The Arizona Cardinals: The Pittsburgh Steelers Of The West?

Imitation is the greatest form of flattery, so imitating the greatest franchise in NFL history is never a bad thing. 

The Cardinals and Steelers sure have gone their separate ways since they played together in 1944 as the Car-Pitts, and maybe finally the Cardinals are catching back up again, by joining forces with the Steelers, or ex-Steelers coach.

As Todd Haley takes his fiery, dictatorship style over to the Chiefs, and the always gambling Clancy Pendergast joins him as his new DC, we have to wonder, what will our offense and defense look like next year? 

Ken Whisenhunt has taken over the play calling duties, meaning—along with the drafting of Chris Wells—we will see a slight shift in how the offense is run. Coach Whisenhunt believes in a ball control type of offense and not making mistakes.

That doesn't mean we are going to see the Cardinals abandon what got them there in the passing game. What it means is we will see them try and establish the run early in the game, and if that doesn't work, Kurt Warner will begin to fling it around the field.

Along with Whisenhunt, Russ Grimm will be in charge of the offense. No he will not be calling plays, but he will be in charge of the running game. 

I mean literally, the running game with the title "Running Game Coordinator". We will see more power running plays, especially between the tackles.

So, will we see less of the passing game, yes and that is a good thing. The Cardinals need to be able to establish the run, play physical, ware defenses down, and give their defense rest on the sidelines. 

Too much of the time, the Cardinals used their short passing game as a pseudo run game. That should not happen this year.

The biggest change overall in the offensive playbook will be the necessity of keeping Warner healthy. 

This offensive transformation will not be quick, but it also should not be painful, as there will be little movement within the lineup as Wells should really be the only new face on the offensive side of the ball.

Defensively there have been some big changes, mainly on placing a lot of pressure on the rookies who were drafted this year. Bill Davis will move from the Coach of Linebackers, to the Defensive Coordinator and with that transition we should see a more steadying influence on the defensive side of the ball.

Clancy Pendergast was an innovative DC, but he took too many risks and did not always put his players in the best position to make plays. Davis will change that, and should run a more traditional base 34 defense. 

The defensive line will consist of a rotation of Bryan Robinson, Alan Branch, and Gabe Watson rotating at the nose tackle position. 

At defensive end we can expect to see Darnell Docket on one side and Calais Campbell getting the first shot on the other side. 

At the line backing position, Travis LaBoy was released, so that means Cody Brown, this year's second round pick, will get a lot of looks as a pass rushing linebacker. Karlos Dansby is the big name, but don't let that fool you, Gerald Hayes is the backbone of this core. 

In the defensive backfield, we have the defensive leader in Adrian Wilson. He will look to help Greg Toler, a fourth round selection this year, to speed up his learning curve and be able to make an impact this year. 

This is necessary because of the release of Rod Hood, a veteran defensive back, with big game experience.

The defensive backs should benefit the most from the defensive coordinator switch, as they will be put on an island less under Bill Davis' defensive schemes. You will see more of a mix in blitzing linebackers, meaning it will not be mostly Chike Okeafor dropping into coverage. 

Much like the Steelers do, the Cardinals are trying to get more linebackers who can both rush the passer and drop into coverage. They want their defensive line to make good penetration at the point of attack and occupy blockers in order for the backers' to be able to freely move and make plays.

Whisenhunt and the other coaches are slowly matriculating the Steelers mentality and game plan into their training facilities in Tempe. This will become more and more evident as we prepare for life after Warner.