Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.
After astonishing everyone and heading to the Super Bowl last season, the Arizona Cardinals now face truly raised expectations for the first time in memory. We all remember the magical postseason run, when Larry Fitzgerald established himself as the NFL's premier wideout (even if Andre Johnson wants to argue), Kurt Warner polished his legacy, and the defense showed its capability -- one we had not seen much in the regular season.
After a slow start, Super Bowl XLIII finished with an explosion of big plays, capped by Santonio Holmes' incredible sideline TD grab to give the Steelers the 27-23 win, as well as Pittsburgh's sixth Super Bowl championship. Relive the big game with our live blog recap.
After watching the Cardinals offensive line extensively during the season, I thought I had them figured out. Left tackle Mike Gandy was a solid, if unspectacular blocker. Guard Reggie Wells was very good, center Lyle Sendlein was a good tactician who could be overpowered, guard Deuce Lutui were solid enough and right tackle Levi Brown was a disaster. And that was when they were pass blocking, when it came to run blocking, they all struggled.
So what happens when the playoffs arrive? Gandy shut down John Abraham and dominated Julius Peppers. Brown has gone from slow-footed penalty magnet to a right tackle who eliminates his man, while the interior of the Cardinals line has been impenetrable. And in 95 pass attempts during the playoffs, Warner has only been sacked three times.
We have the Falcons, who are just a year away from being the league's laughingstock with a quarterback in prison and a coach who bailed the first time things got tough, against the Cardinals, who make the playoffs about as often as Vanderbilt wins a bowl game.
The Cardinals wrapped up a playoff spot weeks ago, but they're considered potential frauds because of their easy NFC West schedule. The Falcons had to wait a while longer, and they have to carry some skepticism because they've gone from being considered one of the league's worst teams to a playoff team in the span of three months and conventional wisdom often takes longer than that to catch up.
But both of these teams are only three wins away from the Super Bowl. It doesn't matter how they got here, as a couple of wins and fans can start dreaming of a trip to Tampa--even if there aren't enough Cardinals fans to sell out their stadium, much less to travel to the Super Bowl.
In doing these Between The Lines posts, it's always interesting to see if mismatches jump out, or if there is a player that seems either underrated or overrated.
Normally it doesn't happen. The conventional wisdom on most teams is pretty accurate, and it's really hard to find a stud on the offensive or defensive line that hasn't been noticed at all. But as the Falcons get ready to play the Cardinals this weekend, there is a mismatch that jumps out from paying attention to the two team's lines: if the Falcons are wise with where they line up John Abraham, he could dominate this game.
There are a lot of factors to consider in Saturday's game: how will Matt Ryan react to his first playoff start, can the Cardinals slow down Michael Turner and is the Cardinals' triple-threat at receiver too much for the Falcons secondary, but as I see it, this game will first be decided by whether the Cardinals can block Abraham.
There are a lot of maybe's and could be's surrounding the Arizona Cardinals these days, but coach Ken Whisenhunt is preparing for all of them.
Rookie tackle Levi Brown, who has primarily played on the right side, could stay on the left side this weekend if Mike Gandy (calf) is unable to play. Replacing Brown at right tackle would be guard Elton Brown, who has spent the majority of his career as a back-up. And while all that seems like the beginnings of a migraine, Arizona seems ready for the situation.
Levi Brown said the main hurdle in switching from the right to the left side is "getting used to left-handed stance and switching the plays over in your head."
"I had gotten the plays down to where I don't have to think about anything."
Brown had a couple of problems with the switch at Washington but in general - considering he'd missed three games with an ankle injury and was playing a new position - "I think he performed very well," coach Ken Whisenhunt said.
Meanwhile, Karlos Dansby said he's "50-50" on returning this week, which is 50% more than two weeks ago against Washington.
The linebacker sprained his knee early in week six against the Carolina Panthers and has been sidelined ever since.
When the Seahawks have the ball: There's no denying that Shaun Alexander is Seattle's biggest offensive threat, and that won't change this weekend. Although Arizona's somewhat suspect defense did a great job containing Frank Gore on Monday night, it will not stop the Seahawks from running early and often. However, they'll certainly be hoping for better results than last year, in which the Cardinals held Alexander to a 3.4 yards per carry average.
For the Cardinals defense, they'll be looking for more of the same. While things weren't always statistically pretty, they were able to keep themselves in each game last year. Even if Alexander and Matt Hasselback have huge yardage games, holding Seattle to 21 points or below would be a huge moral victory, and possibly enough to steal a win.
Here's something you don't heard very often: The Cardinals did an excellent job with the contract for offensive lineman Mike Gandy. The Cardinals did an excellent job? You know, I could really get used to saying that -- hopefully I will.
When the Cardinals first signed Gandy the contract numbers seemed a bit high. Not that it was a bad thing, especially considering the Bidwill's rarely spend any money. I was just taken back a bit by the number figures for a player that teams seemed to have little interest in. However, according to an East Valley Tribune report, the contract was well put together and will have minimal cap implications for the 2007 season.
The contract, which was worth $14 million with $5 million in bonuses, it heavily back loaded. It will only the cost the Cardinals $600,000 in 2007 and would also allow the team to cut Gandy without risk of a huge penalty if he does not perform well next season. If Gandy does play well and sticks around his cap figures will increase to $3.5 million in 2008 and $5 million in 2009.
According to Rotoworld and the East Valley Tribune, the Arizona Cardinals are currently in contract talks with free agent offensive lineman Mike Gandy (Buffalo). This is good news for Cardinals fans as the team continues their search to replace the departed Leonard Davis. I know some of you are probably saying "but isn't Gandy a guard?" While he did play guard last season, he started all 16 games at tackle in 2005.
He's a very versatile offensive lineman with starting experience and the ability to fill many holes. Despite the improved performance at the end of last season, the Cardinals still need to work on that line. There were probably mixed feelings when Davis left but after seeing the money he got, I say adios. The best days of his career were the final eight games of last season; he was quite expendable.
Gandy (on paper) seems like an adequate replacement for Davis. There are some concerns with his pass blocking and durability but they are probably easy fixes for Russ Grimm. If nothing else, he would add an accomplished run blocker for Edgerrin James who will look to improve on his 2006 campaign.
Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.
After watching the Cardinals offensive line extensively during the season, I thought I had them figured out. Left tackle 
Stay on top of all the postseason action with 
In doing these 
There are a lot of maybe's and could be's surrounding the Arizona Cardinals these days, but coach Ken Whisenhunt is preparing for all of them.
To get you ready for week 2, 
Here's something you don't heard very often: The Cardinals did an excellent job with the contract for offensive lineman Mike Gandy. The Cardinals did an excellent job? You know, I could really get used to saying that -- hopefully I will.
According to Rotoworld and the East Valley Tribune, the Arizona Cardinals are 
