MVN - Most Valuable Network

Idiot kicker? No, just one who misses big kicks. 49ers crush Cardinals.

The Arizona Cardinals were crushed today by the lowly, laughable San Francisco 49ers in what was the single worse loss I can personally remember in the 19 seasons the Cardinals have been in Arizona.

How this team can continue to totally choke and fail to beat inferior teams when they are just at the doorstep of respectability is truly amazing. I thought the stinkfest against the Tampa Bay Bucs was bad, but today’s debacle at University of Phoenix Stadium totally took the cake.

In my opinion this was the worst loss in Arizona Cardinals history, as it encompassed bad play calling, horrible clock management, stupid penalties, wretched special teams play, pathetic punting, careless turnovers and the biggest choke job by a kicker since “the idiot kicker” Mike Vanderjagt duck hooked a winning field goal that ruined the Colts season two years ago. All of this wrapped around a generally brilliant effort by Kurt Warner who had a brain freeze on the last play of the game in the end zone that ended the game, but which I contend never should have occurred if the team had any kind of brains on special teams. Let’s get to the low lights:

1. Neil Rackers needs to be given his pink slip on Monday morning. I know he’s got his fan club and he was for one season a Pro-Bowl kicker but lets face facts everyone. Since this guy got his big paycheck after his Pro-Bowl year he has cost this team no less then 6 games in the last two years with missed kicks that a money kicker would make, and two of those games were arguably the two biggest losses in franchise history, the Bears last year and today’s game against SF. There is no excuse, none, for his missing that second kick. He was dead on, it was 32 yards, the conditions were perfect and the hold and snap were fine. This guy has turned into a head case ever since he missed the kick to win the Bears game and just ask yourself this question. Would a good coach such as Cowher, Belichick or Parcells keep this guy on the roster after what he did in Washington this year and now against SF? I’m sorry, this guy has to be released.

2. Mike Barr needs to give Neil Rackers a ride out of town. This guy is a horrible punter and needs to be cut as well. When the Cardinals needed a good punt this guy delivered a 12 yard punt that cost them 30 yards of field position at a crucial time. It’s not the first time he’s shanked under pressure and it’s not like Scott Player isn’t sitting home and ready to kick again. The Cardinals have statistically the worst punting unit in the NFL this season and today’s performance was pathetic as Barr was booed off the field. If it’s about money, dump Rackers inflated salary and use it to sign Player for the rest of the year. The Mike Barr experiment has been a total and complete disaster this season and the loss of field position and shanks under pressure are killing this team.

3. Steve Breaston. We love you but what in the world are you doing fielding punts on the 3 yard line son? Holy Cow, you had to watch this to believe it. I sat in the stands and saw not one, not two but THREE punts that he fielded inside his 12 yard line today at crucial times in the game rather then letting them go into the end zone. I know he’s a great punt returner, he doesn’t fumble and he’s got a ton of guts. I love the guy and hope he stays on the team for a long time, but my God what is the special teams coach telling this guy? He had two nice returns when he made this gamble, but each were wiped out by stupid penalties, in particular Ben Patrick blocking in the back on successive punts in overtime to kill field position.

4. Terrance Holt, take a seat on the bench when Aaron Francisco is healthy again, please. Look, I know he got paid big money and he’s Adrian Wilson’s college roommate and all that but I want anyone who defends this guy as a starter to check out the tape of the run Frank Gore made in the first quarter for a touchdown. It was a simple draw play, Gerald Hayes had shot the gap so Holt was in run support. I swear to you that Gore was running right NEXT to Holt and he literally couldn’t put a hand on him. He didn’t break down to tackle he sort of stood up right and gave him a little wave as he went past him untouched into the end zone. Thats not the first open field, basic tackle Holt has missed this year but the one that should be the icing on the cake. He killed us against Tampa and today he missed tackles on two touchdown runs. Move Antrel Rolle to free safety next year and get rid of Mr. Holt please.

