Clayton Tune: The Fateful Path of an NFL Legacy by Walter Mitchell photo: @azcardinals.com via Instagram During the second night of the 2023 NFL Draft, Clayton Tune received a call from the Green Bay Packers. The Packers wanted to assure Clayton of their interest in drafting the University of Houston quarterback at some point on day three. When the Arizona Cardinals selected Clayton Tune with the #139 pick a day later, he was surprised, given that the Cardinals had not expressed any significant interest in him during the pre-draft process. The Cardinals were not one of the six teams that brought him in for 30 visits (Texans, Saints, Browns, Steelers, Bucs, Giants). Tune had also been given a private workout by the Rams. The eventual link the Cardinals had to Clayton Tune was that Israel Woolfork was one of his coaches at the Senior Bowl. At that time, Woolfork had just finished his second year of a Bill Walsh/Bill Willis coaching fellowship with the Cleveland Browns. A...
It's hard not to repeat the same comments, but the big picture stuff doesn't really change from week to week. The Cowboys game was fun and the team will give us just enough of those to not completely lose faith... but that win did not sell me on the long-term franchise outlook.
ReplyDeleteWe were told with Monti's hiring, as well as Dave Sears and Gannon that there would be an emphasis on building the lines on both sides of the ball. There has been significant investment, but where's the payoff??
This team gets a reprieve the 11 games out of the year it doesn't have to play another divisional game, because we often look completely exposed in these games. To add insult to injury, we had a hard rebuild that started before the rebuild in Seattle, yet that team is tough and competing after we're out of playoff contention, year after year. And that is with multiple QB changes and coaching. Just a tough time all around.
I hadn't even thought about the Seahawks point... During Monti and Gannon's first season, it was still Pete Carroll, Shane Waldron, Geno Smith and DK Metcalf running things in Seattle. Crazy how fast they rebuilt
DeleteWe had a chance to beat Pete Carroll on his way out the door. Instead, Matt Prater, who never misses a game-winning FG, somehow managed to miss 2 of them in the last minutes of that game. This is my tinfoil hat Cardinals theory (although it's probably pretty commonly accepted that we threw that game for MHJ).
DeleteYet, the outcome of the game was described by pundits and fans as "the perfect loss." WTF. Cardinals are still paying for the bad karma for tanking. Oh the irony --- a coaching staff comes in and accepts losing games in year one --- and now. when it needs to win games, the team hasn't been taught or coached properly to.
DeleteIts funny how we continue to make excuses for our failures which are systemic. With exception of Arians the past 20yrs has not had a successful head coach or football club. MO/JG were continued interest in the football club by our illustrious owner who has been been around football since he was a toddler learning the business from his father. He thinks he knows football but the proof of all his GM & HC hiring has been an example of how not to WIN. Having a President of Football operations would be an excellent way to mitigate the Bidwilian "cheap-skates suckfest" that we have endured for (8) decades. Bidwill family could care less of a championship as they won lottery ticket of grandfathers investment into NFL. They care about the growth of their investment, which in modern era is about TV contracts more than ticket sales. The history of the Cardinals shows exactly what the future will be too....once every 10-20yr we get a playoff caliber team (who will lose early in playoffs) so the NFL doesn't kick them out in exchange for an XFL team the other 9-19 yers the team will field mediocre to poor teams built on cheap as a rebuild. Other teams are have less time to rebuild and are more successful than Cardinals who are stuck in perpetual rebuild process (just think the draft for Rosen and Kyler in back to back years) We got it wrong so we doubled down in extending a mediocre QB because he was best thing we'd seen in 20yrs, at least there was hope...
ReplyDeleteIt all boils down to Bidwillian decisions! and that has been going on for 100years and there is no end in sight.
Seems to be the similar conclusion we all came to on the show, Redrun :(
DeleteEnd of the day you have to be able to win in your division and beat teams with winning records. We can't do either. It felt like we were a Juco team playing an SEC championship squad on Sunday. Whatever the blue print is it isn't working. The only consistent thing this team does is inplode when faced with the prospect of being competitive. Prime time games or key divisional match ups all end on the same note...rock bottom.
ReplyDelete