Re: *** Official 07 AZ Cardinals probably will disappoint yet again **
 

The bad news is obviously that our chance of winning the NFC West just plummeted.

The good news is that all the teams ahead of us in the Wild Card race also lost. In fact, they all sucked. New Orleans caught up to us, but we play them in a couple of weeks. So we still have a somewhat decent shot of getting to the playoffs. Unfortunately, we'd probably play Tampa Bay, who killed us a few weeks ago.

Should also add that I would be very surprised if Rackers is still with the team in 2008. Olindo Mare is the only regular NFL kicker with a worse FG percentage.

Same is true for the punter, Michael Barr, currently the worst punter in the NFL by gross average.

I doubt that they'll be replaced this season (though I bet the Gramatica brothers are warming up somewhere).

Re: *** Official 07 AZ Cardinals probably will disappoint yet again **
 

So what if Football Outsiders has recalculated the odds of making the playoffs from 54% to 15% ( http://footballoutsiders.com/stats/playoffodds.php ), the Cardinals will turn it around. Proof? They released their punter. I knew he was the one holding them back from challenging the Pats for the best record in the NFL.

http://www.azcardinals.com/news/detail.php?PRKey=2110

(Oh, we lost a starting CB, but who needs one when you have a new punter!)

Re: *** Official 07 AZ Cardinals probably will disappoint yet again **
 

[ QUOTE ]

I hate the risk/reward on making Kurt throw from the end zone there.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have rethought this based on the poorly thought out thread criticizing the Cards for not going for it at the end of Q4. And I wonder if Wiz also made a smart call at the end of overtime. The risk of throwing from your end zone is clear, any holding penalty, sack, or fumble loses the game.

But let's think about the risks of not throwing. The Cards were passing at will. SF would likely be defending the run. If the Cards get stuffed on the first run, they are likely to go three and out (or be forced to pass from their end zone in an obvious passing down). If they punt from their end zone, their horrible punter is almost a lock to punt off the side of his foot and put SF in field goal range. Essentially, Wiz knew without a first down, the Cards will likely lose the game. And the highest likelihood of achieving a first down is created by throwing on first down.

Re: *** Official 07 AZ Cardinals probably will disappoint yet again **
 

Ugh, Eric Green and Adrian Wilson both placed on the IR this week [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]