New Leadership in Arizona Leads to Three Big Questions

by PhoenixJaidin | 6 years ago | 0 Comments

*~* ARIZONA SPORTS NEWS *~*

After what was a less than desirable start, following a promising offseason, the Arizona Cardinals made a big play after the last coach, Willis Bennett, turned in his resignation papers and walked out by hiring first time head coach Tim Klepper to lead the 1-3 Arizona Cardinals. A former athlete himself, Coach Klepper established himself as a solid training coach when he coached high school and college football and baseball while serving in the United States Air Force. After completing his service time, he returned to coach local sports in his hometown in Southern California, before receiving a call from Arizona's owner, informing him that they had their eye on him and intended to bring him on board. Even some of the EA analysts were aware of his previous accomplishments as Peter Schrager was quoted saying "he may be a rookie head coach, but trust me, he knows how to build a talented roster" while Ross Tucker stated "pay no attention to the doubters as he has a great football brain and a great eye for talent. Arizona finally has a coach with a plan and the future is bright for the Cardinals."

True to his personality of coming in, and immediately getting to work, his first practice with his team focused on positional adjustment, as the Cardinals had been previous working on a 4-3 scheme built around a solid front line with some excellent backfield depth. One of the first drastic changes, however, was taking longtime free safety Tre Boston and move him into the starting cornerback spot, opposite of Patrick Peterson. This allowed the defense to shuffle Jamar Taylor into the slot corner role while also opening up a position for veteran leader Antoine Bethea to start next to sophomore sensation Budda Baker. Very quickly, the new backfield grew comfortable with the setup and challenged the offense in drills that challenged all three of the quarterbacks on the roster. The other big shift was in the front seven personnel, as the team went out and signed veteran edge rusher Junior Galette to start opposite of Haason Reddick, the Temple standout, while shifting veteran hybrid safety linebacker Deone Bucannon to the middle of the field to lead the defense. Finally, a young, untested rookie out of Florida State, 22 year old Jacob Pugh, was signed to fill the second starting spot, elevating him over veterans Gerald Hodges Jr and Josh Bynes. Unproven with a lot still to learn, Coach Klepper was quoted saying he followed the young man's collegiate career and saw a lot he felt he could work with, as his physical attributes were stellar.

Offensively, Coach Klepper didn't change personnel much, though he did get veteran guard John Jerry signed to provide a decent starter in place of the injured pro bowler Justin Pugh, who is down with an upper arm fracture, and increase depth when Pugh returns. The other signings he made were adding veteran red zone threat Jaelen Strong, who combines size with speed to create a dual threat and blocking fullback Cethan Carter, a second year back out of Nebraska, where Coach Klepper had seen him play while stationed in that area. Adding mostly depth pieces, offensively Coach Klepper and his staff instead focused on fundamentals, a new playbook, and different schemes, trying to change what was a substandard start with rookie quarterback Josh Rosen averaging just under 250 yards a game while adding 5 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. Backup signal caller. Meanwhile superstar workhorse back David Johnson has rushed just 47 times in four games for 227 yards and a fumble. Rookie receiver Christian Kirk leads the passing corps with 310 yards on 15 receptions with 3 touchdowns. Veteran star Larry Fitzgerald has adding 201 yards and a touchdown and speedster JJ Nelson leads the team with 19 receptions for 217 yards and a touchdown. Such lackluster numbers are surprising, given the talent possessed on the roster and management hopes that Coach Klepper and his new coaching staff will be able to take advantage of all the weapons and turn around the season, starting with a rivalry game at San Francisco, home of the 49ers, who were Coach Klepper's favorite growing up. When asked about facing off with his childhood favorites, all he said was, "they have lots of talent over there. Jimmy G might be struggling but he will turn it around at some point but for now, our job is to shutdown that running attack headed by former Minnesota Viking Jerick McKinnon, who we were glad to see avoid a major season ending injury in the preseason. On the other side of the ball, their defense generates a lot of pressure which leads to a lot of hurried and errant throws and both are bad for offenses as they turn into sacks and interceptions. So our gameplan is to take care of the ball, establish our game plan, and try to match their defensive pressure. Should be a good game."

This leads to the three big questions that have arisen in Arizona for the 2018 season:
1) Can Coach Klepper turn this team around and make his team a competitor right from the get go? Sitting in a tough division in last place behind the 2-2 49ers and the 2-2 Seahawks, the Rams are way out in front with a 4-0 start behind a revamped defense and an improved offense, helmed by Todd Gurley, Jared Goff, second year linebacker BJ Bello. He's got his work cut out for him but there's still a lot of season to go, including 4 more divisional matchups.
2) Will Josh Rosen be the answer in leading the offense on the field? After a lackluster opening to his rookie season, he seems to have settled in a bit, including throwing for two touchdowns against the Seattle Seahawks in the loss. Will he able to limit turnovers and start excelling at sending the ball downfield, thus opening up room for the superstar David Johnson to begin busting out big runs for scores and yardage? He will need to step up in a big way, especially in a division with a pair of teams that have combined for 25 interceptions in the first 4 games.
3) Can Coach Klepper's new 3-4 scheme work in Arizona? Behind the reshuffling of current defensive pieces and adding a few veterans to key spots, the root of his scheme is a bend but don't break style of play. Whether it will work against high powered offenses like the Rams will need to be seen but from what we've seen before and what the team and staff have been quoted saying recently, I'd almost be willing to bet that this team will turn around and surprise some. After all, this is a rookie head coach on the professional stage. Who knows where we end up.

*~* OTHER NEWS *~* Oklahoma University's star defensive tackle Johnathan Golston has chosen to drop his pursuit of Olympic Gold in powerlifting in favor of football. Green Bay fans have been held speechless as the team traded future hall of fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Even Aaron Rodgers was quoted saying, "I thought I'd retire here". And four teams remain in the undefeated race to match the 1972 Dolphins as the Chicago Bears, the New England Patriots, the Cleveland Browns, and the Los Angeles Rams have all jumped out to 4-0 starts. Who can keep it going the longest?