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2004 REGULAR SEASON IN REVIEW - OFFENCE
(League rank - 7th yardage, 1st scoring)
Passing
(League Rank - 3rd yardage, 5th scoring)
Jeff Blake* - 287/437 (65%) for 3929 yards. 28 TD, 13 INT, Rating - 95.0
Josh McCown - 15/20 (75%) for 140 yards. 2 TD, 2 INT, Rating - 87.4
* - denotes Pro Bowl
Our passing yardage is actually a little down from last season - a byproduct, I
think, of not having to chase the lead so hard so often this time around. But we
started this year with the stated intention of improving our efficiency - and
considering we went from having more interceptions than scores in 2003, to
getting twice as many touchdowns as turnovers in 2004, I'd say that was mission
accomplished. It's going to be very hard to justify getting rid of Jeff Blake of
the back of this performance, although surely to God we can find a better
candidate for the "QB Of The Future" role than Josh McCown? Interestingly, the
QBs with three of the four best passing yardage totals in the league start in
the NFC West - Marc Bulger atop the tree, Matt Hasselbeck in second and Jeff in
fourth. Pat Ramsey of the Indigenous-persons is the only non-West QB to make the
top 4, meaning EA bought the "Steve Spurrier - Offensive Genius" hype like it
was the last Barbie in the shop on Christmas Eve.
Receiving
Anquan Boldin* - 87 catches for 1300 yards (14.9yds/catch), 9 TD
Bryant Johnson* - 80 catches for 1343 yards (16.7yds/catch), 14 TD
Shaun McDonald - 45 catches for 608 yards (13.5yds/catch), 1 TD
Freddie Jones - 26 catches for 340 yards (13yds/catch)
Travis Minor - 22 catches for 178 yards (8yds/catch), 3 TD
Marcel Shipp - 29 catches for 169 yards (5.8yds/catch), 2 TD
* - denotes Pro Bowl
Funny. I would have sworn that we used the halfbacks out of the backfield more
often this year than last. Ho hum. In other trivial news, our starting wideouts
finish with the 2nd and 4th highest yardage totals in the league (Marvin
Harrison ahead of them, Terrell Owens splitting them), and will be the NFC's
starters in the Pro Bowl. Which isn't too bad, is it? Sophomore slot-man Shaun
McDonald had a nice first year in the offence, pretty much replicating Bryan
Gilmore's production from last season.
Rushing
(League rank - 11th yardage, 1st scoring)
Marcel Shipp* - 1524 yards from 383
attempts (3.9yds/carry), 21 TD, 5 fumbles
Travis Minor – 135 yards from 30 attempts (4.5yds/carry), 2 TD, 1 fumble
James Hodgins - 66 yards from 28 carries (2.3 yds/carry), 2 TD
* - denotes Pro Bowl
Marcel started hugely strong, but wore down as the year went on - which doesn't
exactly bode well for the playoffs. Still, he averaged 24 carries a game and was
hugely instrumental in helping us control the flow of games. Shipp was much more
sure-handed this year, as well - the 5 fumbles chalked up to his name include a
couple that would probably have been reversed on review. Travis Minor was an
almost complete irrelevance, but still managed to produce more than the NFL's
all-time leading rusher did last year.
Blocking
LJ Shelton* (LT) - 68 pancakes, 5 sacks allowed
Anthony Clement (RT) - 47 pancakes, 5 sacks allowed
Leonard Davis* (RG) - 44 pancakes, 3 sacks allowed
Pete Kendall (LG) - 37 pancakes, 7 sacks allowed
James Hodgins (FB) - 32 pancakes, 1 sack allowed
Roberto Garza (C) - 27 pancakes, 3 sacks allowed
Freddie Jones (TE) - 9 pancakes, 1 sack allowed
* - denotes Pro Bowl
Another cracking season from the fat-lads. Roberto Garza has come in as an
instant upgrade at the centre position, and Tony Clement can feel genuinely
aggrieved that he isn't joining Big Lennie and Little Lennie in Hawai'i.
-
Right. Brace yourselves.
2004 REGULAR SEASON IN REVIEW - DEFENCE
(League rank - 32nd yardage, 27th scoring)
Wa-hey! We were only massively
below-par!
Seriously. 27th in the NFL in terms of points scored against us is
a cause for celebration.
Look, when your last season can legitimately be
described as "legendarily bad" or, more specifically, "the worst the NFL has
ever seen", then improving to the point that
there are actually five teams in the league who got more points put on them than
us is an achievement on the same level as the discovery of penicillin or Chris
Robinson managing to persuade Kate Hudson to marry his scrawny, scraggy, Lynyrd
Skynyrd-wannabe ass.
The reasons for the improvement are twofold -
first, the offence stopped giving the bloody ball away every thirty bloody
seconds. Secondly, we led the league in red-zone scoring - just 71% of visitors
to our 20 came away with points to show for it.
Can you say "bend, but don't
break"? Sure, I knew you could.
Yes, there's still work to be done. A lot
of work to be done, actually. But with young players filling almost every
position, there's just an outside chance that the unit will grow together and
maybe, just maybe, by this time next season I'll be sitting here writing about a
defensive unit that can honestly be called "below average".
It's this crazy
dream I have.
