One random, quick thought

While reflecting on Super Bowl XLIII one wonders if it is not as significant for what we did not see as for what we did.

Specifically, after some pre-game talk about Arizona's trick plays we saw none.

Big plays, yes. Trick plays, not so much.

Cardinals' Saturday Pool Report

Mike Sando served as the pool reporter at the Arizona practice on Saturday. We present the report in its entirety, as provided by the NFL (with small formatting changes).

TAMPA, Fla. -- The NFC Champion Arizona Cardinals completed their final preparations for Super Bowl XLIII with a walk-through practice under clear skies Saturday at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' facility.

"I think we had a good week of work," coach Ken Whisenhunt said.

The Cardinals kept the atmosphere relaxed as the team completed brief sessions for offense, defense and special teams. About 300 friends and family members watched most of the roughly 35-minute session. They mingled on the field after practice. Some posed for pictures with Whisenhunt and other members of the organization.

"There are so many sacrifices made by families to allow our players and our team to get here," Whisenhunt said. "This is something that is special and I think it's important that you enjoy that together."

Some players traded jerseys as is sometimes customary for these walk-through practices. Kicker Neil Rackers wore the No. 90 assigned to defensive tackle Darnell Dockett, for example.

The Cardinals reported no new injuries. All players participated in the walk-through.

"Everybody looks pretty good as far as getting through," Whisenhunt said. "I know there were a couple of guys listed on the report as questionable, but barring something else coming up, which today nothing came up, I don't anticipate that they will not play."

Cardinals' Friday Pool Report

John Czarnecki served as the pool reporter at the Arizona practice on Friday. We present the report in its entirety, as provided by the NFL (with small formatting changes). Of note is the fact that the Cardinals know how to travel, Kurt Warner looked especially sharp, and Neil Rackers tried to bust some windows.

The sun came out for the final 45 minutes of practice as the Arizona Cardinals wrapped up their last major day of work in preparation for Super Bowl XLIII. The team plans a final walk-through Saturday morning for about 30 minutes at the Tampa Bay Bucs’ facility. They will not be visiting Raymond James Stadium prior to the game.

“I thought it was a good week of work,” Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt said after practice. “You always wonder when you go on the road and your team is practicing in another facility if your team is going to have the consistency that you’ve had. No question that it helped us that we’ve already done this once this season.”

Whisenhunt was referring to the week-long stay the Cardinals made in the Washington, D.C. area between the Sept. 21 game against the Redskins and the following Sunday’s a game in the Meadowlands against the New York Jets.

“I think it got us used to staying in a hotel, practicing on someone else’s field while also having to bus around all week,” he said. “These were very similar conditions this week.”

Starting quarterback Kurt Warner may have had his best throwing day of the week on Friday, misfiring on only three passes during the two hour and 20-minute practice.

“Kurt looked like he’s been looking,” Whisenhunt said. “He was consistent and made some good throws. He looked sharp.”

The Cardinals spent a concentrated period of time in the middle of practice working on punt protection, but the highlight of special team drills was when kicker Neil Rackers bounced three consecutive 20-yard field goals off the second-floor windows of the Bucs’ facility.”

“It seemed like it fired up a lot of the guys,” Whisenhunt said. “I think some of them wanted to see (a window go).”

Whisenhunt declined to reveal what he said to his players in a three-minute huddle at the end of the day. And also whatever plans he has for the weekend. His team will have a curfew tonight and Saturday night. The last no-curfew night for the players was Tuesday.

Cardinals' Thursday Pool Report

John Czarnecki served as the pool reporter at the Arizona practice on Thursday. We present the report in its entirety, as provided by the NFL (with small formatting changes). Of note is the fact that some Cardinals' scout teams players are dressing up as Steelers, players who are on the injury report as having limited participation in practice may have been a bit more active than one might believe, and Neil Rackers had an iffy day.

Well, the rains came about an hour into practice, but the Arizona Cardinals continued to work through a steady drizzle before completing a 2-hour and 15-minute practice at the Tampa Bay Bucs’ practice facility. Coach Ken Whisenhunt kept most of the work on the center field of the three-field complex.

“I think it helped us because it didn’t bother us,” Whisenhunt said of the conditions. “We focused on what we were doing and I think we had really good work again today. Who knows? It’s not supposed to be like this on game day, but if it does rain at least we got a lot of work in with wet balls and operating on a field that is a little bit wet. The thing I was most pleased with was that we were able to continue our work and perform without letting it distract us.”

This was the team’s first practice rain since the memorable rainstorm last Christmas Day in Tempe, Az.

