Cardinals Salary Cap

There will always be tough decisions when it comes to a football team, and the Arizona Cardinals are facing a lot right now. It truly was a great ‘08 season for them, as they have reached the Superbowl for the first time and almost won it as well. Now that it’s all over, they are facing a lot of problems, and it would be difficult to return based on their circumstances right now.

For one, they have lost both their defensive coordinator and offensive coordinator. Pendergast may have not been much of a loss, but Todd Haley was an important component of the team’s success. Anquan Boldin is sure that he wants to leave the team, and Kurt Warner is on the fence whether he’d retire or not.

It’s not all bad news for the Cardinals as they still have a lot of cap space. Since it’s defense they need, they’d have enough to sign Julius Peppers since he is clear that he does not want to return to the Panthers. They could also sign defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth of the Titans, and keep Warner as well.

It will be exciting to see how the team will develop this season.

New Head Chief

Just like with everything, we have to move on and look if there are greener pastures out there.  The Cardinals had an amazing run last season, and it was thanks to their unstoppable offense. This could easily attributed to Warner, Fitzgerald, Boldin, and the others but the one that had orchestrated it all it non other than offensive coordinator Todd Haley.

It was during the NFC championships that we witnessed how fired up Haley can get, when he had a moment with Boldin; but that’s ok and it’s all part of the game. Now that the Superbowl is over, everyone is hiring galore.

For the past 2 seasons, the Kansas Chiefs have only won 6 games and are looking to rebuild their team. One of their moves is to hire Todd Haley as their head coach. This is a great idea, considering what he had shown the NFL during the last few seasons, and he will be enough to turn around the  Chiefs.

So what will become of the Cardinals? It really is difficult to say at this point in time. Hopefully Warner does not retire, and Boldin does not leave the team when his contract expires in two years.

Bye Buddy!

Aside from their slightly improved defense, the run of the Arizona Cardinals last season was largely due to their phenomenal offense. It really is difficult to defend against three 1,000 yard recievers, and a quarterback like Kurt Warner as well. They pushed all the way to the Superbowl, and almost had the game if it weren’t for lapses in defense for the last minute. One of the key players of the Cardinals was Anquan Boldin.

Of course we all remember that petty but heated arguement he had on the sidelines with offensive coordinator Haley. That’s over and we can all agree that it was only an isolated incident, and that Boldin truly is an important part of the Cardinal organization. The problem is that he has two years left on his contract, and says that there is only a slim chance that he will be signing with them again.

Well, a reason for this could be that he’s just saying that so he has more leverage when the renewal of his contract will be negotiated. It probably would be easy if Larry Fitzgerald keeps his word. Fitzgerald says that he will do anything to keep Boldin on the team.

Let’s Get Physical

American Football has always been known for it’s hard hits and very physical nature. Once you’re on the field, you more or less expect to inflict and recieve pain. It’s an all out war there and everyone knows it.

This was true when the NFL was just starting out. Slowly, The athelete got bigger and bigger contracts, and soon enough they would become prized possessions of the team owners and coaches wouldn’t want them to get injured. Because of this, the NFL has gotten a lot less physical than before. Evidence of this would be that the field is well spread with wide recievers.

Now that the Suerbowl is coming, it’s refreshing that we have two brave wide recievers out there that like the game being very physical. They wouldn’t mind getting tackled, and would love to inflict damage as well. Both Anquan Boldin and Hines Ward are very ballsy players that are just looking for the adrenaline rush of clashing bodies.

This could be the reason why Boldin has a hamstring injury, and Ward having a sprained knee. Still, it doesn’t bother them one bit and they are most likely looking forward to crushing their opponents when the superbowl arrives.

Larry vs. the Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers don’t need to review much study tapes to figure out that they would need to stop Arizona Cardinals’ wide reciever Larry Fitzgerald to pull of their 6th Superbowl win. It’s so important that they indeed shut him down, but is this possible?

When you think about it, the Steelers have the number 1 spot in the NFL when it comes to defense, and this is thanks to them always being able to shut down the number 1 wide reciever, and constantly sacking the quarterback. This would work well with any other team, but what’s difficult about it is that Fitzgerald is on a roll and probably still has momentum on his side from his last games.

Another thing here is that when the two teams met in 2007, Larry Fitzgerald simply crushed them. He recieved 10 catches for 120 yards and the Cardinals actually won that game. Now you can imagine the pressure they are in simply just to stop Larry.

The problems with Larry don’t stop with him directly, but thinking about Boldin would be important as well. Arizona would surely expect the defense to be all over Fitzgerald, so they might use him to create a diversion for Boldin.

Superbowl Heroes

It’s obvious that the primary objective of playing great at the Superbowl is to win the game. There are still different players out there with different stories to tell. Winning the Superbowl for these men mean a lot more than a championship ring.

One of these stories has got to do with Kurt Warner. Winning this Superbowl would almost automatically earn him a spot in the Hall of Fame. Imagine, if he is able to pull this off, he’d be able to give the Arizona Cardinals a Superbowl Championship; the Arizona Cardinals! Finally, after years of being in the league, this is his chance to prove that he is no mere mortal, and belongs amongst the ranks of the Football gods.