Alright, the numbers, then:
Tackles
Levar Fisher* (WLB) - 93
Adrian Wilson (SS) - 84
Dexter Jackson (FS) - 73
Raynoch Thompson (SLB) - 58
Tay Cody (RCB) - 55
Ronald McKinnon (MLB) - 53
Jed Bowden (LCB) - 52
Paul Grasmanis (DT) - 39
David Barrett (NCB) - 39
* - denotes Pro Bowl
Tackles For Loss
Levar Fisher* (WLB) - 11
Tay Cody (RCB) - 6
Raynoch Thompson (SLB), Wendell Bryant (DT), Calvin Pace (DE) - 5
Ronald McKinnon (MLB) - 3
* - denotes Pro Bowl
Sacks
Levar Fisher* (WLB) - 14
Wendell Bryant (DT) - 10
Paul Grasmanis (DT) - 9
Larry Dickerson (DE) - 7
Calvin Pace (DE) - 3
* - denotes Pro Bowl
Interceptions
Dexter Jackson (FS) - 4
Levar Fisher* (WLB), David Barrett (NCB) - 3
Raynoch Thompson (SLB), Tay Cody (RCB), Jed Bowden (LCB) - 2
* - denotes Pro Bowl
Well. No prizes for guessing who was the bona-fide
defensive superstar this year. As if this little lot wasn't enough (and it was -
14 sacks was good enough to pace the league this year), Fisher also led the team
in fumbles forced and recovered, with two apiece, and rightly joins our six
offensive players on the plane to Honolulu.
Other standout performances
included rookie end Larry Dickerson, who started slowly but came on strong to
end the season with six sacks in his last four games, Tay Cody, who defended 23
passes this year - more than twice the total any other Cardinal racked up - and
the two defensive tackles, Bryant and Grasmanis, who troubles opposing lines all
season and ended up with 19 sacks between them.
Interceptions are something of
a concern - we started well but faded. My gut feeling is that the lack of
turnovers late in the season was due, at least in part, to our getting away from
the zone schemes that were a mainstay early on. I'll be trying to get back to
using the Cover-2 as our base defence in the playoffs, because against
post-season standard offences, if we can't get some takeaways we're likely to
get slaughtered.
-
SPECIAL TEAMS
Kicking
Whatshisname Gramatica, 59/59 PAT (100%),
20/24 FG (83%)
A good season, not a great season. No complaints, really.
Punting
Scott Player, 46 punts for 2211 yds (48.0
yds/punt, long 85yds). 14 in 20, 12 TB.
So that'll only be the five yards per punt improvement, then. Bar a couple of
minor lapses, Scotty's punting was absolutely outstanding this year, and Todd
Sauerbrun going to the Pro-Bowl in his place is a minor travesty of justice.
Returns
Terry Fair, 28 KR for 551 yds (19.6yd avg,
long - 46yds)
Josh Scobey, 38 KR for 717 yds (18.8yd avg, long - 31yds)
Terry Fair, 24 PR for 337 yds (14.0 yd avg,
long – 78yds), 2 TDs
Fair was a constant scoring threat on punt returns. Unfortunately his iffy hands
meant that it was never really clear which side he was a threat to score for. I
realise I've said this before, but I'll definitely be looking at other options
on special teams next season.
-
THE PLAYOFF PICTURE
Let's have a shufti at
the AFC first.
Chiefs* : 13-3
Titans* : 12-4
One-Logos* : 11-5
Chargers : 11-5
Bills* : 10-5-1
Patriots : 9-7
-
Marine-Mammals : 9-7
Colts : 9-7
Jets : 8-8
Oranges : 6-9-1
* - Denotes division winner
Hilariously, the
Phlippers, who had the best defence in the league, held the second AFC wildcard
spot for the vast and overwhelming majority of the season, then surrendered it
in the last two weeks by capitulating to the Pats then the Rams, allowing the
Patriots to sneak past them.
Madden once again displaying an almost
frightening degree of authenticity, then.
The Chiefs look like the team to
beat here, with the NFL's 3rd-ranked offence (behind us and the Rams) and,
slightly more puzzlingly, the 2nd-ranked defence. Other surprises around the
conference included the team with the best record in the AFC last year, the
Broncos, who had already gotten themselves into a 2-4 hole before they lost
Clinton Portis for the rest of the season. Even so, going from 13-3 to 4-12 is
an achievement of Raiderish proportions.
So, how about the NFC?
Rams* : 13-3
CARDINALS : 11-5
Seahawks : 11-5
Indigenous-Persons* : 10-6
Saints* : 10-6
Packers* : 9-7
-
Under-Me-Buckin'-'Ats : 9-7
Cowboys : 8-8
Iggles : 8-8
Giants : 8-8
Panthers : 7-9
* - Denotes division winner
Both wildcard qualifiers
coming from the NFC West, then, and the fact that our division had the teams
with the three best records in the conference is particularly remarkable since,
obviously, we kept taking games off each other. The tightest division, however,
was the East, with three teams tied on 8-8 and Washington ahead of them by only
a couple of games.
For the second year in succession, the North is an absolute
disaster area, although to their credit they actually managed to produce a team
with a winning record this season, which is more than they managed in 2003.
Green Bay actually ended the year as the hottest team in football, with 6
straight wins to close out their campaign.
So of course we get to play them
next. Of course we bloody do. Just our sodding luck.
The Saints had an
impressive year, going from 4-12 in 2003 to winning their division in 2004.
Meanwhile, the Lions pulled out all the stops to make sure that that 3rd-round
pick I netted off them in Week 5 was as valuable as they could manage. A
respectable 7-9 last season became the worst record in the NFL this, with just
one win (over the Cowboys in Week 8, and how stupid do they feel?) to their
name.
Nice one, boys. Much appreciated.
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(c) daniel
roe 2004
