I agree with most of what you said. But here is the issue.

From 2008 thru 2011 drafts (4 drafts), the cards drafted 2 offensive lineman. One in the 7th round and one in the 5th round. Neither were good players.

When Warner signed his contract in 2009 for 2 years, you had to think he was leaving soon. How valuable would it be to draft a guy to learn under Warner, then take over when he left. Should have been a priority.

You see Leinart every day in practice. You should have known what you had before 2010.

Warner left a year early after the beatings he took. (See point one.)

Here is where I agree. 2010 was not a stellar year for drafting QBs. Anderson seemed like a good option. i dont think he was to back up Leinart though. Leinart was never in Whiz’s plans at that point.

Here is where the problem was;
In 2011, the Falcons offered the Browns a boat load of picks for the #6 pick. You had to believe the deal was offered to us at #5. Trading down would have given us picks to build an offensive line and we could have brought in Hasselback. or drafted Dalton at 26th. or both.

2012, we would have had 2 first rounders and taken your QB then or taken botth Decastro and Zietler to be our starting guards putting a solid line, now in place.

I said all these things at the time it was happening. It just made sense to me that a 5-11 team with no QB and no Oline should build up picks and rebuild.

Patrick Peterson is a great player and a good pick. But it was the wrong move for the team. It was a move by a team that thought we were better and more solid than we were.

But above all, not trading. sticking with Peterson. the cards had to pull the trigger for a QB in 2012. Missing there was a fatal move that will set us back a couple of years.

All these moves by Whiz and Graves has us entering 2013 with no QB, , a need for a pair of guards. and a top 5 pick.

Look at two teams in 2012.
First, the Redskins. They needed a QB and gave up 3 #1s and a 2 to get RG3. now they are contiending and set for years to come.
Now look at the Rams. They had a QB but need more talent. They traded down with the skins and landed a boat load of picks. They traded down with Dallas and got another pick. Then they has a solid draft. Give them 2013, and they will be a top team. Two smart teams.

Whiz cannot coach up QB’s period and Graves is a poor evaulator of talent.

I agree with you that Kolb isn’t the answer that should keep the cards from drafting or going after another qb. I do think though he has shown enough to keep on the team as a backup next season if he will restructure his contract. If you only have to depend on him to get you through 4 or 5 games he’s a great option. As the last few season have shown teams need more than one decent qb on it.

I agree Graves is not a dumb guy. It takes a certain kind of person to deal with ownership and then get what the coach wants.

I heard Jerry Jones say,
Jerry Jones the owner should have fired Jerry Jones the GM years ago. Knowing that, he still thinks he can correct the mistakes and win.

Owners are tough to deal with. But I am sure the Bidwills had no intention of shelling out big money for an injured QB in Kolb. I am sure Mr Bidwill was not trumping decisions in the draft room or saying I must have Floyd.

Graves is suppose to make those calls but seems to take a back seat to the coaches. This is where the problem lies.

We will never get a strong willed GM who makes all the calls if he can’t deal with the owners. A weak GM will get pushed around by a coach who, as Darren pointed out, usually fails when taking on player personnel roles.

Maybe we are just stuck. After 22 years of rooting for them, it seems that way. But what this team needs is a strong player personnel guy who is not part of the coaching staff. Yes, he needs to work hand in hand with what the coach is doing. But ultimately, he makes the call.

I could even live with Whiz coming back if he is stripped of personnel duties. Truthfully, it has really come down to mistakes in the draft that has caused the mess we are in. And only solid drafts can get us out of it. It might take time, but that is the answer to long term success.

If I’m Bidwill, I’d give Whiz one more shot. I would heavily emphasize the QB position above all else and let him address it his way one more time. He will then sink or swim with that decision. I would do this because I can see all the facts:

Fact 1- Warner retired 1 year before his deal was up. He was signed to play 2010.

Fact 2- DA was brought in to back up the franchise QB in Leinart (a Green pick, BTW). Leinart decided to quit. DA was never meant to be a starter. Had you told Whiz Warner would retire and Leinart would quit, the 2010 QB search would have gone differently. Including Max Hall, but I’ll put that one on Whiz.

Fact 3- After 2010 debacle, the organization HAD to go for a QB. The options in the 2011 draft were Gabbert, Locker, Ponder (1st round). Dalton went in the second and it’s debatable if he was worth a first round pick at #5 overall. We don’t know what the Bengals would have wanted for the Cards to trade up in the second for him. We can debate on cost, but of course I’d rather have Dalton than Skelton.

Fact 4- The 2010 FA’s available were Matt Moore or Tarvaris Jackson. Yes, these were the best available.

Fact 5- QB’s available for trade: Jason Campbell, Kyle Orton, Kevin Kolb, McNabb, Carson Palmer. Hard to argue with those choices. Kolb was the one who played the best and had the most upside.

Fact 6- Kolb got hurt in 2011 and Skelton did his best Tebow impression and we won games. All of them close games. Skelton was not a good QB, but since winning is what matters most, most fans wanted Skelton to start. They failed to see that Skelton’s type of play would catch up with him eventually.

Fact 7- Skelton and Kolb both sucked in the preseason. Whiz had to make a decision based on last year’s winning. It was literally choosing between the lesser evil.

Fact 8- Kolb won games in relief. Kolb had firmly snatched the starting gig from Skelton. Kolb got hurt on a freak play. after doing his best Rocky impression the week in StL (9 sacks), this one was brutal. Now we all want Kolb back. We would not be talking about firing whiz because we would had beat Atl, NYJ, StL (here), Minn. That puts us at 8-5.

Fact 9- Lindley was not picked to be a starter. Since Kolb got hurt, Whiz has had his b*lls in a vice because he doesn’t have any choice about who to play. The 2011 Bears were the same way. He had no way of knowing Skelton would play even worse in his 3rd year than he did in his 2nd. We are all learning through the fire.

Fact 10- Despite the QB position, Whiz has drafted and develop quite a few players. Plenty of people say Whiz enjoyed Green’s drafting success. There are currently 2 players on the roster drafted by Green: Fitzgerald and Dockett.

These are the facts. This isn’t fantasy football people. We can’t trade Fitz for 5 drafts picks like in Fantasy land. When players get hurt, the backup has to play and usually they aren’t as good. In fantasy land when Drew Brees goes down you can start Tony Romo. This is not this case in real life.

32. Arizona Cardinals

“It can’t get much worse than being humiliated by divisional rivals. Heads should roll for that, and not just in the coaching department. They’ve done a horrible job finding talent in recent years.”

Simple, if Whiz doesnt’ want to fire Grimm and Miller, M. Bidwell will have to fire all 3 and bring back Todd Haley, then promote Keim to GM (doubt he would bring in a big name GM since they like to stay within the org in the front office)