Another player that has a lot to prove here is Anquan Boldin. No matter what explaination he has for what had happened between him and coach Haley, he still has built a bad rep for him, and this will be a chance to create a new image for him. This will prove to be difficult because he is obviously still bothered by his hamstring. If ever he gets a great game, not only will he get out of the shadow of Fitzgerald, but he’ll also be able to secure a spot for him or get a better deal when he becomes a free agent.

It’s Easy to Spell R-O-E-T-H-L-I-S-B-E-R-G-E-R

The Superbowl is very near, and it’s quite obvious that more people are playing Nostradamus and already assuming that the Pittsburgh Steelers will win. Although a lot of elements indeed show that this is the bigger possiblity, there are some factors that say other wise.

This particular Steelers team isn’t exactly the best offensive team in the league; in fact, they even rank 20th. That’s really bad considering that almost the same team ranked 8th when they last won the Superbowl.

Another factor that might say that they might lose is that Whisenhunt pretty much already knows what Roethlisberger will  be doing (plus, its. The Arizona Cardinal coaching staff know most of the personel of the Steelers, as they are pretty much the same team as last year. This means that all they have to do is to adjust accordingly, and target those weaknesses.

Ok, so Arizona isn’t exactly a defensive team, but this is actually the best defense they’ve had in quite a while. You can actually say that it’s one of the best ever in franchise history. While their front runners are their amazing offense, they now have a pretty much decent defense to back them up.

Fitzgerald and Boldin

It was great to see the Arizona Cardinals in action during the playoffs, and they showed that they have a very formidable recieving tandem. Arguably, this Fitzgerald and Boldin are the best recieving tandem in the NFL today, and it would be such a loss for the Cards to lose one of them.

Larry Fitzgerald would renew his contract, and not surprisingly, under better terms. Still, he was thinking what is best for his team and team mate. He said that he is willing to do anything for the benefit of his team, even if it means a personal sacrifice. He said that he would adjust his contract accordingly so that the Cards would be able to keep Boldin.

Anquan Boldin will become a free agent after two more seasons, and hopefully he will still be a part of the cardinals. It would be very tragic indeed for Arizona to lose essential piece of the puzzle.

Fitzgerald and Boldin did great damage to both Carolina and Philly, although Boldin was in the middle of controversy during their last game. According to Boldin, that’s nothing and the press seemed to blow the story. It will be interesting to see the two perform during Superbowl 43.

The Boldin Incident

Anyone who saw the NFC Championship knows what happened between Anquan Boldin and Todd Haley. In case there’s anyone out there that had missed it, there was a heated argument between the two during the fourth quarter of the game. Cameras were able to capture this moment, and it didn’t help that Boldin Rushed right into the locker room right after the game.

The reason for this incident is that Boldin was extremely upset that Haley took him out of the game at such a crucial moment. On Bolidin’s side, it is quite understandable since it was an important game, and considering that he’s been through the tough times of the Cardinals. Of course, Haley has very good reasons.

As a player, you always think that you are 100% but it’s quite different for the person watching you (especially your coach). It was quite obvious to Haley that Boldin was not up to par of his true skills. He just came from an injured hamstring, and his lack of mobility exhibited this. At such a crucial game, you’d want your best players out in the field.

Was Haley’s decision correct? well, it doesn’t take an expert analyst to say that it was. It was a close game during the 4th quarter, and they came off winning it.

The Emotional Coach

Finally, after decades of being the laughing stock of the NFL, the Arizona Cardinals are finally able to reach the Superbowl. There is no question that they have reached the place that they are in right now because of their overwhelming offense. The most obvious front runners of this offense is Kurt Warner, and Larry Fitzgerald. There are also people in the sidelines that are responsible for their amazing offense.

One of the most emotional coaches out their is the cardinals offensive coodrinator, Todd Haley. Thanks to him, the Cardinals now have a chance of getting a Superbowl Championship. When he called out his team and gathered them around before their game against Carolina, he planned on giving them words of encouragement. This is the usual thing he would do before a game, but this time he just could not talk. Instead, he fell silent and went into tears.

During the second half of their game against the Steelers, his emotions went on running again as cameras caught his heated arguement with Anquan Boldin. Boldin was really upset about being taken out of the game, and they went at it but Haley was able to immediately brush it off and concentrate on the game.

Boldin Versus Haley

Being in a team sport means having to deal with different types of people. Differences in background, ideals, and perspectives will always clash with one another, and it all really depends on how you work it out.

If you are especially in a crucial game, it can be quite difficult to help yourself, and you might start to act out of the heat of the moment. This is what happened during the NFC championships between the Cardinals and Eagles.

An argument between Anquan Boldin and Todd Haley was caught on camera as they seemed to be shouting at each other with much heated fashion. Now that makes the job of an offensive coordinator a lot harder when you have a player clawing at you. It also doesn’t help that Boldin left the post game celebrations and went right into the locker room.

In an interview, he cleared that it really wasn’t much of a big deal, and that this sort of thing happens in football all the time. He left early for the locker room to stay away from any questions regarding the incident, but of course, this proved to make things a lot worse.

The hard thing about this is that people start to judge his character based on an isolated incident. He has shown good character and sportsmanship all though out the season.