Blogs

Chasing the 10th sack

Linebacker Daryl Washington, snubbed for the Pro Bowl Wednesday, is still chasing his 10th sack of the season. Notching one more would not only tie the franchise mark for sacks by a linebacker, but also make him the first guy with 10 since Bertrand Berry had 14.5 in 2004 and the first Cardinal ever to have 100 tackles and 10 sacks. Of course, Washington as been stuck with nine sacks since getting one against the Rams Nov. 25. Chasing down mobile 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick for one might not be easy. Washington did have two sacks the last time the Cards played the 49ers, but at that point, Alex Smith was still playing QB for San Francisco.

– Left tackle Nate Potter sat out Wednesday’s practice with a bad ankle. If Potter isn’t able to play Sunday, his backup is D’Anthony Batiste — who struggled so much when he was in there earlier in the season — and I’d think Batiste would likely get another start. That would definitely be something that bears watching.

– The Big Red Rage tonight at Majerle’s in Chandler will feature not only host Kerry Rhodes but also wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, so reserve your table quickly. The show starts at 6 p.m.

Levi Brown injures his triceps

Starting left tackle Levi Brown left Friday night’s game with a triceps injury. No way to know right now how severe — he was doubtful to return — but it could be a very big deal.

The last two Cardinals I recall suffering triceps injuries were tackle Oliver Ross and defensive end/linebackers Bertrand Berry, both in 2007. Both were lost for the season (Ross got hurt in the preseason, coincidentally, against the Raiders. Berry was hurt in November.) Until official word comes down, hope remains that Brown isn’t hurt that badly. But it’s tough not to think about it.

Brown’s backup is former undrafted youngster D.J. Young, who didn’t appear in a game last season, spending all but one week on the practice squad. The team could also use Jeremy Bridges at left tackle. Bridges played there a bunch in 2009 after Mike Gandy got hurt. For all the slings and arrows Brown has endured while playing, losing him would be a big deal. We’ll wait to hear.

The free agency effect

So I was looking over this ESPN.com article by Football Outsiders about the top 10 most disappointing NFL free agents of the past 25 years and it got me thinking about the Cardinals (although no, there are no Cards on the list). My first full free-agent offseason came in 2001, when the Cards — up against the salary cap — chose to sign Seattle guard Pete Kendall as their one big purchase, to team with center Mike Gruttadauria from the year before and first-rounder Leonard Davis to build the “Big Red Line.” Kendall, as always, was blunt; when he came in for his press conference and was asked, why the Cardinals, he said, “Because they paid me the most money.”

That’s usually how it goes.

The bottom line is that, occasionally, help comes via free agency. More often than not, you acquire the best players through the draft because, aside from a player here or there, there is a reason a team lets a player go. Usually it’s because they don’t see him being worth the money he commands on the open market. (Karlos Dansby? Maybe he was. Antrel Rolle? Probably not.) I would argue that, if you charted all the “bigger-name” free-agent signings in the NFL over the years, there would be more that underperformed to expectations rather than met them.

Anyway, you look back through the years and think about the “key” free agents the Cards signed. How many provided the impact that people thought they would provide the day they signed?

• 2002 – CB Duane Starks, TE Freddie Jones
• 2003 – QB Jeff Blake, RB Emmitt Smith, S Dexter Jackson
• 2004 – DE Bertrand Berry (now this one was a real winner, even with Bertrand’s later injuries)
• 2005 – DE Chike Okeafor, QB Kurt Warner (OK, that one turned out pretty well)
• 2006 – RB Edgerrin James (Edge was actually pretty effective, but certainly not the star his contract said he should be)
• 2007 – T Mike Gandy, C Al Johnson, CB Rod Hood (The Cards decide not to get FA “stars” under Whiz, just pieces to the puzzle).
• 2008 – DE Travis LaBoy, NT Bryan Robinson
• 2009 – CB Bryant McFadden
• 2010 – QB Derek Anderson, LB Joey Porter, LB Paris Lenon, K Jay Feely

Certainly a mixed bag over the years. The biggest disappointment? No, I’m not going with Anderson — remember, he was signed to be Matt Leinart’s backup, so how much disappointment can there be? (Careful now …) I think I’d probably go with Duane Starks, who parlayed his spot in that great Ravens defense into the idea he could be a shutdown corner, which he wasn’t, especially on a team that sometimes used Fred Wakefield as the right defensive end (Fred was a great guy but didn’t exactly strike fear in the hearts of quarterbacks). Realistically, Emmitt probably provided what everyone expected and so did Edgerrin, especially since he never seemed to fit Whisenhunt’s style (and was clearly at the end, which was proven out after the Cards let him go).

