Rejoice!!! Anquan Boldin will remain with Cards in 2009

April 27, 2009

Get excited. The “Big Three” of Anquan Boldin, Kurt Warner, and Larry Fitzgerald will return in 2009. With the passing of the NFL draft and no trades involving top-flight veteran players, we can finally put the trade talks about Boldin to rest, and concentrate on winning the Superbowl in 2009.

Category: 2009 Season, News | Tags: Anquan Boldin, Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald

2009 NFL schedule: revenge games will decide Cardinals success

April 14, 2009

Cetain themes emerge in the NFL over time. For the Arizona Cardinals in 2009, the theme is revenge. Arizona faces three playoff teams that beat the Cardinals during the 2008 regular season: Giants (L 29-37), Panthers (L 23-27), and Vikings (L 14-35).

Additionally, Arizona will face NFC West opponents hoping to avenge six losses in 2008 (the Cardinals went 6-0 against the 49ers, Rams, and Seahawks last year). How the Cardinals fare in these revenge games will largely determine the fate of their season: win and the playoffs are a reality, lose and start packing your bags.

For the fourth straight season the Cardinals will play the 49ers in the season opener. The Cardinals have opened the season 2-1 versus the 49ers during that stretch, but the games have been close, with 2 out of 3 decided by a touchdown or less.

The Cardinals will then face an early test from the AFC South, with a difficult road game against Maurice Jones-Drew and the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 2, at home against Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts in Week 3, followed by a meaningless early bye Week 4, and then a difficult home game against Matt Schaub, Andre Johnson, and the much improved Houston Texans in Week 5.

Week 1: Sunday, September 13, SAN FRANCISCO 49ers, 4:15 PM EST
Week 2: Sunday, September 20, @ Jacksonville Jaguars, 1:00 PM EST
Week 3: Sunday, September 27, INDIANAPOLIS COLTS, 8:20 PM EST*
Week 4: BYE WEEK
Week 5: Sunday, October 11, HOUSTON TEXANS, 4:15 PM EST

After playing 3 out of 4 games at home, the Cardinals travel for 5 of their next 7:

Week 6: Sunday, October 18, @ Seattle Seahawks, 4:05 PM EST
Week 7: Sunday, October 25, @ NY Giants, 8:20 PM EST*
Week 8: Sunday, November 1, CAROLINA PANTHERS, 4:15 PM EST*
Week 9: Sunday, November 8, @ Chicago Bears, 1:00 PM EST
Week 10: Sunday, November 15, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS, 4:15 PM EST
Week 11: Sunday, November 22, @ St. Louis Rams, 4:05 PM EST
Week 12: Sunday, November 29, @ Tennessee Titans, 1:00 PM EST*

The Giants, Panthers, and Titans were playoff teams in 2008, so the above stretch of games should be the Cardinals most difficult test. Facing the Bears at home with newly acquired quarterback Jay Cutler at the helm won’t be easy, and you have to assume the Seahawks and Rams will be better than their combined 6-26 record last year.

The Cardinals end the 2009 regular season with 3 out of 5 games at home, and 4 out of 5 within the confines of Kurt Warner-friendly domes:

Week 13: Sunday, December 6, MINNESOTA VIKINGS, 4:15 PM EST*
Week 14: Monday, December 14, @ San Francisco 49ers, 8:30 PM EST
Week 15: Sunday, December 20, @ Detroit Lions, 1:00 PM EST
Week 16: Sunday, December 27, ST. LOUIS RAMS, 4:05 PM EST
Week 17: Sunday, January 3, GREEN BAY PACKERS, 4:15 PM EST

The favorable closing schedule avoids cold weather games and may provide a much-needed late season push, but the road to the playoffs won’t be easy. The Cardinals face five 2008 playoff teams (Colts, Giants, Panthers, Titans, and Vikings), and three more 2007 playoff teams that might return to form (Jaguars, Seahawks, and Packers).

The entire Arizona Cardinals 2009 schedule can be viewed here.

