Arians Is Whisenhunt With
Emotion, Graham Minus Hair
New Head Coach of the Arizona Cardinals, Bruce Arians.
By Bob Goodwood
Modern Times Magazine
Jan. 19, 2013 — Fans across the Valley groaned in disbelief when Bruce Arians was officially named the new Head Coach of the Arizona Cardinals Thursday night.
It was to be expected. Who could have replaced the coach who had simultaneously brought fans to heights unseen yet also made them suffer through three of the ‘same old Cardinals’ seasons once Kurt Warner retired?
Unless the next coach was the reincarnated Vince Lombardi, fans would have scoffed.
Why? No quarterback.
Determining whether the Whisenhunt and Graves firings and subsequent Arians hiring and Keim promotion will be a several year process — unless something goes horribly wrong. But this was not a bad deal, no matter how depressed fans are today.
In every sport, injury and consistency are the vital determinants of ‘luck.’
And the Cardinals just ain’t been lucky since 2009 on the offensive side of the ball.
Virtually the only way Arians doesn’t improve the team’s record in 2013 is if the curse that currently hangs over the offense ALSO infects the defense.
Besides of all of the coaches that got head coaching jobs this season, who else brings the verve and passion of Arizona State University Head Coach Todd Graham and former Head Coach Ken Whisenhunt? Arians must have said “passion,” “fast,” and “discipline,” 10 times.
“I'm a straight shooter," Arians said. "I don't come home with any bullets left in the gun. I think players respect honest and discipline, and we're going to work hard. They're going to be accountable, not to me, to each other. It's not my football team. Our players will decide how good they are. It's their football team. If they want to win, we'll win. I'll show them the way. I'm no magic man. I've never tried to be.”
That might exactly be what Graham would say when he had to coach a team of millionaire men instead of college scholarship students. Heck, with the image offfWhisenhunt was very calculating in his engineer’s manner, although few saw the man behind the Tom Landry facade.
But enough has been leaked from players to realize that few players — and mainly the quarterbacks — never really felt they knew what Whisenhunt is thinking. Arians is described — and described himself as the opposite of that.
At his press conference, he called Ben Roethlisberger his “second son.” Not even Kurt Warner would say that about Whisenhunt.
The loss of Horton hurts and maybe it might eventually be end up being a bigger problem that they realize right now.
After all, they hired an Arian(s).
Sure, its a word game and Bruce Arians is not a white supremacist, but the Cardinals have a defense of quality players that could propel the team into a playoff berth NEXT YEAR if the offense can improve only moderately. If the loss of their beloved coordinator is enough to make a few important defensive cogs lose motivation, it could get real ugly in the desert.
Only time will tell.
Bob Goodwood can be reached at bob.goodwood@yahoo.com.
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