Red Rain Blog for Arizona Cardinals Fans

 Why the Cardinals' Interest in Ron Rivera? By Walter Mitchell As is seemingly always the case when Michael Bidwill is conducting a head coach search, there are elements of mystery as to what his ultimate motives are.   When the news broke yesterday that the Cardinals have interviewed Ron Rivera, who hasn't coached in the NFL since 2023, it would be safe to say that this came as quite a surprise (or flat-out shock) to Cardinals' fans. Like they say, "make it make sense." The only thing I can think of is that one of Michael Bidwill's top priorities in this coaching search all along has been his and Monti Ossenfort's desire to retain Nick Rallis as the team's defensive coordinator.  It seemed from the get-go that Bidwill and Ossenfort have been going very heavily after defensive-minded head coaching candidates, such as: * Robert Saleh * Vance Jospeh * Anthony Campanile (twice) * Jeff Hafley * Raheem Morris (twice) * Anthony Weaver (twice) * Chris Shula *...

Like Seahawks and Patriots Cardinals Need to Prioritize Defense in Hiring Anthony Campanile as Head Coach   Travis Register-Imagn Images                                          By Walter Mitchell The Seattle Seahawks knew what they were doing when they hired defensive-minded head coach Mike Macdonald. What GM John Schneider understood is that the priority for winning in the NFC West is to be able to find a way to thwart Sean McVay's and Kyle Shanahan's offenses.  In just two years with Mike Macdonald at the helm, the Seahawks have emerged as the toast of the NFC. First and foremost, they have done it with an uber aggressive, highly physical defense that is at time reminiscent of the "Legion of Boom" Seattle defenses that helped them appear in back-to-back Super Bowls in 2014 and 2015, the former of which they won over the Denver Broncos.  Last night, in their thrillin...