Category: 2009 Season, News | Tags: Kurt Warner

Veteran celebration: Elton Brown re-signs with Cards

March 23, 2009

Elton Brown will return to the Arizona Cardinals after agreeing to a one-year contract Thursday. Brown is expected to compete with 2008 starter Deuce Lutui for the starting right guard position, and will provide vital depth to the Cardinals 2009 offensive line.

Drafted in the fourth round by Dennis Green in 2005, Brown started 9 games as a rookie before missing the entire 2006 season with a knee injury. Brown returned to form in 2007, starting 5 of 9 games, and played a key reserve lineman and special teams role during the Cardinals 2008 NFC Championship run.

Brown previously attended the University of Virginia, where he was named team captain and led the Cavaliers with 76 knockdown blocks and no sacks allowed during his senior season. Brown earned 2004 College Football All-American honors, was a semifinalist for the Lombardi Award, and was awarded his second consecutive Jacobs Blocking Trophy (2003-2004), which recognized him as the Atlantic Coast Conference’s top collegiate blocker.

Category: 2009 Season, News | Tags: Elton Brown

Hungry for more: Bertrand Berry re-signs with Cardinals

March 22, 2009

Bertrand Berry signed a $1 million, 1-year contract Wednesday and will return to the Arizona Cardinals in 2009. The 6′3″ 260 lb defensive end from Notre Dame is entering his 12th season in the league, and will turn 34 during training camp in August, but retirement isn’t on his mind.

“The ‘R’ word is not in my vocabulary,” Berry said the day the Cardinals cleaned out their lockers. “Let’s get that out there right now. There is no thought of that, I have no intentions of that. I am not done by a long shot.”

Berry led the Cardinals with 5.0 sacks in 2008, including one sack in each of the first 3 regular season games, and added 2.0 more sacks during the Cardinals NFC Championship playoff run. Berry had 22 tackles, 2 forced fumbles, and 3 passes defensed on the year.

Berry is considered a defensive leader on the team and will backup defensive end Travis LaBoy in 2009.

Category: 2009 Season, News | Tags: Bertrand Berry, Travis LaBoy

Leadership? Yes, please. Clark Haggans returns to Cardinals

March 21, 2009

Clark Haggans may have lost a little explosiveness over his ten-year career, but the 32-year old veteran linebacker remains a defensive leader and locker room force.

The Cardinals re-signed Haggans to an undisclosed 3-year contract Tuesday.

Haggans suffered a foot injury and missed 9 of the final 10 games of the 2008 season, including all 4 playoff games, but has been a productive sack specialist throughout his career. Haggans best season was with Pittsburgh in 2005, when Haggans recorded 59.0 tackles, 9.0 sacks and 4.0 forced fumbles in 13 regular season games, followed by 18.0 tackles and 1.5 sacks in 4 playoffs victories, including 5.0 tackles and a key sack in the Steelers 21-10 victory over the Seahawks in Superbowl XL.

Haggans ended his 2008 season on injured reserve, but after successful offseason Lisfranc foot surgery is expecting to terrorize opposing quarterbacks once again in 2009.

“Hopefully, I can get that same bounce back and be fine,” Haggans said.

Category: 2009 Season, News | Tags: Clark Haggans

Get well soon, Mr. Franchise Quarterback

March 19, 2009

Do you enjoy scary movies in the dark? Rickety old roller coasters? Hip injuries to your franchise quarterback?

Kurt Warner underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left hip to repair a torn labrum and “clean up some loose fragments”, as reported by the team. The surgery was performed Tuesday by Dr. Marc Philippon at the Steadman Hawkins Clinic in Vail, Colorado. Philippon said the surgery went well and Warner’s range of motion immediately improved.

“Everything went well and I’m feeling great,” Warner said in a statement released by the team Wednesday. “I began rehab on a stationary bike just a few hours after surgery and then a couple of more times today.”

