Why I Haven't Blogged So Far This Season (Til Now)  -- Friday Nov. 25, 2011 -- Short answer: There's little good to write home about, and I don't have all the answers anyway. Most of my energy has been channeled toward making our 94-year old Mom's final days on this earth as happy, productive and least painful as possible. But here we are - right after Thanksgiving; with the Cardinals winning only 3 games and fighting to stay out of the NFC West cellar. What gives?

So What's With the Cardinals? - The Kevin Kolb transition has been far from perfect (By no means is he playing to the level of Alex Smith let alone Aaron Rodgers). Blame it on the Lockout...or Kevin's inexperience...his injured foot...or whatever; the bottom line is that he hasn't performed consistently well enough for us to consistently win. His replacement (John Skelton) played marginally better and oversaw two consecutive wins, but then laid a big egg vs. SF last Sunday when he threw 3 picks and completed fewer than 33% of his passes. Beanie Wells has been playing hurt. While we've been more consistent picking up yardage in the "3-yards between the tackles" category. Beanie (whose knee is still sore) has been more effective running straight ahead than cutting back or gaining the corner. While (thank goodness) Fitz continues to be Fitz, the other Cardinal receivers - while flashing signs of talent - haven't been getting open or holding onto difficult passes consistently enough.

A major part of the problem lies in the inept play of our offensive line (especially at both tackles). Every pass play is an adventure. To be blunt, any lesser QB's than Kolb, Skelton or Bartell would be thrown around like bean-bags and would probably would all be on IR by now; but because they're somehow able to usually get rid of the ball before getting nailed, they merely look ineffective throwing the ball. They have scant time to get their passes off let alone make the right reads and locate the open man. For this I blame Cardinal ownership and the staff they've hired for not identifying what has been a chronic problem since the days of Joe Bugel and never properly addressed.

By contrast, our defense and special teams have more often than not played heroically - tough in the red zone; batting down passes, blocking FG's, returning punts for long TD's, but (perhaps due to the short off-season) had difficulty learning the intracies of Ray Horton's aggressive defense. This plus injuries to a starting CB and FS resulting in our relying on a couple of "kindergarten corners" who've taken longer than expected for their playing techniques to catch up with their raw talent along with the loss of our game-breaking capability at FS and the Cardinal deep secondary was burnt early and often. To some degree, the Cardinal Front Seven was able to cover for our weaknesses at corner, but our OLB play (which in Horton's schemes has to be lights-out) was just so-so. Youngsters Acho and Schofield were elevated to starters recently and show signs of making more game-changing plays. Meanwhile, Patrick Peterson's spectacular punt return production and Calais Campbell's FG blocking derring-do would make headlines had our W & L record been better.

Meanwhile, Cardinal diehards have been reaching for Dr. Kevorkian's page on the old Roladex and pretty much acting like crazy people regularly calling for Wiz and Rod Graves to be fired, the Bidwills to sell the team and major roster changes to be made in the middle of the season. I can't blame 'em, but happen to remain a member of the "Be careful what you wish for" brigade. I'd caution us all to keep our panties dry til the end of the season, continue to support the team and undertake a thorough and comprehensive review of all areas of the franchise - with the ultimate goal doing what needs to be done to restore us  to Playoff and Super Bowl status (along with the caveat that we should err on the side of being too aggressive than we should on the side of being too conservative and timid. In short: Fix the bleepin' offensive line!

Harbaugh vs. Harbaugh - SInce Realignment, I've been conditioned to hate the teams in our division (especially the Niners) in a manner similar to my previous distaste for the Cowboys (aka "Team Felon"). I'm having trouble hating the Niners. The main reason is that their head coach (Jim Harbaugh) has gone about turning around and building his team the right way. True the Niners have talented players on their roster (including Vernon Davis, Frank Gore, Crabtree, Ginn, Willis, Justin Smith etc.) but they seldom do a lot of spectacular stuff - they just don't get very many penalties, turn over the ball a lot or give up many long plays. They just beat you with sound schemes and good techniques and just lay in the weeds waiting for their opponents to do something really stupid (which inevitably they do). You get the feeling that Harbaugh "keeps it simple" and has gotten his players to zero in on the few things each player has to do to help his team win. And it works.

Regular Season Kicks Off Sunday -- Holmdel, NJ   -- Wed. Sept. 7, 2011 -- Considering  the disclocation and domino-style fall-out created by the lockout during the past half-year, the return to the normalcy of a regular season of football is long-awaited and welcome. We face the Panteras at home (click here for our in-depth preview and matchups). Facing a new coaching staff and the challenge that rookie phenom, Cam Newton presents with his size, strength, arm and mobility, figures to make the opening game all the more interest. I like our  chances, but it ain't gonna be no cakewalk.

Sturdivant and Talley "Make it Back on the Island" - LB Quan Sturdivant and DL Ronald Talley cleared the waiver process and were signed to fill the final two vacancies on the Practice Squad.

No National TV for Cardinals -- Holmdel, NJ   -- Tues. April 19  -- With the exception of one Saturday afternoon (which, for most teams, replaces Christmas which falls on a Sunday) all Cardinal 2011 games will either be scheduled for the "first" or "second" Sunday game (when most of the teams play). When you go 5 & 11, things like that happen. Highlights of the schedule.

• Cards open at home against the Panteras.

