Fallout from last nights Desert Storm, "Cardinals fire offensive coordinator"

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) -- Frustrated Arizona Cardinals coach Dennis Green fired offensive coordinator Keith Rowen on Tuesday and replaced him with quarterbacks coach Mike Kruczek. The move came hours after the Cardinals blew a 20-point lead and lost to the Chicago Bears 24-23 on Monday night.



"I've known Keith for a long time. I have the utmost respect for him," Green said. "We are not scoring enough points."

Kruczek becomes Green's third offensive coordinator in the coach's 2 1/2 seasons in Arizona. Rowen took the job after Alex Wood was fired following the 2004 season.

"I don't hesitate to make changes. That's just who I am," Green said. "I like things to go a certain way, and if they don't, I normally do something about it."
Green said he was talking with Rowen about taking another position on the staff.

Kruczek also will remain as quarterbacks coach, a job he has held since Green arrived.
"I think his close working relationship with Matt Leinart will give us a better chance," Green said.
Kruczek was a quarterback at Boston College and backup to Terry Bradshaw with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was head coach at Central Florida for six years before joining Green's staff.
At his Tuesday news conference, Green noted that Rowen had nothing to do with the strange series of late plays that led to the Monday night collapse:

-- the blindside sack of Leinart that led to Mike Brown's 3-yard fumble return for a touchdown.
-- the 40-yard return of Edgerrin James' fumble by Charles Tillman for another score.
-- Devin Hester's 83-yard punt return for the go-ahead touchdown.
-- Neil Rackers' miss of a 41-yard field goal attempt with 53 seconds to play.

"But at certain times, you feel like you have to do something a little bit different, something that we hope will be better for us," Green said. "I think Mike is a very demanding taskmaster kind of guy. He's old school all the way, and I think that's what we're going to need right now."
Arizona has lost five straight since a season-opening victory over San Francisco and is 12-26 since Green took over. The Cardinals play at winless Oakland on Sunday.

Arizona is 14th in the NFL in points per game. Some of the other offensive statistics, though, are ugly. The Cardinals are 23rd in total offense, 25th in yards per play, 31st in yards rushing per game and 32nd in rushing yards per attempt.

James, who has yet to have a 100-yard rushing game since coming to Arizona this season, carried 36 times for 55 yards against the Bears. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that is the most carries in NFL history for a back who averaged less than 2 yards per attempt.
Under Rowen in 2005, the Cardinals led the NFL in passing, but ranked last in rushing. He has been an NFL assistant for eight teams since 1984, including a three-year stint at offensive line coach on Green's staff at Minnesota.
The Monday night loss marked the third consecutive home game in which Arizona squandered a late opportunity to win. In a 16-14 loss to St. Louis, Kurt Warner fumbled a snap at the Rams 18 as the Cardinals were working for a winning field goal. Against Kansas City, the Chiefs rallied from 10 down in the fourth quarter to win 23-20. Rackers missed a 51-yard field goal attempt at the finish.

So ther Cards blow consecutive 14-0 leads @ home and fire the OC. hmmm

And the reason Green gives is "we're not scoring enough" ?

I suppose since Oakland is up next ,this would be the time for a change before they get caught up in false hope after they drill the Raiders.

THey should put that OC in the middle of that brawl at the OB and let the FIU guys beat him up! Thats what im talkin about !! better yet TWITB !!

So doesn't Denny have any say in the play calling? He just lets the team squander 3 games in a row rather than telling the OC to change up the offense?

Denny just sweats on the sidelines thinking about how long will i last and where is there a BK near by!! And the after effect is a drenched Denny by games end!!

I am not 100% certain you can blame this all on the OC. Once they were up 23-3 with 19 & change left in the game, they atempted to run the ball up the middle with James to burn the clock, but it ALWAYS set up a 2nd & 10. It was either the run the ball with James 3 times, burn 2:00 off the clock and punt or try to get a first down or two and hopefully burn off some real clock.

The only critique I would have for the OC is why didn't they try James to the outside? He was getting stuffed at the line of scrimmage all night.

The bottom line is, the Bears scored 24 points with ZERO offensive TD's.

And remember, the OC had them in scoring position for a game winning FG but the kicker choked.

If you are going to blame someone, blame the Card's OL. If the Card's would have had ANY running game in the Q4, they would have won he game.

Later,
Books Worst Enemy

Not only that, but Chicago gift wrapped points for them all night and they hardly ever capitalized.

I thought the Cards play calling last night was their strong suit. They were going up against a world-class defense and did what no other teams had done. Is it really the OC's fault that they fumbled twice for TD's?

The bottom line here is the boys from CHA CAGO had to knock down alot of 10 pt live teasers with Chicago Bears and REXEY was the man and the rest was just fallout ! What people dont realize in this day of the so called smart gambler that instead of laying -600 or -800 on the money line people are taking 3 team teasers and buying it down to -120 and the boys have to take different measures to combat this stuff. Monday nights if you notice have strange things happening that they say hasnt happened in X number of years or never happened!! You have to read between the lines!!

D2bets said:

I thought the Cards play calling last night was their strong suit. They were going up against a world-class defense and did what no other teams had done. Is it really the OC's fault that they fumbled twice for TD's?

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It was his fault when they were playing for FG's at the end of the half with all the momentun.

FairWarning said:

It was his fault when they were playing for FG's at the end of the half with all the momentun.

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That should be Denny responsiblity not the Off. coord.. If Denny isn't telling him to go for the 7 verses 3 it's Denny not doing his job. What is it the off. cood. decision to go for it on fourth down? what exactly is Greens responsibilty?:smoker2:

If they were going to fire anyone, it should have been the special teams coach. 2 missed FG's and a punt return for a TD. Rackers was a pro-bowler til the new special teams coach (Zauner) got there

The funny thing is, they could have basically took a knee and punted the ball out of bounde with 5 minutes left up 13 and never lost this game 98 out of 100 times....James fumble was his fault period...then the punt return, I don't know how this falls on the OC really.

One minute the Cards are being credited by MNF announcers for passing with a lead and not sitting on it, the next the Bears are returning a fumble for a TD....this was right after Korny said 'If the Cards blow this they should....."

if you take a 14-0 lead on back to back weeks, how bad can the offense really be, plus you have a rookie QB playing in his first two games....this is on Green who is a horrible in game coach.

Dennis Green is one of the, if not, the worst coach in the National Football League. Just ask the folks in Minnesota.

Green was trying to get a few audibles into Leinart, but he kept choking on those cheeseburgers....