FanHouse RoderickHood

Tuesday afternoon, the Chicago Bears announced via press release they have agreed to a one-year contract with cornerback Roderick Hood. In and of itself, this isn't terribly huge news, considering Hood was recently cut from the Cleveland Browns. The issue at hand, though, is the overall health of the Bears' secondary.

Between Charles Tillman, Nathan Vasher and Zackary Bowman, the Bears were expected to have their two starting cornerbacks and one solid backup. Instead, both Bowman and Tillman are hurt. Tillman doesn't expect to be ready for the final preseason game and he's even worried he won't be ready for the Week 1 tilt in Green Bay.

It was nearly a year ago that then-Browns lost cornerback Daven Holly blew out his knee in organized team activities. He missed the 2008 season, and his absence, along with Gary Baxter never working out in Cleveland, meant the team had to rely on Brandon McDonald and Eric Wright.

Both were second-year players, and although Wright showed promise, McDonald was out his depth from the start. I wouldn't argue that losing Holly opened the flood gates on a four-win season -- Derek Anderson misfiring balls all over the yard gets the blue ribbon for that -- but it didn't help, either.

In a cost-cutting measure after the NFL Draft, the Arizona Cardinals released cornerback Roderick Hood, despite being only a year removed from his 5-interception campaign. It doesn't appear the 27-year-old is going to have a tough time finding work for this upcoming season. In fact, he'll likely be able to land a starting job.

According to Pro Football Talk, the Rams have made a formal contract offer to Hood, but that's not where the interest ends. Next, he's off to Chicago to visit the Bears, and the Lions and Browns are also interested.

Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 2009 Draft Grades.

Assuming the loss of last year's offensive coordinator Todd Haley -- and also assuming they keep Anquan Boldin around and happy -- doesn't prove catastrophic, the Arizona Cardinals have built one juggernaut of an offense. Along with Kurt Warner, two of the league's best wideouts, a quality slot receiver and Tim Hightower, the Cardinals have now added an NFL-ready every down back for good balance. Edgerrin James was on his last legs in 2008, and Hightower isn't suited to handle a full load. Enter: Chris "Beanie" Wells.

Heading into free agency, most people assumed that former Steeler Bryant McFadden would be in demand, perhaps even the first cornerback to ink a big-money deal. Ten days and a handful of defensive back signings later, McFadden finally got a new contract. And it has to be a lot less than what he was expecting: he's headed to Arizona for two years and $10 million.

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With under two minutes remaining in the NFC Championship, the Eagles found themselves down seven points and facing a fourth-and-10 situation.

On fourth down, Donovan McNabb's pass just slipped through the hands of Kevin Curtis as he appeared to fall down. When watching the replay, it appears Curtis was clipped from behind by a Roderick Hood -- who had fallen down himself. Announcers Troy Aikman and Joe Buck -- neither of whom are qualified to dissect officiating -- said defensive pass interference could have been called.

To get you ready for week 17, FanHouse is previewing all 16 NFL games. Here is the Arizona Cardinals/St. Louis Rams preview.

2007 Records:

Arizona Cardinals: 7-8 (2nd in NFC West)
St. Louis Rams: 3-12 (4th in NFC West)

Last Game(s):

Cardinals 30 - Falcons 27
Steelers 41 - Rams 24

When the Cardinals have the ball: Although the Cardinals are on the brink of .500, they've reached this point without a solid running game. And although Edgerinn James has gone over the 1,000 yard mark for the seventh time in his career, Arizona still ranks 29th in the NFL in rushing. For that very reason, with 8-8 on the line, Kurt Warner and the Cardinals are likely to air it out this Sunday against the Rams 19th ranked secondary.

Defensively, St. Louis has struggled all year and week five against the Cardinals was no exception. They gave up nearly 400 total yards and 34 points in an embarrassing loss at home. They did, however, force a few costly turnovers that kept them in the game -- one of the few things they'll be looking to repeat this week in Phoenix.

To get you ready for week 16, FanHouse is previewing all 16 NFL games. Here is the Atlanta Falcons/Arizona Cardinals preview.

2007 Records:

Atlanta Falcons: 3-11 (4th in NFC South)
Arizona Cardinals: 6-8 (2nd in NFC West)

Last Game(s):

Buccaneers 37 - Falcons 3
Saints 31 - Cardinals 24

When the Falcons have the ball: After an embarrassing performance against Tampa Bay last week, the Falcons will look to get anything going tomorrow against the Cardinals. And pending an early hole, you can bet Jerious Norwood will finally get the carries Atlanta has been trying to give him for the last two weeks.

Arizona's defense will likely focus heavily on the run in an attempt to make Chris Redman, who went four of 15 for 34 yards and two interceptions last week, beat them. And if all goes according to plan, they'll be able to sit back and wait for a few costly turnovers to come their way.

He wasn't spectacular by any means -- three Gus Frerotte interceptions, including two back-breakers in the fourth quarter, spelled doom -- but he also moved the ball better than Marc Bulger has all season and did a much better job of spreading the ball to some of the team's new weapons. But in the battle of the backups, Kurt Warner returned home and shined just a little bit brighter.

In reality, the new starter didn't look terribly impressive himself. And, in fact, the Cardinals got a lot of help from beneficial refs, who handed the Cardinals two questionable calls. At the end of the half, the Cardinals were stopped on the Rams' one-yard line, but the refs gave the Cardinals a bonus play with no time on the clock when they called a delay of game, quite dubiously, because the Rams accidentally kicked the ball. Touchdown. On another call, Edgerrin James appeared to fumble near the goalline, recovered in the endzone by Cardinals lineman Reggie Wells. A challenge led to James being ruled down by contact before the fumble. Touchdown. The refs were correct in that James was down before the ball came out, but it never crossed the stripe.

It's a shame, too, that superb efforts from Fahkir Brown, who intercepted two passes and added an element missing from the Rams' defense in his first game returning from suspension, and Brian Leonard, who carried 18 times for 102 yards in his second start, were wasted. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Roderick Hood, who had two interceptions, and Larry Fitzgerald, who's gotta love having Warner and no Anquan Boldin. Fitzgerald had his second 100-yard day, and finally got in the endzone.

Look at the numbers, look at the game tape: these teams' performances were nearly identical. It was Frerotte's interceptions, and the two lucky breaks the Cardinals got, that made the difference.

The Arizona Cardinals have officially ended the Antrel Rolle experiment. After another disappointing performance against the Texans on Saturday, Coach Ken Whisenhunt did what many expected and demoted Rolle to the number three cornerback position.

Although he's disappointed in his demotion, Rolle vows to improve and insists that he'll reclaim his job as the teams' starter.

"That's the coach's decision," Rolle said of the move. "I just gotta go and play my game and be the player I know I can be."

"I have a lot of things to work on," he added. "There's definitely room for improvement ... I've got to keep working on my technique."

Based on his performances so far, I have little confidence that Rolle can improve enough to re-assume his starting position. And while it's still too early to call him a bust, it's not too early to suggest that the Cardinals got a bad return on their 2005 first-round draft pick.

Free agent addition Roderick Hood and third-year player Eric Green will assume the starting roles.