Here is a general synopsis on the challenges of arthroscopic hip surgery, as provided by Dr. Dean Matsuda:

“It’s deep within the body,” he explained. “There are major nerves and vessels adjacent to it that can get damaged. There is a ball and socket configuration which is inherently round, yet we’re putting in straight instruments that have to travel deep through the body into that compartment.”

He says surgeons apply traction to pull the joint open so they can work through tiny incisions. Cartilage is trimmed and bony growth that impedes the joint’s movement is removed. Recovery is usually quick - patients are back on an exercise bike in 24 hours and playing sports again in a few months.

That’s good news for Warner, who is expected to miss the team’s mini-camp May 1-3, but return in time for voluntary team workouts beginning May 19th.

But hip injuries are notorious for lingering and sabotaging promising careers, as with Bo Jackson’s infamous hip injury or the Cardinals own Neil Lomax in 1988. Note the preseason optimism expressed by then Cardinals GM Larry Wilson in this Washington Post article on August 20, 1989:

Money isn’t a consideration, because [Neil Lomax] is in the second year of a fully guaranteed four-year, $5.6 million contract. Without Lomax, the Cardinals lack a quarterback who is a proven winner in the National Football League.

General Manager Larry Wilson says of Lomax: “He really wants to play. He’s made a commitment. In the last three days of camp, I’ve seen Neil move better, drop back better and throw better. I see encouraging signs in Neil. I even see him smiling.

Just four days later, the news appeared much more grim:

Phoenix Cardinals quarterback Neil Lomax will sit out his third consecutive NFL preseason game with an ailing left hip and speculation has resurfaced that if he doesn’t retire, he’ll likely spend the entire season on the injured list.

Lomax eventually retired without taking another snap, and the Cardinals descended into four straight (5-11) or worse seasons.

Now I’m sure Kurt Warner will be fine. He’s a tough guy and his injury sounds much less severe than the debilitating arthritis that ended Neil Lomax’s Pro Bowl career in 1990. But aren’t you scared, just a little?

Category: 2009 Season, News | Tags: Kurt Warner

RB Jason Wright signs 2-year deal with Cards

March 17, 2009

Taking Jason Wright to school made a Cleveland sixth grader instantly popular. Let’s hope the addition of Jason Wright to the Arizona Cardinals backfield has a similar positive effect.

Wright signed a 2-year, $2 million contract with the Arizona Cardinals Monday, and figures to be the team’s third-down running back in 2009. Here are the rushing statistics Wright accumulated with the Browns last season, compared to Cardinals running backs in 2008:

Cardinals running backs averaged close to 7.0 yards per reception in 2008, with the exception being speedster J.J. Arrington, who signed a 4-year $10 million contract with the Denver Broncos this offseason.

Although Scouts Inc. describes Wright as a special teams player that “shines”, he had only 4 tackles and one kick return for 15 yards in 2008, which pales greatly in comparison with Arrington’s kick return stats in 2008:

Although Wright doesn’t appear to be an explosive upgrade at the running back position, the same scouting report also favorably describes him as “tough, determined, and very reliable in all facets”, so let’s hope he works exceptionally hard this offseason and proves everyone wrong.

Category: 2009 Season, News | Tags: J.J. Arrington, Jason Wright

Raising Arizona: Cardinals sign long-snapper Mike Leach

March 13, 2009

How often do you think about long-snapping? Probably not too often. Turns out neither did tight end Mike Leach until a Titans special teams coach convinced him to give it a try during his rookie season in 2000.

“One day I just picked up a ball and snapped it to Craig Hentrich,” Leach says. “The special-teams coach, Alan Lowry, noticed something in that snap and told me, ‘A tight end who snaps can stay in this league a lot longer than a tight end who punts.’ ”

Eight seasons and 119 games later, converted tight end Mike Leach signed a 3-year contract on Thursday and will assume long-snapping duties for the NFC Champion Arizona Cardinals.

The Cardinals are getting a consistent long-snapping performer in Leach, as recounted by Peter King in this August 2007 Sports Illustrated article.

