Bidwill's Belly Flop into his so-called Wide Net
By Walter Mitchell
If Michael Bidwill was going to create the kind of splash that would have had a chance to put a halt to the rapidly plummeting ticket sales, he has adroitly managed to do the reverse.
How many of the remaining Cardinals' fans are going to pay good money to watch this inferior, poorly coached product at home for 9 games in 2026 and be humiliated each week by the rabidly vociferous opposing fans who have successfully caused the Cardinals' offense to have to use a silent snap count in their own building?
To put the embarrassment of being a loyal Cardinals' season ticket holder in added perspective, last year the Cardinals' fans were treated to a 1-7 home record (watching the team lose the last 7 games in a row) while giving up a whopping 29.1 points per game.
No one can simply unsee the plethora of missed tackles, wide open receivers and blown coverages in the red zone.
And for all of that torture that the fans were forced to watch, game after game, to hear that Bidwill and Ossenfort, after teasing the fans by interviewing a who's who of promising defensive HC and DC candidates, elected instead to retain Nick Rallis as the team's defensive coordinator, this comes as major a buzz kill as one can imagine.
As excited as the "Mike LaFleur is #1 priority" fans were when Bidwill, after getting spurned by Klint Kubiak, handed him to them on a silver platter, we now know that LaFleur was unable to attract a DC who could give the Cardinals a fighter's chance against McVay, Shanahan and Sam Darnold.
Therefore, two weeks into the job, it has already become apparent for those of us who were desperately hoping that Mike LaFleur could be the coach to change Bidwill's and Ossenfort's modus operandi --- that LaFleur is just the latest sycophant who was so desperate to get the job that he has been willing to sign off on whatever Bidwill and Ossenfort want.
A mere two weeks into the job, Mike LaFleur has already lost whatever cred or buzz he had coming in.
So much so that local Cardinals' beat writers like Howard Balzer, perhaps at Bidwill's urging, are already trying to cover up for LaFleur.
https://x.com/HBalzer721/status/2022496469828440464?s=20
Here was LaFleur's bs lie: (he remarked to the question of why the Rams' offense was able to steamroll the Cardinals 'defense in Weeks 11 and 18 to the tune of 82 points and 956 yards).
"Unfortunately a lot of them weren't out there, particularly in that back half of the season. So that's my job and our job as a building to figure out how we can make sure that those best players are consistently out on the field."
LaFleur lied about the injuries, Howard, and now you are covering for him. In Week 11 vs Rams, here were the Cardinals' starters: Collins, Campbell, Tomlinson, Robinson, Sweat, Simon, Pappoe, W. Johnson, Budda, JT and G. Williams. 9 of 11 Week 1 starters.
In Week 18 vs Rams the Cardinals ran out the same lineup with Davis-Gaither back in at WILB for Pappoe and Burke in for G. Williams. Again, 9 of 11 Week 1 starters.
There should be no convenient deception about this.
Concerning the pushback of Nick Rallis remaining as Cardinals DC, game planning/in-game calls are based on players available. For the season, 21 defensive players missed 161 games. In the final 9 games, 19 missed 82 games. That can't be ignored even though many people do.
What about the 49ers? What about these high-volume starters and key contributors?
17 games - Sweat, Campbell, Collins, Tomlinson, Stills, Davis-Gaither
16 - Baker, Robinson
15 - Burke, Thompson
Those contain 9 original starters.
In today's NFL with regard to injuries to starting players that's not too shabby. In fact, having 9/11 Week 1 starters available for Weeks 11 and 18 is pretty dang good.
Which by the way, the Cardinals committed $84M in cap space this season to those starters.
What cannot be mitigated is that this Cardinals' defense quit on Gannon and Rallis, finishing #31 in total defense and was the worst tackling team in the NFL. Chalking those numbers up to injuries is such a copout.
The offense, on the other hand, was the most affected by injuries to Conner, Murray, Benson, PJJ (last 5 games), Hernandez, Williams, Reiman, MHJ --- yet they never quit and they put up some impressive numbers, finishing #7 in NFL passing offense, while boasting two 1,000-yard receivers, for the first time since 2005 (Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin) and 2008 (Fitzgerald, Boldin and Steve Breaston).
Here comes the clincher.
Click here:
NFL insider Mike Garafolo joins us NOW x.com/phnx_cardinals…
This is so bogus. It was the defense that quit not the offense. Who should take Gannon’s word on anything? He left Rallis out to dry and couldn’t help him one iota because, guess what? He doesn’t know how. It’s a chicken ass defense that gets more chicken as the game goes along. And the other thing is I wouldn’t trust Matt LaFleur. Ever.
The mere thought of Jonathan Gannon, through Matt LaFleur's conversations with his brother, having a major influence on the Cardinals' decision to retain Nic Rallis as DC is beyond repulsive.
Gannon: "Nick Rallis has always been on point."
On point for what?
Running the softest, worst tackling defense in the NFL?
The only defense that was worse in total yards allowed was coordinated by Gannon's defensive "caution and cushion" mentor, Matt Eberflus.
Amazing to think that Gannon in 2022 had a year in Philadelphia with Vic Fangio in the building and for all appearances, Gannon didn't seem to learn a thing, particularly with regard to employing more aggressive pass coverages and properly teaching players how to run effective zones.
To finish with the Mike Garafolo interview, for him to throw the Cardinals' 2025 defensive failures back on the Cardinals' offense is a total scam. The Cardinals offense not only sustained drives they did so by cracking the NFL top ten in 3rd down conversion percentage, finishing the season #9. The defense was on the field so long because they were #27 in 3rd down conversions allowed.
Conclusion:
If any team (losing season ticket holders) needed to make a splash with their coaching searches this off-season it was the rapidly sinking Arizona Cardinals.
And yet the biggest splash the Cardinals made turned out to Michael Bidwill doing a whopper of a belly flop into his so-called wide net.
Only the Cardinals would let their former failed coach and a supposedly nfc rival, influence their off season strategy. The real reason is what we already know, Bidwill hates spending money on coaching and very few people want anything to do with Bidwill-the ones who do are just using this team for their own selfish reasons. (Money, experience and Ring of Honor). Every other nfl franchise, owner, GM and HC are laughing their asses off about this owner/team. Most established players who care about winning and their reputation will not want to be here. Any top level college QB, should equate Cardinals to No Way and threaten a Hold out situation. The Bo Bracks, Dan Bickley etc will continue to kiss his butt for interviews etc. and the beat goes on..Bidwill has turned a former 20 yr plus season ticket holder to rooting for all of the NFC West teams outside of Az.
ReplyDeleteYou and me both, buddy. At this point, the only thing left is hoping for 17 straight all time embarrassments so catastrophic that the locker room implodes, ticket sales hit an all-time league low, and the NFL finally scrubs itself clean of the most shameless, repeat-offending freeloaders in its history.
DeleteBelly flop? This nepobaby never bothered to learn how to swim! He’s spent his whole career at the bottom of the pool. His and his fathers kind are bottom dwellers
ReplyDelete