5. Coach Whisenhunt. Smart, Tough, Disciplined football. Lets talk about clock management. Never mind the gusty/insane play where Tim Rattay had to throw on the run to a totally covered Ben Patrick on fourth down to bail the coach out of a very questionable call at the goal line, lets talk about the very end of regulation in which the team had a time out. Bryant Johnson was out of bounds at the one foot line and instead of lining up and running a play with 6 seconds left on the clock, which would have allowed you to RUN the ball and still call time out to tie the game, we ran around confused and had to burn a time out virtually insuring that we had to throw on that down, a pass that was broken up in the end zone. Sure that was bad, but how in the world do you let time run out on the game winning field goal in OT when you have TWO time outs in your pocket and allow the clock to expire? Rackers made the kick, but given time to think and move back 5 yards he pushed it to the right and that was the game. There is NO excuse for that clock running down and it’s a weekly occurrence in Cardinals games to see delay of game penalties or wasted time outs due to failure to get a call in or get players on the field fast enough. This is TOTALLY on the coaches, no one else and there is no reason for it at this time of the year.

6. Penalties and turnovers. At what point does the coach bench or cut some guys who continue to make mistakes? The Cardinals once again had 10 or more penalties for 70 yards, but it was actually much more yardage when you figure in the lost return yardage and productive plays wiped out by flags. The Cardinals lead the league in penalties and this game had four turnovers to the 49ers ZERO. If it was a one-game situation, fine, but the reality is that this is a week to week occurrence that shows no sign of improvement.

Highlights? Sure, there were a few.

1. Patrick Willis of San Francisco is the finest linebacker in the NFC and possibly the NFL. Forget Urlacher or anyone else, just slip in today’s game film and tell me that the 49ers don’t have the finest linebacker in the NFC. This guy had 18  tackles, 17 of them solo, a sack and what was the game saving play of the game when he ran down Sean Morey from behind in overtime from 15 yards behind to prevent an 80 yard touchdown to win the game. This guy runs from sideline to sideline, blitzes, covers out of the backfield and is the closest thing to Mike Singletary I’ve seen. This guy is amazing and if you love football you got to love Patrick Willis no matter what team you root for.

2. Larry Fitzgerald is turning into an elite NFL wideout. Anyone who reads this knows I love Anquan Boldin’s game but Fitz has taken his game to a new level this year. Circus catches, winning jump balls in the end zone, great catches in traffic and runs after the catch. He does it all and is one of the guys who keeps the Cardinals in the game. He’s having a breakout year and just totally ate Nate Clements’ lunch today.

3. Kurt Warner, what a game and what a horrible way to end it. Kurt continues to prove he’s one of the elite quarterbacks in the NFL with almost 500 yards passing and 2 TDs. However, his limitations in the pocket under pressure once again reared their ugly head as he got blitzed in the end zone and when he couldn’t find his first read was unable to avoid the rush and dropped the ball for the game ending fumble. What a horrible way for a game to end. At the risk of sounding like a Warner apologist I have to question the play call of a drop back pass in your own end zone when the team had been successfully running the ball the entire second half. Kurt played an otherwise great game that should have been good enough to win.

I could go on and on, but the bottom line is the Cardinals, once again fail to seize the opportunity that was in front of them and lost to a team that had no business being on the field with them. I’ve never seen more irate fans, particularly on the heels of the Cardinals sending out INVOICES FOR PLAY OFF TICKETS this week! Oh yeah, right, I’m sending that check right in to hold my playoff tickets and for the Cardinals to hold my money over the holidays. How about this?

Let’s have the Cardinals win a meaningful game at home to put themselves into the playoffs and then send me a bill?

I’ve never been more disgusted as a fan and if you saw the faces of the people leaving the stadium I’ll assure you of one thing for next week against Cleveland. That the crowd will be filled with Browns fans and a lot of Cardinals fans are going to be either staying at home or selling their tickets after the performance today. It was pathetic.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 25th, 2007 at 8:52 pm and is filed under game analysis, Regular season. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.