“But it was about 40 degrees that day and it rained a lot harder than this,” Whisenhunt said. “It was a constant rain. We had puddles on the field and that’s something you never see in Arizona. It was miserable.”

Arizona’s injured defensive players Travis LaBoy and Antonio Smith both worked extensively while running back J.J. Arrington did some offensive reps, but was held out of special teams’ work at the end of practice.

“We were worried about him slipping and doing something to his knee,” Whisenhunt said of Arrington.

For the two major practices here, the Cardinals have had scout defensive players wear the jersey numbers for Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley and Pro Bowl safety Troy Polamalu.

“It helps our receivers and Kurt (Warner) in order to identify defenses,” Whisenhunt said of the common practice method. “Where a certain defensive player shows up, you may have plays predicated off of that. Now, this is something we do all year on a weekly basis. I saw one thing this year before Tennessee played Pittsburgh they had a player running around on the field with a big long wig hanging out of his helmet to impersonate Troy (Polamalu).”

Cardinals field goal kicker Neil Rackers had one close call with the left upright in special team drills. He bounced a 37-yarder off the upright that went through for a good kick and later barely snuck another kick through from the same distance before drilling his last kick, a 42-yarder deep solid perfect.

Cardinals' Wednesday Pool Report

John Czarnecki served as the pool reporter at the Arizona practice on Wednesday. We present the report in its entirety, as provided by the NFL (with small formatting changes). There is not much here, except for those Steelers' fans who were hoping that Anquan Boldin might not be ready to play.

The NFC Champion Arizona Cardinals conducted a fast-paced practice for two hours and 15 minutes at the Bucs’ facility and when it was over as many as 20 players, guys like Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald, hung around to keep working on individual aspects of their game.

“A lot of those guys have been doing that all year and it’s helped us, too,” Arizona Coach Ken Whisenhunt said of the post-practice period. Overall, Whisenhunt was pleased with his team’s first work here. “It was much better than our normal Wednesday practices because we installed much of our offense and defense last week in Arizona,” he said, “so this was more review than working on new stuff like during the regular season.”

All of Arizona’s injured players like linebacker Travis LaBoy and defensive end Antonio Smith practiced although on a limited basis. Wide receiver Anquan Boldin participated fully and showed no effects of a hamstring injury that caused him to miss the Divisional Playoff game against Carolina.

“He looked good today and he also looked good late last week,” Whisenhunt said of Boldin. “We took a little easier on him early last week just to be safe.”

The Cardinals opened practice, as is their custom, with 20 minutes of walk-through work for the both the offense and defense and then 12 minutes of special teams work before joining together for team stretching. In the remainder of the drills, the players were in helmets and shoulder pads and shorts.

Most of the team periods would last between eight to 10 plays. Interestingly, in one offensive pass skeleton drill backup Matt Leinart attempted one more pass than starter Kurt Warner. However, in another full team drill Warner took all the snaps as he did in the final five-play session of the day.

But the best pass completion of the day might have been third-stringer Brian St. Pierre’s sideline throw and catch by rookie Lance Long, a practice player, against the first team defense.

“We like to keep all of our quarterbacks involved,” Whisenhunt said. “It’s the only way to keep them sharp and I think that’s important. Basically, we are trying to keep to the same routine as we possibly can. For the last four weeks our (practice) tempo has been good as it has been all season.”

So what happened to the Cardinals?

Heading into these playoffs there may not have been a more lightly regarded participant than the Arizona Cardinals. After losing four of their final six games by a combined score of 198-125 few, if any, experts viewed Arizona as a serious contender for Super Bowl XLIII. Of course we all know what's happened so far; but, as always, we wonder why? What our examination revealed is that there is not any one, definitive factor. Rather there are a number of contributing factors, some of which we include here:

1. A genuine commitment to running the ball: If Arizona wins the Super Bowl this may be the reason. Despite shutting down Darren Sproles in the San Diego game, the Steelers surrendered 73 yards of rushing versus Baltimore, and gave 95 yards or more in each of their final five regular season games. Meanwhile Arizona, which averaged 73.6 yards of rushing in sixteen regular season games has averaged 111.0 yards rushing in their three playoff games (an increase of 33.7%). The interesting aspect of this change is that the per rush average during the playoffs is actually lower than their per rush average during the regular season (3.3. yards during the playoffs versus 3.5 during the regular season).
   
