Arizona Cardinals and Bill Davis: Evolution Of A Defense

The Arizona Cardinals' season began with a lot of question marks. One of the biggest was how would their defense respond with a new coordinator and a new scheme?

Despite reaching their first ever Super Bowl, Ken Whisenhunt fired Clancy Pendergast afterwards. To those outside of the organization it may have come as a bit of a surprise, since the outstanding play of the defense was no doubt one of the main ingredients in their playoff run. Creating confusion with a lot of movement and offering an endless amount of looks, all of Pendergast's clever ideas came together at the most opportune time.

Until the final drive of the last game. Ben Roethlisberger's two-minute drill ending with Santonio Holmes' perfect catch is now legendary, and perhaps the most glaring example of the weaknesses in Pendergast's schemes.

Yet, Whisenhunt didn't fire him for that. This parting of ways has been in the works since the day he took over as the Cardinals' head coach on January 14, 2007. Pendergast was a leftover from the Dennis Green regime, but Whisenhunt kept him on in the name of continuity.

Whiz prefers a 3-4, but Clancy ran a 4-3. Last season, their second together, they decided upon a 3-4/4-3 hybrid that was likely a friendly compromise, which also held a two-fold purpose: a convenient transition towards this year's full on 3-4, and preparation for life without Clancy Pendergast.

Enter Bill Davis. He was hired to coach the linebackers in Whisenhunt's first year, and has combined his knowledge in the 3-4 with a thorough schooling at the University of Pendergast.

Although his first stint as defensive coordinator did not go so well, as he was fired after two seasons in San Francisco for failing to lift their defense out of the cellar, Davis, like the Cardinals, is putting all of the pieces of the puzzle together now.

Davis' defense shares many of the same characteristics as last year's Cardinals—they are at their best when they are swarming, ball hawking, blitzing, and turnover creating and their athleticism can be intimidating.

Yet there are marked improvements to Davis' squad that can be quantified. They are ranked an impressive seventh in points allowed, compared to 28th last season. In fact that may have been Whisenhunt's biggest complaint with Pendergast , whose defenses were ranked in the bottom third in points allowed annually.

Perhaps even more telling is the Cardinals' third down conversion percentage, currently ranked third in the NFL whereas last year they were a dismal 28th.

They are remarkably No.1 in rush defense, something usually reserved for the Ravens, Vikings, or Steelers. Critics will point to the Cardinals' 29th ranked pass defense, claiming that is the main reason for their rushing D being ranked so high, that teams choose to pass on them instead of run for obvious reasons. Yet they have shut down two Pro Bowl quarterbacks in back to back games.

But stats can only explain so much. What we are witnessing from the Cardinals this year is a team with more focus, more consistency, and more confidence that is growing by the game.

Against the Giants, their tactics were simple yet bold: contain the run by stacking the line, and daring, even bating Eli Manning to try and beat their man-to-man coverage with the pass and he couldn't do it. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie showed us why with his acrobatic, superstar interception in the end zone of a long Eli pass with the score still tied at 0-0. That play set the tone for the game, and perhaps for the rest of the season.