Freeman: 'Zona overcomes putrid past
There are two "how" questions being asked all over the country this week.
The most important is this: How long before new President Barack Obama turns around this dismal economy?
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| Going with Kurt Warner (right) over Matt Leinart has been a key move. (Getty Images) |
I've been asked that numerous times on sports talk shows this week as well as by many casual fans.
How? How? How did a team many said was the worst playoff team of all time win three playoff games and earn its first trip to the Super Bowl?
I decided to come up with five reasons why I think the Cardinals are in this position, helping to explain the big surprise.
1. Picking Kurt Warner over Matt Leinart as starting quarterback
When training camp opened, this was to be Leinart's team. The first-round pick out of Southern California was poised to take over as the team's franchise passer.
The 37-year-old Warner was scheduled to watch.
But on the eve of the season, Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt opted to go with the veteran. He told me then that he felt Warner gave his team a better chance to win now.
Was he right?
Warner responded with an MVP-caliber season and he just might be putting himself in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the process. Warner engineered a 14-play drive for the winning points in last week's NFC Championship Game victory over the Philadelphia Eagles to put the Cardinals into the Super Bowl. That made me ask the question whether Leinart could have done that.
I say no.
"Two years ago, Kurt was a player on the team that I knew had a very good pedigree, but at that time there was a lot of excitement about Matt because he had just been drafted the year before and played a little bit," Whisenhunt said. "When we got here and in our first practices, I obviously realized Kurt had talent and there were a lot of things that I liked about Kurt. To say I could've imagined Kurt could play at this level, at that time, I don't think you could ever say that, but I knew Kurt was a very good football player."
It helped that Whisenhunt helped make Warner get the ball out quicker to cut down on turnovers. Warner agreed and the two have made Cardinals football magic.
The Cardinals without Warner in the lineup wouldn't be here.
That's a given.
2. Inserting rookie Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie into the starting lineup
When the Cardinals drafted Rodgers-Cromartie in the first round last spring, they did so with an idea on improving their man coverage ability.
While enamored with his amazing athletic ability, they slowly worked him into the lineup, first as a nickel corner and then as the starter in the team's seventh game.
He was simply too good to keep on the bench.
The playoffs have been his coming-out party. He played a lot of man against Carolina's Steve Smith in the divisional playoff victory and gave up just one completion to Smith.
"He has done a great job of listening to all of the veterans in the room and applying it to the practice field and taking it to the game," Cardinals safety Adrian Wilson said. "I think that is very important for a young player to do that. He has learned. He has learned along the way. He kind of hit the rookie wall early, and he kind of bounced back from it. Now he is playing pretty good football."
With "D.R.C." as they call him, the Cardinals can blitz more, which is what defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast loves to do.
A premier cover corner can do wonders for a defense, which is a level Rodgers-Cromartie has taken his game.
3. Todd Haley's offensive play-calling
Haley is one of the most up-tempo play-callers in the league.
He is given free reign by Whisenhunt and Haley runs with it. At times, maybe too much for Whisenhunt's liking.
Whisenhunt would prefer to run the ball more at times, but Haley and Warner love to let it rip.
Haley doesn't coach scared. That is a refreshing change from most other offensive coordinators.
After the Cardinals' victory over the Eagles, Haley was a little disappointed he called three consecutive pass plays on one possession with the lead that led to a three-and-out and three incomplete passes.
"I should have run it there, I guess," he said.
Ah, forget it. Do what got you here.
Haley better not change that approach in the Super Bowl, either. If he does, the Cardinals have no chance.
4. Whisenhunt being an ex-player
When the Cardinals went through their late-season swoon, and most everyone wrote them off as pretenders, Whisenhunt knew better.
Why? He's an ex-player. He knows the psyche of a young player.
When the Cardinals clinched the division, there was nothing to play for. That's why they tailed off. Young players don't know the real difference between a third and fourth-seed.
All they knew was that they were going to the playoffs. That's why they failed miserably down the stretch.
Isn't that human nature?
"They know about the seed now that we're playing at home," Whisenhunt said last Thursday. "But once we knew we got into the playoffs, you could feel the contentment. I understood it, though."
He also did something about it to regain the focus in time for the playoffs, which brings us to the fifth reason.
5. The Christmas Day hell practice
After losing 47-7 to the New England Patriots, Whisenhunt had had enough. He conducted a full-pad, full-contact practice on a rainy Christmas Day. It got the players' attention.
"He got us good that day," defensive tackle Darnell Dockett said. "He was angry. He had enough."
The players also took it upon themselves to be more dedicated.
"We got down towards the stretch right before we played Seattle, we started holding people accountable," Dockett said. "We didn't want to be a team that is going to lose the first game and be gone."
That didn't happen and now they're in the Super Bowl. Now you know how.
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