Mike LaFleur, Keep Coaching Gutsy!
By Walter MitchellWith the news that Cardinals' rookie RB Jeremiyah Love is going to sit out this week's practices because his injured ankle has been more painful than first expected, the immediate hue and cry from a number of Cardinals' fans is how stupid it was for LaFleur to keep Love in the game as long as he did.
Stupid? Or ingenious?
First of all, LaFleur's decision to play the starters was gutsy, well timed and about as needed as a cup of Pepto Bismol to settle a queasy stomach.
This showed his coaches, players and the fans that he is dedicated to winning football game THIS year.
And guess what, this week the team won.
Just as one would have never known during the Hall of Fame game that rookie QB Carson Beck suffered a rib injury, this week, not only did Jeremiyah Love captivate the football world by running super hard, shifty and tough, he never once looked limited by an ankle injury.
In the meantime, the superior, breathtaking level of Love's play sent a huge message to the entire football team.
A> That no player is going to be pampered or bubble wrapped, regardless of his draft stature.
B > Every player on the team needs to ball like J. Love.
C > Suddenly national pundits are fascinated with the Cardinals and are unabashed to say it.
D > As J. Love said himself, “As the game kept going, I was getting a lot more comfortable.”
And for that matter so did the rest of the football team.
Winning football games requires supreme toughness, determination and physical sacrifice.
A sore ankle in exchange for how this pre-season game gave the Cardinals a significant energy and confidence boost is a small price to pay, especially considering that J. Love was not going to play the final two pre-season games and the Cardinals Week 1 game in Los Angeles versus the Chargers is 4 weeks from tomorrow.
Double Down on the Defensive Positional Competitions
What LaFleur should do is have the guts to play the starting defense again this week. That unit needs as much work as it can get and a number of the players who started last week had poor games. Then, teammates at their positions came in and played stronger.
If LaFleur is serious when he says the starting defensive positions are wide open to competition, then it's time to give every player a fair chance.
* Note: Walter Nolen III like Jeremiyah Love passed the test. Hold him out with Budda Baker. Get then ready for Week 1
Cardinals' Starting Defense PFF Grades in 27-14 W
LOLB Collins 64.1, Ojulari 58.6
LDE Nolen III 66.0
NT Lopez 68.9
RDE Robinson 38.2
ROLB Burch 44.4
MILB Wilson Sr. 60.5
WILB Gibbens 71.7
LCB Johnson 52.5
SS Taylor-Demerson 52.6
FS Wingard 69.6
RCB Burke 38.2
NCB Murphy-Bunting 47.3
Cardinals' 2nd/3rd Team Defensive Grades in 27-14 Win
LOLB Robertson 76.7
LDE Collier 36.3, Martin-Rhodes 51.0
NT Billings 57.3, Horsley 38.8
RDE J. Williams 51.7, D. Williams 84.0
ROLB Leota 62.6, E. Brown 62.7
MILB Simon 65.3, Asante 59.7
WILB Pappoe 63.5, Sharar 61.2
LCB E.Jones 61.7, Thomas V 53.6
SS Crawford 42.9
FS Oliver 59.6, W. Williams 41.1
RCB Melton 70.2, Culp 38.3
NCB King 40.5, Newsome 60.5
Give these guys in BOLD reps with the 1st team. This group pitched a second half shoutout. They played considerably faster at LB and CB.
Get poor plays like these two corrected:
Watch the two videos below --- see if you concur with what I am seeing.
Play 1: NT Roy Lopez picks the wrong A gap when he was in a perfect stack-read-shed position. DI L.J. Collier gets pancaked. DI Walter Nolen III is only DI to win with strength at the point of attack, and he makes a great effort to shed his block and scrape his way to the feet of the RB. The two ILBs Gibbens and Wilson get overpowered and roller-skated. FS Wingard does a perfect job of "breaking down" to make a perfect form, tackle, while Rabbit sheds his block, hustles and makes an assist.
Play 2: Cardinals coaches still believe they can cover WRs, TEs and RBs by dropping their edge pass rushers. Nothing had changed. These coaches never learn, never adjust. Look at this play. Ojulari is already giving up outside leverage because he's lined up 2-yards inside of the slot WR while faking a pass rush. As we documented on Red Rain a week ago or so, last season Cardinals' OLBs gave up 34 receptions in 40 targets (85%) for 309 yards and a QB-RTG in the high 130s. Smart QBs can smell this and take the easy out pass that the coaches were conceding here.
If those coverage numbers are of concern, how about the ILBs last season, giving up 111 receptions on 140 targets (79.4%) for 1,138 yards.
So, when the OLB and ILB numbers are combined, that's 145 receptions on 180 targets (80.5%) for 1,447 yards. And how many times have you seen TEs, slot WRs and RBs wide open versus the Cardinals' zones? Like the Raiders' 2 TDs (TE, slot WR) last night and two of the Panthers' TDs (RB, slot WR) in Game 1.
Quote
Dan Fornek 
Great example of how you build culture:
Clip 1: Tre Tucker motions into an insert on an IZ run and digs out the safety to help Jeanty get 10 yd run
Next play: Motion Tucker into an out route and get him an easy target that turns into an explosive
Kubiak knows what he's doing
Stay on the Offensive
Next, given the uneven play of the Cardinals ' starting offensive line, Mike LaFleur could have the guts to start the 1st team offensive line again for a series or two.
Cardinals' Starting Offense PFF Grades in 27-14 W
QB Brissett 83.8
RB Love 61.7
TE Quitoriano 44.3
WR Wilson 71.1
WR Harrison Jr. 70.6
WR Bourne 74.7
LT Johnson Jr. 55.7
LG Seumalo 53.6
C Froholdt 63.3
RG Adams 69.7
RT Wilkinson 61.7 (PBLK 78.9)
Cardinals' 2nd/3rd Team Offensive Grades in 27-14 Win
QB Minshew 80.0; Slovis 89.8
RB Allgeier 64.6, Knight 55.9, Kiner 71.1, Hull 48.9
TE Fairweather 51.7, Geers 53.7, Bowman 43.1
WR Brooks 92.2, Feheko 81.2. Virgil 74.4, Wallace 53.8, Green 53.1
LT Fryar 54.6, Jacobs 64.0
LG Conner 51.6, Senn 62.5
C Gaines II 75.2, Decambra 56.7
RG Bisontis 59.3, Udoh 77.9, Pryor 54.6
RT J. Williams 53.4, Jones 56.2
Conclusion:
Mike LaFleur did not coach scared in Las Vegas. What a refreshing change. He's trying to teach this team how to start, finish and win. This week it worked. Keep it up versus the Cowboys at home, Coach!
Coaching scared in the NFL will get you fired. It reminds me of how past Cardinals teams went into a prevent defense in the 3rd quarter. after obtaining a small lead, and then got blow out in the 4th. No risk it, no biscuit.
ReplyDeleteLove. The one HC to take thew Cardinals to the Super Bowl was Ken Whisenhunt who would play his guys whenever and wherever for as long as they wanted.
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