2007 Arizona Cardinals Picks & Predictions
May 21, 2008
Their is no question about the offensive talent in Arizona, and now one of the game’s best play callers, Ken Whisenhunt, joins the dynamic group. However, a defense which ranked 29th in yards allowed last season will likely be this team’s Achilles Heel again. Find out where Dave Price sees Arizona finishing in the division in his 2007 Arizona Cardinals predictions.
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Cardinals fans are happy to wave goodbye to Dennis Green and his disappointing tenure as Arizona’s head coach. Mastermind Ken Whisenhunt, the Steelers’ offensive coordinator the past three years, is taking over as Arizona’s seventh full-time head coach since the team arrived in the desert nearly 20 seasons ago. Whisenhunt, who intends to continue calling the offensive shots like he did in Pittsburgh, has reason to excited about a star-studded offense featuring gifted young QB Matt Leinart under center, lead back Edgerrin James operating in a run-oriented system he is more suited for and one of the league’s top wide receiver duos in Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin. However, for the Cardinals to come close to even having a shot at only their second winning season since departing from St. Louis, defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast needs to get much better play out of a unit that slipped to 29 th in yards allowed in 2006 and perhaps even a better performance out of himself.
Ken Whisenhunt and new offensive coordinator Todd Haley hope to put together an offense in the mold of the grind-it-out, rough and tumble units Whisenhunt coordinated in Pittsburgh, with the emphasis on a strong ground game, but with some trickery mixed in. Whisenhunt likes to distribute the ball around so that defenses are forced to play his guys straight up. He was also known for commonly throwing creative trick plays into the mix. These work exceptionally well for him because they are always such a huge juxtaposition to his conservative run-first approach. It’s worth noting that the Steelers were 39-15 (including playoffs) once Whisenhunt started calling the plays three years ago. He could be the difference maker for an offense which carries high expectations into this season. If he can’t best the five wins this team has had each of the last two seasons, fans will likely let him have it.
Mediocrity and even worse, if they come in 2007, won’t be all Whisenhunt’s fault. When Ken Whisenhunt chose to keep defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast, he more or less stated that the defense would remain a 4-3, but it appears a Steelers-like 3-4 system is in the works as well based on what we saw in early offseason practices. In any event, multiple looks are guaranteed to keep offenses on their toes and they can also be seen as a desperate attempt to catapult the Cardinals defense from the gutter to the top. Until Arizona can get the same kind of star power that they have on offense on the defensive side of the football, this unit will struggled. This poor defense will be the thing which keeps the Cards in the gutter in the NFC West this season.
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