unfortunately successful. Kyler’s only chance would have been if he’d identified the trap, pump faked and then thrown to Clay if he was still open. But that requires time and his protection hadn’t been predictable during the game (of course this would be the one play where he did have some time, but he wasn’t to know that the pocket wasn’t going to collapse on him yet again.)

After the game Kyler said "it’s a chess match out there and Haden is a gambler, he won that one but I got him back later (with the DJ TD)". That’s a pretty impressive attitude. Kyler is one tenacious fighter, someone I’d have in my corner any day. He has the walk to go with the talk.

INT 2 to Watt: 4th and 2 on the Steelers’ 6. AZ decide to go for it and not kick the points. One chance. Steelers give man coverage look. Post game Kyler explains that the play call was for man coverage, but after the snap the Steelers were in zone. So immediately the play is busted and it becomes a 4th down scramble play. Disaster. Watching the play again it looks to me like Kyler had 3 options: run for the chains (but he hadn’t had much success running during the game), pass to Larry who was available at the chains (but Kyler either didn’t see him or didn’t think he was deep enough for a 1st down) or try to squeeze the ball through to Max Williams. As Kyler escapes to his right the passing lane opens. But then, just as he starts his throw, Watt reads his eyes and closes it down. Kyler was in a tough place, an improvised play on a 4th down with the game on the line. No second chances, he had to make a play. A jump ball to the back of the end zone might have stood a better chance, but we don’t have a healthy 6’5" WR. He tried to squeeze the ball through a tight window (like to Kirk vs Tampa), but this time unfortunately it didn’t work out.

After the game Kyler took responsibility for the loss. A more balanced assessment came from Kingsbury who said that all 3 phases could have done better. This is very true. The INT’s have received the attention but the punt return TD was the difference between the teams. It’s been a long while since we leaked one of these. And while the D played better, they still gave up big plays to a 2nd/3rd string offence. There’s plenty of room for improvement. Yet I still feel that there is a lot to be optimistic about. Despite the losses we’ve still been in most of these games, people. They sting so much because they’ve been so infuriatingly close. And the players are still playing hard, giving their all (apart from a few notable exceptions). Which tells me that KK still has their respect and after a 3-9-1 season, that says a lot. Nothing worthwhile comes without effort. Hang in there people, keep the faith, the good times they are a-coming!!!



<em>This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Revenge of the Birds' (ROTB) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of ROTB's editors.</em>