Berry, by far, was the best signing, based on his 2004 season alone. I would have loved to see what sack numbers he would have had if he hadn’t gotten hurt every year after that. UPDATE/CLARIFICATION: Some of you want to know how I could ever pick Berry over Warner. The simple fact is that Berry, as a free-agent signee, impacted imemdiately. Warner’s time in Arizona didn’t come across that well until after a change in coaches. That was Warner’s third season as a Card by then. Am I splitting hairs? Maybe. But in the context of this discussion, it’s difficult to argue that, as a free agent coming in, Berry didn’t produce better than Warner.

Off the edge

By the time I arrived to cover the Cardinals full-time, Simeon Rice’s best Cardinals’ season was behind him, with 16½ sacks in 1999. I was in place just in time for a contract dispute and “Don’t-tell-Mike-Jurecki-come-talk-to-me!” from then-GM Bob Ferguson. Rice had only 7½ sacks in 2000 and then left as a free agent.

Since then, finding a difference-making pass rusher hasn’t been easy for the Cardinals.

They signed one as a free agent in 2004, when they got Bertrand Berry and he collected 14½ that season (including four on Giants quarterback Kurt Warner, if you recall) but then injuries and eventually age shredded Berry’s chances to reach double digits again. That year was the only one where a Cardinal had at least 10 sacks since Rice’s big 1999 season; amazingly, Berry’s five sacks led the Cards in their Super Bowl season. Defensive end Calais Campbell led the Cards this season with six.

The Cards did get pressure-by-committee more in 2009. Campbell and Darnell Dockett tied for the team lead with seven, although the Cards had 43 as a team (sixth in the NFL), the most they had ever posted since moving to Arizona in 1988. That number dropped to 33 this season, and the current problems on offense – last season, the Cards had the lead much more often, providing more chances to rush the passer – certainly had something to do with it. In any case, that one guy the other team has to fear all by himself, he remains absent.

So that brings us to where the Cards stand now. Let’s, for a moment, assume the labor issues are resolved relatively quickly. Can they get that guy now? Could they, perhaps, pry someone like LaMarr Woodley away as a free agent (although reports are that Woodley expects to remain in Pittsburgh)? Then there is the idea of someone like Von Miller of Texas A&M would be a good draft pick, because of the pressure he could provide. (There is also the idea of someone like O’Brien Schofield developing into that dynamic guy, which he was in college). For a moment, forget about specifics. To get such a player, whomever he might be, improves your secondary/pass defense, because the more pressure you can deliver without blitzing means the more defenders you have in pass coverage.

And besides, it’d be one more guy who – as coaches and players alike like to say – “makes plays.” Those are the guys who tilt the game in your favor.

Stuff from practice, like Dub’s new number

So much to talk about from this morning and lunch time. Let’s get to it, shall we?

– Practice was light this morning. That’s what happens when you have practiced heavy the previous two afternoons and you have a heavy practice planned in the evening, which the Cards do under the lights at Coconino High School.

– Remember the bad day rookie receiver Andre Roberts had a couple of days ago? Apparently Roberts doesn’t. Today he made a nice catch at the back of the end zone on a pass from Max Hall, snagging it while keeping his feet inbounds.

– On the injury list, linebacker Reggie Walker was back to work. Cornerback Rashad Barksdale has a left foot injury, and tight end Anthony Becht is nursing a mild back issue. Tight end Jim Dray (quad) is still sidelined. Safety Hamza Abdullah remains out with a bad hamstring, which is why the Cards brought in safety Aaron Rouse. The other day, coach Ken Whisenhunt said, starting safeties Adrian Wilson and Kerry Rhodes actually had to take reps with the third-string defense because the Cards were short at the position.

– Former Cardinal defensive end Bertrand Berry was back at camp. He’s a media member now, trying to get started in the business. He came up to do a series of web pieces for FOXsportsarizona.com about camp, beginning with a story on Clark Haggans and Joey Porter. “I’m just trying to learn the other side,” Berry said. Berry’s first video will be posted Aug. 6.

– Whisenhunt said the Cardinals were happy to get another chance at linebacker Pago Togafau, whom they lost off the practice squad last season. But it meant releasing Ali Highsmith because Whiz felt the team couldn’t get too heavy at the position. It hurts the Cards that two of the players hurt right now but counting against the 80-man roster are linebackers: Gerald Hayes and O’Brien Schofield.

