Cardinal Sin: Firing Green only makes matters worse

By Paul Eide  |   Wednesday, October 25, 2006  |  Comments( 0 )

Arizona Cardinals
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"The mob is fickle, brother. He'll be forgotten in a month."
"No, much sooner than that. It's been arranged."

-Lucilla and her brother Commodus in "Gladiator."

Luckily for Arizona Cardinals head coach Dennis Green, owner Bill Bidwell isn't a big fan of the movie "Gladiator," or perhaps the demands for Green to be fired would have been acted upon. Maybe after watching Green's feeble attempt at what could loosely be referred to as a "tirade," Bidwell felt sorry for the guy and decided to tolerate him for at least another half season.

It would have been especially easy to can someone this week following a 22-9 defeat at the hands of the then- worst team in the NFL, the Oakland Raiders. After the game was over, it was obvious the Raiders were no longer the undisputed chumps, the Cardinals laying claim to the throne with possibly their most embarrassing loss of the season.

Whatever the motive, give Bidwell credit for not giving in to the public outcry for Green's head on a stake. To fire a coach in the middle of his third season would render the previous two "rebuilding years" useless, as a new coach would take at least that long to get his personnel and scheme in order, sacrificing the present for the promise of a bountiful future yet again.

Bidwell knows that Green still needs to add a few pieces to the puzzle before his shot at bringing success to Arizona can be considered legitimate, and therefore deemed a failure if he doesn't produce. Green's chances of remaining with the Cardinals in the near future certainly deteriorate with each loss, but despite his struggles, Green is still the best coach the Cardinals organization has ever seen.

Prior to working for the Cardinals, Green coached the Minnesota Vikings for 10 years and averaged nine wins per season. By comparison, in the last 30 years, the Cardinals have won nine games or more only three times. Green's successful track record brought limitless expectations to the desert, as the organization finally had a head coach who garnered league-wide respect. Green's six wins during his first season in Arizona were the most in three years for the Cardinals and caused the expectations to mount even higher.

Offensively, Green has been very proactive in acquiring the personnel need to fill obvious holes. In 2005, the Cardinals addressed their most pressing need by signing veteran quarterback Kurt Warner, and convinced many around the NFL that they would win the NFC West division. Instead, Warner got hurt and only played in 10 games, the Cardinals ranked dead last in the NFL in rushing and the team actually won one less game, going 5-11.

Entering this year, Green signed the best free agent running back available, Edgerrin James, to improve the ground game and complement his top-10 passing offense. The Cardinals won their first game and looked every bit the team the locals have expected to see since Green was hired.

But ever since then, it's been downhill for two reasons that all Cardinal fans have heard/thought/said a million times before;

1. "We have no offensive line."
2. "We have no defense."

If Green could manage to solidify even just one of these areas, Arizona has enough talent to be a .500 team. Thanks to this season, Green may have finally realized that it takes more than the phenomenal skill players the Cardinals have to win football games.

Perhaps tanking the rest of the season wouldn't be so bad for the Cardinals, as they would be guaranteed a top pick in next April's draft, which includes three offensive linemen (USC's Sam Baker, Wisconsin's Joe Thomas, Michigan's Jake Long and Penn State's Levi Brown) who could probably start for the Cardinals right now.

With or without Green next year, the Arizona Cardinals, by any means necessary, must improve their offensive line and defense. If not, the only reason fans will attend games in 2007 is to see arguably the most impressive stadium in the NFL.

Arizona Cardinals commentary, courtesy of RealFootball365.com
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