   The real change is in the play calling (specifically outside of the red zone) ~ during the entire regular season the Cardinals rushed the ball 340 times (a per game average of 21.25), but in three playoff games the they have already rushed the ball 100 times (a per game average of 33.33). It may be obvious, but this change in play calling is most evident in the early downs. For example, according to statistics provided by the NFL, during the regular season, when facing first-and-10, the Cardinals ran the ball 42.82% of the time. However, when facing that same situation in the playoffs they have called a running play 67.57% of the time. The change in play calling on second down is just as stark. During the regular season Todd Haley's offense was more likely to throw than to run in every situation except second-and-one. Conversely, during the playoffs the offense has run more than pass in every situation except second-and-six (60% pass), second-and-seven (80% pass), second-and-eight (57.14% pass), and second-and-ten (67.67% pass).


2. Turnover differential: During the regular season Arizona was tied for seventeenth in turnover differential with a differential of 0 (i.e. the number of turnovers they committed was equal to the number their defense forced). By way of comparison the Steelers were tied for eleventh with a +4. However during the playoffs the Cardinals lead all teams with a +9 turnover differential, powered in large part to the exceptional game the defense had versus Carolina (they were a +5 in that game alone). After averaging nearly two turnovers per game during the regular season (30 in 16 games) the Cardinals have turned the ball over three times in three playoff games (two interceptions and one lost fumble). Perhaps even more importantly, after having forced thirty turnovers in sixteen regular season games the Arizona defense has forced 12 in three playoff games. By way of comparison, the Steelers are #2 in playoff turnover differential with a +5.


3. Larry Fitzgerald: Anyone who has participated in a fantasy football league knows that the kickers always lead the league in scoring. So it is was with some amazement that we discovered that, in the playoffs, Larry Fitzgerald is the leading scorer on the Arizona Cardinals (he currently leads kicker Neil Rackers in scoring 30-25). During the regular season Mr. Fitzgerald averaged 14.9 yards per reception and had 12 touchdown receptions. During the playoffs he has averaged 18.2 yards per catch (an increase of 18.2%) and has 5 touchdown receptions. The loss of Anquan Boldin was supposed to hurt the Cardinals. Instead it provided a challenge, and opportunity, for Mr. Fitzgerald to elevate his play ~ a challenge he has met, and an opportunity of which he has taken full advantage.

Let's Hope the past is not prologue

Obviously all Steelers fans recall that Pittsburgh and Arizona played one another almost 16 months ago (September 30, 2007), and those same fans recall the inglorious outcome of that game ~ a 14-21 loss in the desert.

There are a couple of basic points of football that were on display that day that should serve as a warning for the Steelers and their fans.

1. Penalties are almost as bad as turnovers: In last season's game the Steelers were flagged for 11 penalties, by far their highest total of the 2007 season, for 72 yards, their second highest total of penalty yards last season (they had 8 penalties for 100 yards on 11/18/07). Of course some penalties are more detrimental than others, and the Steelers had some that were particularly onerous:
   
   
   • A third quarter, personal foul, taunting call against Ike Taylor at the Steelers 24 yard line gave Arizona first-and-ten at the Steelers 12 yard line. Arizona scored the tying touchdown two plays later.
   
   
   • On the ensuing possession, Kendall Simmons committed a false start thereby transforming third-and-four into third-and-nine, the Steelers failed to convert and were forced to punt (there were several of this variety).
   
   
   • In the fourth quarter, on a fourth-and-fifteen punt, Carey Davis was called for being downfield prematurely on coverage, the Steelers were forced to re-kick, and Steve Breaston returned that kick for a touchdown.
   
   
2. Special teams have to be special: During the 2008 regular season the Steelers' coverage teams performed well, with the kick coverage unit coming in as #1 in the league. However, in the meeting between these two teams in the 2007 regular season the Cardinals abused the Steelers' coverage units.
   
   There was the aforementioned punt return for a touchdown, but on three other punts Mr. Breaston averaged 9.3 yards per return ~ the result was that Daniel Sepulveda ended up with a Bergeresque 34.1 yard net punting average. As if that was not enough Mr. Breaston also averaged 27.5 yards on his two kickoff returns. So far this postseason the Cardinals are averaging 4.0 yards per punt return and 21.0 yards per kick return.


3. Penalties are almost as bad as turnovers, but not quite: In the 2007 regular season game between these two teams the Steelers led at halftime 7-0. In the third quarter, thanks in part to the previously referenced taunting call on Ike Taylor, the Cardinals scored to tie the game. On the Cardinals' next possession Kurt Warner fumbled the ball at the Cardinals' own 18 yard line, and James Harrison recovered the ball at the Arizona 4 yard line. After two running plays gained a total of two yards, Ben Roethlisberger went back to pass ~ and promptly threw an interception to Adrian Wilson in the Arizona end zone.
   
   Need we say anything more?