– Speaking of inside linebacker, Whisenhunt has no thoughts right now on where they all stand. “I have to see more and get more information,” Whisenhunt said. “A lot will play out in the preseason games.”

– Finally, Adrian Wilson, once again, was sporting a new jersey number out at practice. The man who has made getting a different jersey number at practice a habit didn’t have the No. 9 (his high school number) on for the first time. Instead, he was wearing 5/53 — as in, a No. 53, but with the “3″ blocked out on the front and back with trainers’ tape.

“Camp is monotonous,” Wilson deadpanned. “You gotta do something. I can’t grow a (expletive) beard.” He laughed when it was pointed out he did have some serious chin hairs, retorting, “I’ve had this for 30 years.”

Why a 53 with the 3 covered up? “Just wanted to feel like I was still a DB,” Wilson said. “Had the ’5′ showing, but I had the ’53′ on the shoulder because I hit like a linebacker and cover like a safety. Know what I am saying?”

Indeed we do.

Who loves Joey?

A couple of leftovers from linebacker Clark Haggans, after talking to him about the story about he and Joey Porter I just posted:

Porter obviously delivers a love/hate relationship with many other players and fans. They love having him on their side, they hate him when he’s not. One person always on Porter’s side, though? Haggans’ mom.

“My mom loves him,” Haggans said. “He is one of her favorite people.”

Haggans said his mom used to go to sports bars (because she didn’t have a satellite NFL package) to watch the Steelers when he and Porter were there. “She used to hear a lot of flak (about Porter), ‘He’s mean, it seems like he is a crazy dude,’ ” Haggans said. “She would overhear people and she’d stick up for Joey, saying, ‘He’s not like that. He’s more misunderstood.’ “

Speaking about the linebacking corps in general, Haggans (pictured below) said it was going to be “fun.”

“We obviously lost Karlos, Bert and Chike. But with G Hayes, myself, Joey … there is still a lot of experience. There is a lot of football 101 between us.” That will hopefully pay off with young linebackers like Cody Brown, Will Davis, Daryl Washington and O’Brien Schofield, but Haggans isn’t dumb, and before I even had a chance to move on, Haggans jumped to a parallel theme, noting, “I’m guessing the next question might be how old we all are, well, I feel fine.”

“I could run for days and everyone else is fine, Haggans added. “I just think it’s like fine wine. We get better with age.”

Cards do a number on Williams

Dan Williams was in the Cardinals’ locker room for the first time an hour ago, and was asked what number he wanted. Truth be told, he wanted 55, because that was his college number. That wasn’t happening, not with Joey Porter on the roster. Coincidentally, almost all the double numbers are retired for the Cards — 77 (Stan Mauldin) , 88 (J.V. Cain) , 99 (Marshall Goldberg) — and 66 is in use (guard Jonathan Palmer). So Williams went with 92, now open with Bertrand Berry’s retirement.

“I definitely take 92 — that works,” Williams said. “That was Reggie White’s number.”

Ah. There’s the secret. White, the Hall of Fame defensive lineman, was a star at the University of Tennessee long before Williams gained his own stardom.

“I didn’t get a chance to have that number at Tennessee, so if I could get it here in Arizona, I’m loving it,” Williams said.

About the pass rush

When you talk about the Cards’ pass rush, you can’t get away from the fact the Cards were very successful this season piling up sacks. They finished with 43, sixth in the NFL and easily the most the team has had since moving to Arizona. In fact, it was the third-most in franchise history, behind the 1984 (55) and 1983 (59) defenses.

The Cards had another five sacks in the Wild Card win over Green Bay as well. But that game was a microcosm of the way the pass rush operated. All five sacks — two by Bertrand Berry and one each by Chike Okeafor, Darnell Dockett and Michael Adams — came because Aaron Rodgers couldn’t make the throw on his initial read. Adams’ sack, which led to the fumble that ended overtime, came after Karlos Dansby got his hands in Rodgers’ passing lane, forcing Rodgers to wait. The other four all came after Rodgers was flushed from the pocket. There is a bit of irony that they could be considered “coverage” sacks, given the way the Packers were able to pass on the secondary.