Category: 2009 Season, News | Tags: Mike Leach

CB Bryant McFadden signs 2-year contract with Cards

March 9, 2009

In the closing seconds of Superbowl XLIII, starting CB Bryant McFadden of the Pittsburgh Steelers lifted his arms triumphantly as the clock ran out on the Arizona Cardinals season. Just 35 days later, McFadden will try to bring his Superbowl winning ways to the team he bested.

“It seems to be a good situation,” said McFadden, “It’s an up-and-coming organization, which you’d love to be a part of.”

McFadden will compete with veteran Rod Hood for a starting job opposite second-year CB and former first-round draft pick Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. McFadden’s signing adds another big-hitter to the Cardinals increasingly physical defensive backfield:

“He’s coming in to compete, but much like the other veteran players we have brought in, he brings the mentality of what we have tried to have here,” coach Ken Whisenhunt said. McFadden’s 4.1 tackles per game for the Steelers in 2008 would have been the third highest average in the Cardinals defensive backfield behind only Antrel Rolle (5.6 tackles/game) and Adrian Wilson (5.0 tackles/game).

Here is the full breakdown on McFadden’s game from ESPN’s Scouts Inc:

McFadden has a strong well-defined body and adequate height. He plays the run well, is physical near the line of scrimmage and doesn’t back down from a physical challenge. McFadden has decent instincts, plays the ball well and is a quick learner. He sees plays develop well and shows excellent competitiveness. He is a good tackler and gets his hands on the ball quite a bit.

His speed is just slightly above average and could be exposed against the faster wideouts in the league. His hip turn and change-of-direction skills are also just slightly above average, but he has very good body control and rarely takes false steps, which make up for some of his potential shortcomings. He can be overly aggressive at times going for the big play and will sometimes bite on double moves, although he has improved in this area.

McFadden is effective in press or off-coverage and may be at his best playing in a Cover 2, where he can stay close to the line of scrimmage and mix it up. He also does a nice job in off-coverage and sees the play develop in front of him well. He is a valuable member of the secondary, but needs to step up all areas of his game to be considered a solid starter. He also contributes on special teams and is a young player with an ample amount of upside.

McFadden’s 2-year, $10 million contract is straightforward: he’ll earn $5 million in 2009, and an additional $5 million in 2010.

Said Whisenhunt, “We’re never going to close the door on opportunities to make our team better. Our goal is to get back to the Super Bowl and win it.”

Category: 2009 Season, News | Tags: Bryant McFadden, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Rod Hood

Hallelujah! Kurt Warner signs 2-year contract with Cards

March 4, 2009

The wait is over and Cardinals fans everywhere can let out a huge collective sigh of relief. Whew.

Just 24-hours after being wined and dined by the San Francisco 49ers, Kurt Warner re-signed with the Cardinals today for $23 million over the next two years, including $19 million in guarantees. Although the 49ers offer was considered by many to be closer to the $14-16 million per year Warner was seeking, Warner’s loyalty to the Arizona team and his desire to finish his career in Arizona ultimately prevailed. Warner will receive a $15 million signing bonus in 2009 and base salary of $4 million in 2009 and 2010.

Watch Paul Burmeister break the news of Warner’s re-signing on NFL.com.

Warner’s return as the starting QB gives the Cardinals legitimate Superbowl aspirations in 2009, a point Warner touched upon during his press conference, “Hopefully they’re as excited as I am about being back, excited about building, you know, what we started last year.” You can watch video of Warner’s entire press conference here.

Kurt Warner talks with Rich Eisen about his decision to re-sign with the Cardinals.

The Cardinals can now focus their offseason attention upon the upcoming 2009 NFL Draft, reconciling with WR Anquan Boldin, signing LB Karlos Dansby to a long-term contract, and figuring out a course of action with veteran RB Edgerrin James.

Category: 2009 Season, News | Tags: Anquan Boldin, Karlos Dansby, Kurt Warner