Whisenhunt and Graves ousted from Arizona

[ThomasTomasz]

Arizona Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt and general manager Rod Graves have been fired after a 5-11 season, a league source told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.

Whisenhunt, 50, was 45-51 in six seasons with the Cardinals after being hired in 2007. He led the Cardinals to the Super Bowl after the 2008 season, losing to the Steelers.

Graves struggled to find a franchise quarterback after Kurt Warner retired after the 2009 season.

He traded cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a second-round pick to the Eagles in 2011 for Kevin Kolb and then signed the quarterback to five-year, $63.5 million contract with $21 million guaranteed. But Kolb has struggled both on the field and with injuries since arriving in Arizona.

Graves was named general manager in 2007 and his contract was set to expire in 2013.

Graves joined the team as assistant to the president in 1997. He was promoted to vice president for football operations in 2003.

The Cardinals, who started the season 4-0, went on to lose their next nine games, including the most one-sided loss in franchise history, a 58-0 drubbing at Seattle.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/...schneider-grigson-should-share-top-exec-honor

Another team that has good talent and only needs a QB to take them somewhere. Arizona could have a good season in 2013 if they find a QB, and I would think it an attractive spot for a head coach.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

This firing was a mistake. Whisenhunt is a very good coach, nobody is winning without a QB in this league, especially the collection of stiffs Arizona has. You have no chance.

 

[ThomasTomasz]

This firing was a mistake. Whisenhunt is a very good coach, nobody is winning without a QB in this league, especially the collection of stiffs Arizona has. You have no chance.

True, but the inability for Arizona to find and/or develop a QB played into this. The 4-0 start was misleading for certain, but they were truly awful in the second half, and the situation with Dockett indicates Whisenhunt may have lost the locker room.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

True, but the inability for Arizona to find and/or develop a QB played into this. The 4-0 start was misleading for certain, but they were truly awful in the second half, and the situation with Dockett indicates Whisenhunt may have lost the locker room.

Dockett is an asshole, has been for a long time.

When it comes to incidents with headcase players, I almost always defer to the older, more mature, wiser coach. Unless the coach is Rex Ryan.

 

[JeremyHight]

Whisenhunt looked good when he had a future Hall of Famer at QB. Every other game without Warner, he was mediocre at best.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Whisenhunt looked good when he had a future Hall of Famer at QB. Every other game without Warner, he was mediocre at best.

That's kind of how this league works though, isn't it?

Nobody looks good with shitty QB's.

 

[ThomasTomasz]

That's kind of how this league works though, isn't it?

Nobody looks good with shitty QB's.

Unless you are the Broncos with Timothy J. Tebow.

 

[Maynard]

doesnt wiss get any credit for bringing in Kolb? he had the guy they wanted in AZ and didnt do shit

 

[JeremyHight]

That's kind of how this league works though, isn't it?

Nobody looks good with shitty QB's.

New England did it with Cassel for a season. Many franchises have had rookie QBs (and no, not top pick QBs like Luck or RGIII) and done well, for example, Atlanta and Cincinnati. San Fran took a guy who was considered a bust and made him into a Pro Bowler... only to bench him for a 2nd round pick. Notice, all these teams actually minimized the QB role for a while to let the QB grow. Whisenhunt just thought he could plug in anyone and the offense would keep rolling.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

doesnt wiss get any credit for bringing in Kolb? he had the guy they wanted in AZ and didnt do shit

I don't recall who made the call for Kolb, but since the GM got the boot too, looks like they covered all bases if that was a tipping point.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

New England did it with Cassel for a season. Many franchises have had rookie QBs (and no, not top pick QBs like Luck or RGIII) and done well, for example, Atlanta and Cincinnati. San Fran took a guy who was considered a bust and made him into a Pro Bowler... only to bench him for a 2nd round pick. Notice, all these teams actually minimized the QB role for a while to let the QB grow. Whisenhunt just thought he could plug in anyone and the offense would keep rolling.

I don't want to get bogged down in QB "A" vs QB "B" stuff, but I would say that the Kolb/Skelton/Hoyer/Lindley combination is quite a bit shittier than Matt Ryan, Andy Dalton, Alex Smith, et al

 

[ThomasTomasz]

I don't recall who made the call for Kolb, but since the GM got the boot too, looks like they covered all bases if that was a tipping point.

If it wasn't the decision of the GM that Kolb would be "the guy" then it was most certainly for them giving up BOTH a second rounder and DRC, and then turning around and handing Kolb a five year, $65 million deal, with $12 million guaranteed.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

I had no problem at the time wit DRC being involved, because I always thought he was overrated and I think corners are the most interchangeable players on the field anyway, but yeah, the picks & the money were pretty shocking to most people, even at the time and without the benefit of hindsight.

 

[JeremyHight]

I don't want to get bogged down in QB "A" vs QB "B" stuff, but I would say that the Kolb/Skelton/Hoyer/Lindley combination is quite a bit shittier than Matt Ryan, Andy Dalton, Alex Smith, et al

Cassel is quite a bit better than Kolb? Eh... I don't know about that.

 

[ThomasTomasz]

I had no problem at the time wit DRC being involved, because I always thought he was overrated and I think corners are the most interchangeable players on the field anyway, but yeah, the picks & the money were pretty shocking to most people, even at the time and without the benefit of hindsight.

I do agree with that, but it needed to be the pick or DRC, not both. So adding both, and then putting the money out there for a guy who had only a handful of games under his belt was pretty asinine. Not to mention, the Eagles had next to no leverage, as everyone knew they wanted to move Kolb.

 

[SethMode]

Cassel is quite a bit better than Kolb? Eh... I don't know about that.

Who cares either way? This discrepancy would only matter in a debate between BB and Whisenhunt. Just because Cassell had success under BB and Whisenhunt can't work miracles out of shit QBs doesn't make Whisenhunt a bad coach, just not as good of a coach as BB.

 

[SHOGUN]

I will not weep for losing Graves. Whisenhunt will be difficult to swallow because he was the most successful Cardinals coach since Coryell, but I understand it. The lack of player development offensively has been a big concern, especially at QB and the OL. Whiz had a hand in the choices of Anderson, Kolb and Skelton and Russ Grimm has basically done fuck all with the line despite his reputation as a OL guru. He would have likely kept his job if he had fired Miller as OC (who has been awful) and brought back Todd Haley, who wanted to return to AZ last offseason.

I just hope that we promote Ray Horton ASAP and not let him get away. Losing him would be another big blow because the defense is awesome thanks to him nad he will likely gut the entire defensive staff if he leaves. I don't want anyone else @ HC but him. Fuck no to Andy Reid.

I see that nearly all the offensive coaches have been given the boot aside from Kitchens. I really hope they can pull in a big name OC.

 

[TheImmortalGoud]

Whisenhunt made the calls on all the major personnel decisions. If he wasn't willing to remove himself from personnel decisions then he had to go.

 

[Glenbino]

The Lindley thing was a fireable offense. I know Skelton and Kolb were nothing special but Ryan Lindley was far and away the worst player on the field every game he played this season..

The Cards could have had at least one or two more wins down the stretch had they not turned the starting job over to him.

Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk 2

 

[EmpireWF]

Whisenhunt said to be the favorite for the Buffalo job.