Arizona Cardinals Playbook Changes Will Be Minor, Unless...

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The topic this article is supposed to address is how staff and player personnel changes are going to impact the Arizona Cardinals’ playbook in 2009.

Defensively, the answer is easy. New defensive coordinator Bill Davis, in accordance with head coach Ken Whisenhunt’s desire to embrace his inner Bill Cowher; is installing the finishing touches on a 3-4 defense for the team, moving away from the hybrid defense deployed by former coordinator Clancy Pendergast.

The thoughts internally are that the hybrid did not fully utilize the players’ strengths. At times last season it seemed that the players were flat out confused by their assignments on given plays.

The hope is that the 3-4 will create more pass-rushing opportunities for outside linebackers Chike Okeafor, who has proven to be a viable pass rusher throughout his career, Clark Haggans, a veteran of the 3-4 from his days in Pittsburgh, and rookie Cody Brown. The two fundamental advantages of the 3-4 are that it’s harder for offensive linemen to correctly identify their blocking assignments pre-snap and it creates more mental pressure on the quarterback, who’s not sure which side the pressure will come from.   

Offensively, the topic of how coaching and player personnel changes will impact the team’s playbook is damn near impossible to address at the end of May. Whereas philosophical shifts on defense make it easier to pinpoint changes, much of a team’s offensive game plan is determined by how specific scenarios, such as injuries or positional battles, play out.

The 2009 Cardinals, in particular, will base much of their offensive game-planning on their player personnel, not their coaching staff’s philosophy.

Sure, I could tell you that head coach Ken Whisenhunt has repeatedly vocalized his desire for a more well-balanced offense during his two-plus years as the team’s head coach, and that his decision to promote the gritty Russ Grimm to running game coordinator seems to indicate a renewed emphasis on this desire.

But then I’d have to tell you that plans to feature the running game more prominently have been laid out, then all but abandoned when the season started in each of the past two years. Whisenhunt has shown a willingness to put his ego on the back-burner during his tenure with the Cardinals; when he realized that the team’s best chance to win was to let Kurt Warner put the ball in the air and let one of the team’s two Pro-Bowl caliber receivers come down with it, that’s what he did.

The team’s offense has been prolific even without a solid running game. Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, with an occasional cameo from Steve Breaston, have been so good that, even though defensive coordinators know the ball is going in the air, they still have had no answers.

The running game, for the most part, has been an after-thought for much of the past two years. There are some who make the argument that the battle to be the starting running back will be a key battle in this year’s training camp. I disagree for two reasons. One is that the current trend in the NFL is to platoon at running back, so the line between “starter” and “back up” is growing ever more blurry and both will get their fair share of carries. The other more important point, as I stated above, is that the Cardinals, as things stand right now, will go only as far as their passing game takes them.  

With all due respect to Beanie Wells, he is about to enter his rookie season, so expecting him to be the &ldqu

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