But flashing forward, that’s what the Cards are searching to improve — they’d love to find an edge rusher who can get a sack because he quickly whips his man and the quarterback simply doesn’t have time to react. That’s what Berry was in 2004 when he went to the Pro Bowl, and that’s why the Cards are giving a shot to CFL star Stevie Baggs. The DeMarcus Wares and Elvis Dumervils don’t grow on trees of course, so it isn’t as simple as “just go get one.”

Dockett obviously can get to the QB from inside, and I think Calais Campbell should evolve into a double-digit sack guy. But in the 3-4 alignment, the Cards need speed and youth outside. Will Davis looked decent as a rookie before getting hurt. We’ll see on Cody Brown; he’s going to go through a rookie year all over again after getting injured in the preseason. The Cards think Mark Washington looks the part and could be a find after getting him on their practice squad. Baggs isn’t young (he’s 28) but maybe he has turned the corner in the CFL.

If one of those guys — plus whomever the Cards draft at the spot, and they will take a pass rusher, I’d think — pans out, the Cards’ pass rush could be formidable, given what they already showed they can do.

Porter and reality

So Joey Porter wouldn’t mind playing for the Cardinals? Given the Cards’ linebacker circumstances — Bertrand Berry retiring, Chike Okeafor likely not returning, Cody Brown and Will Davis still raw — he certainly sounds attractive. Porter had nine sacks for the Dolphins, and while he is 32, he has history with Ken Whisenhunt from their days in Pittsburgh (as well as fellow former Steeler and Colorado State alum Clark Haggans). He also is good in a 3-4 alignment.

But the Cards are trying to get a little younger on defense and that doesn’t necessarily help. If Karlos Dansby leaves as a free agent, it would free up early draft picks for an inside ‘backer if the Cards could nab a pass rusher on the open market.

First, of course, the Dolphins would have to cut Porter, which is no sure thing (although it seems like, through the radio interview linked to above, the Dolphins will want to rid themselves of him). Then we’d have to see what Porter is looking for contractually — because it’s likely a big payday. Do the Chargers or 49ers — the other teams Porter is eyeing — provide a better landing spot.

Plus, I’m not sure how the final eight berth for the Cards would/could affect this situation, seeing that Porter will be released instead of just being an unrestricted free agent.

That’s a lot of hoops to get through before Joey Porter could ever land in Arizona.

Goodbye Bertrand

I’m not going to lie. Professionally, it stunk those three straight years when Bertrand Berry suffered season-ending injuries. Don’t worry, I’m sure it was much harder on Berry, but as a guy who has to get player comments for a living, losing a veteran who was well spoken and who could give you something on almost any trend story or subject around the team is never good.

That’s one of the things I’ll remember most about Berry, who announced his retirement Thursday night. I’ll always remember how, after he made the Pro Bowl in 2004, he told us in a post-practice press conference he preferred to be called “Bertrand” instead of “Bert” — and then always wonder why so many coaches and teammates called him “Bert.” I’ll remember his dominant 2004 performance where he had 14.5 sacks despite not having anyone else to really draw the offense’s blocking attention. I’ll remember him sacking Giants quarterback Kurt Warner four times in a game that year, the game that drove Warner from the starting lineup in New York (and a game neither one really wanted to talk about after they became teammates).

I’ll remember his emotion after the Cards’ playoff run and Super Bowl appearance a year ago. This was a guy who signed as a free agent when Dennis Green arrived, certain Green was the one to lead the Cards’ renaissance. Obviously, that didn’t happen, and the frustration built for Berry over a few seasons, between the losses and the injuries that cost him half a season in 2005, 2006 and 2007. There was also some frustration with his contract the last couple years, as he ended up having to play for a lower salary than he had when he first showed up.

But Berry noted tonight he thought he “played the game the right way” and he’s right. There were times he could have popped off when he was upset and he never did. He tried to play his role and was a big part of the Cards’ turnaround — which is exactly what he always wanted.

Nothing is set yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Berry hang around. He’s had a thing for broadcasting — hosting the “Big Red Rage” radio show for years and attending the NFL’s broadcast boot camp a couple years ago — and maybe something can be worked out with the Cards in such a capacity. Berry did say he was looking for new challenges. That would qualify (and the Cards did just lose Rob Moore to Syracuse ….)

Including playoffs, Berry led the Cardinals with eight sacks this season. In the end, I’ll remember Bertrand’s ability to still have his shining moments on a football field, delivering his trademark whistle pull — he was the B-Train, after all — following every sack. I’ll remember Bertrand Berry going out on his own terms.