• Followed by 2 away games vs. Washington and the Seahawks.

• Then the Giants come in to play us in Glendale.

• Followed by an away  game vs. the Vikes

• And then the BYE Week in Week 6.

• Which means 3 of our first 5 games before the BYE are on the road.

• We have a stretch of three consecutive road games (11/13 in Philly, 11/20 in San Francisco and 11/27 (Thanksgiving Week Sunday) in St. Louis.

• But this also means we havea stretch of three consecutive home games 12/4 (Dallas), 12/11 (Niners) and 12/18 Browns.

• Our final game on New Years Day  is vs. Seattle which (if the division race hasn't been decided) could be a doozie.

• If you assume that rotten winter weather doesn't start til after Halloween, our only potential bad-weather games could be in Philly (Nov. 13), San Francisco (Nov. 20) and Cincinnati (Dec. 14).

So that's the deal: Other than no nationally televised games, we came out pretty good (plus - the benefit of not having any SNF, MNF, ThN or Sat. nationally televised games is that there are no overly short or long work-weeks - everything from week to week figures to be "normal." The full schedule is posted on the Highlights summary page.

2011 Schedule to be announced tonight -- Holmdel, NJ   -- Tues. April 19  -- It's kind of anticlimactic given the lockout, but - aside from the Draft - what else is there to talk about. Each Spring when the new schedule is announced, I think about the follwing issues:

• No, I don't worry that much about individual team matchups (Too many things can affect an opponent during the offseason - last year's patsy can become this year's champ. And vice versa).

• Nor do I worry  all that much about playing games against teams common to the NFL West (since - with the exception of, perhaps, 4 games, all four teams in our division will play commont opponents).

• The first things I look for are if we play any SNF, MNF, ThNF or Sat. nationally televised games  (a matter pride and ego but also a source of short and long work-weeks and a potential disrupter of normal between-game routines).

• I also want to know how the start of our season stacks up - do we open on the road (again!!!!) Are the majority of our first 4 - 6 games road games or away games?

• When's the Bye Week? (Too early? Too late? Just right)?

• Do we have any long streaks (i.e. 3 or more games) on the road or at home?

• What about potential "snow games" or other inclement games in the raw, windy Northeast?

• Dome games vs. Indoor games? (All of these things can negatively or positively impact a QB's ability to drive the ball, punter's directional skills or a kicker's consistency putting the ball deep into the end zone).

• From the standpoint of "personal convenience", I also want to know when we play the early Sunday game or late Sunday afternoon game in the Northeast to figure out when there may be potential beach-day conflicts (early in the season) or dinner-hour conflicts  (throughout the season).

Other than these things, I really don't give a rat's damn (heh, heh, heh) about the 2011 schedule;

Cards Hire New Defensive Coordinator -- Holmdel, NJ   -- Thurs. Feb. 10  -- Welcome to the off-season. Very little of substance happened to the Cardinals between Thanksgiving and the Super Bowl. On hold were personnel changes - especially at QB -  (complicated to some degree by uncertainty over the CBA). We knew that DC Billy Davis had been released, but would probably have to wait until the Steelers were eliminated from playoff/Super Bowl contention so that we could talk to one of a bunch of Pittsburgh defensive coaches.

The first of what will probably be several shoes dropped yesterday with the announcement that Pittsburgh Secondary Coach, Ray Horton would be the new Cardinals' defensive coordinator. The move came as no surprise to some observers. Head coach Ken Whisenhunt appeared quite focused on completing the transition to a Dick LeBeau zone-blitz oriented 3-4 Steeler defense. His coaching search started at the top - with Dick LeBeau (who - in his early sixties and a revered fixture in Pittsburgh - opted to remain a Steeler presumably until he decides to hang up his clipboard). Next in the pecking order was LB Coach Keith Butler (but the Steelers refused to let the Cardinals interview him). Next on the list was Horton - a 16 year NFL coaching veteran who was said to be actively pursued by the Cardinals and the Cowboys.

Cards evidentally won out, and (according to unconfirmed reports) the dominos immediately began to tumble. Here's what we know (or think we know):

• Cards have released DB Coach Donnie Henderson and assistant DB coach Rick Courtright

• Horton is expected to add former Cincy DB assistant Louise Cioffi and former Steeler DB DeShea Townsend

• QB Coach Chris Miller says he will return (but could be offered and conceivably accept) a head coaching position at Southern Oregon.

• Meanwhile the QB rumor-lines continue to buzz with the names, Marc Bulger and Kevin Kolb continuing to remain on everyone's radar screens.

One thing we're picking up early about our new DC is his commitment to an in-your-face/pressure-filled approach to defensive footballl. (i.e.  according to Horton, "it will be less about 'here we go!" and more about "here we come!")

Combine starts in 2 - 3 weeks. League and NFLPA negotiations seem to be progressing at a high-drama, herky-jerk pace. What I'm doing is setting up player write-ups for the Red Sheet Annual 2011 Draft Edition and hope to have basic player scouting info up by the start of the Combine. Right now (if the draft were to be held today), my top 5 for the Cardinals (order of preference) would be 1. LB/DE Von Miller, 2. LT Costanzo, 3. DT Fairly, 4. QB Gabbert, 5. LB Matthews. This list, no doubt, will change - with updated workout scores and player info continues to flow in.

That's about it for now. Catch you later.