It has become an attractive annual tradition for Cardinals’ fans to watch and listen to Brett Kollmann’s and E.J. Snyder’s in-depth, comprehensive season preview for the team.
Good points:
BK: “Ah, the Arizona Cardinals, or as I like to call them, the slowest slow burn in the entire NFL. We are in year three of a complete teardown and rebuild in the desert —- what Cardinals’ fans want to know is have they done enough to make the playoffs this season?”
BK: “There were 4 key narratives to pay attention for the Cardinals last year, that ideally they are all going to be better this year:”
They had a really efficient offense last year, most notably a deadly efficient running game.
The pass game was hit or miss, because they apparently couldn’t throw fades.
They could not rush the passer but that doesn’t mean that they had a terrible defense, they were actually ok defensively. It’s just that the defense couldn’t do arguably the one thing that was most important thing for any defense to do, which is get the QB on the ground.
“They also struggled to get RBs on the ground too because they were one of the worst tackling teams in the NFL. Guys were in the right spot often and their coaching staff did a great job of scheming guys into opportunities to make tackles for loss or shut down the screen game, it’s just the actually tackling part which betrayed them a lot.
EJ: “What every coach tries to tell their players —- you’ve got to finish. If there was ever a tale of two cities, it was the Arzona Cardinals’ effectiveness summary in 2024:
Passing Offense: 13th
Rushing Offense: 8th
Pass defense: 24th
Rush Defense: 25th
Points Scored: 12th
Points Allowed: 15th
Points Differential: 14th
Overall Average: 14th in the NFL
BK: “The Cardinals defense was really good in the red zone 7th best overall in terms of scoring percentage —- they were better versus the pass and tackling in the red zone —- I don’t really know why, but they were one of the toughest defenses to score on when offenses got down to that space —- that should be reflected in EPA, but it’s not because, as far as field goal drives allowed, they were one of the worst defenses in the NFL. They were terrible on 3rd down, they were a bottom 5 defense in that category, and they had the 4th highest plays per drive, which mean they almost never got three and outs.”
BK: “A stat for Cardinals’ fans to have earmuffs on —- the Cardinals had the 4th highest blitz percentage, and were still 27th in pressure percentage, which are numbers that should not go to together.”
BK: “Fact was on offense whenever the Cardinals needed to make big plays they struggled, particularly throwing up fade passes. Fun fact: they threw 44 fades and go balls, which was 7th most in the NFL and they completed 8 of them.”
BK: “I can’t think of a team last year that did less than what they had than Arizona. They don’t get a lot a flak for it because nobody pays attention to the Cardinals’ nationally, but we do. We watch this team every week —- and we always ask, “are they bad or are they just disappointing.”
EJ: “The Cardinals were statistically right there with the Chiefs in offensive rankings, but with regard to the key 4-5 plays that determine the outcomes of games, the Chiefs made those plays, thanks to Mahomes, whereas the Cardinals did not. In that respect, the Cardinals were like the anti-Chiefs.”
BK: “The Cardinals defense was 15th in points allowed and the offense was 12th in scoring —- for a team with those rankings to go sub .500 it almost defies logic. We’ve gone through teams with worse rankings. some with rookie or young QBs, who were over .500 and some that made the playoffs.”
EJ: “The two players who can most help this team turn around in two key areas are Marvin Harrison Jr. and Darius Robinson. Both of those guys are going to come back stronger this season.”
Off-season moves that BK and EJ liked:
The re-signing of Kelvon Beachum, Evan Brown, Trey McBride (whom they believe is worth more than $19M a year), Baron Browning (one of only two legitimate pass rushers from last year, with Dennis Gardeck being the other) and Greg Dortch (“who will continue to put NFC West teams into the Dortcher Chamber”).
They very much liked the UFA additions of Calais Campbell and Josh Sweat. They are not too sure just yet of Akeem Davis-Gaither.
As for the Cardinals draft, they lauded the talents of Walter Nolen and Will Johnson but were quick to elaborate on the purported red flags for each heading into the draft. EJ’s favorite pick was Jordan Burch. On day three their favorite pick was S Kitan Crawford.
Omissions and questionable takes:
Last year, having mocked the Cardinals’ signing of T Jonah Williams and what they considered to be obvious flaws in his game, they did not give Jonah credit for the quality of his play (70.7) at RT when he was healthy.
No mention of UFA DT Dalvin Tomlinson.
This year’s significant question about the Cardinals’ off-season was their drafting of Cody Simon, ILB, Ohio St. BK: “My take was, he’s going to play more on 4th down for them, than the other three downs. I see him as special teamer and not a modern-day NFL ILB who can cover in space.” EJ lauded Simon as a “downhill hammer versus the run” and a “dynamic blitzer,” but he too questioned Simon’s ability to play good pass coverage. I intend to write a rebuttal article about their take on Cody Simon, but in the college playoffs, Cody Simon was outstanding in all aspects of his game, including his pass coverage —- just as Jeremiyah Love and the other lightning fast Notre Dame running backs. Plus, when PFF did a preview of their 10 best players in the National Championship game, they had Simon at #3, for these reasons:
College Football Playoff National Championship: PFF’s best players in every category
Best off-the-ball run defender: LB Cody Simon, Ohio State
Simon’s 90.4 PFF run-defense grade this season ranks third among all linebackers.
Best coverage linebacker: LB Cody Simon, Ohio State
Simon’s 76.3 PFF coverage grade places 35th among college linebackers.
College Football Playoff National Championship: 10 highest-graded players in Monday’s title game (pff.com)
3. LB Cody Simon, Ohio State: 89.7
Simon is an excellent downhill linebacker in Ohio State’s defense. He ranks third among FBS linebackers in PFF run-defense grade (90.4), while his five sacks tie him for fourth. The graduate student is no slouch in coverage, either, posting a 76.3 PFF grade
2024 Accolades:
Cody Simon - Wikipedia
How about mentioning made tackles for Budda?
They alluded to Budda Baker’s 28 missed tackles as the primary example as to why the Cardinals tackling was so bad. However, they did so without acknowledging or lauding Budda’s 164 combined tackles, which was 2nd highest in the NFL. The averages throughout Budda’s 17 games is 9.6 tackles and 1.6 missed tackles per game. Ask any NFL defensive coordinator if they would take those averages any day of the week. Also, every DC knows that tackles in space are the most difficult tackles in the game.
All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton made 111 tackles and missed 22. His 14.6 missed tackle percentage was higher than Budda’s and Budda made 53 more tackles.
Bootleg Football 2025 NFC West Previews by Title:
ARI —- “Maybe (Almost) Good” —- “Nobody Beat the Cardinals like the Cardinals Do”
LAR —- “Heavy Hitters” —- “Nobody Wants to Play the Rams”
SFO —- “Surely, Nothing Will Go Inexplicably Wrong This Year” —- “Brock Purdy carries the 49ers, actually.”
SEA —- “Hunger of the Pine” —- “On Second Thought, Let John Schneider Cook”
ROTB Questions:
What are your reaction to these titles?
What are your reactions to the Bootleg Football’s 2025 Preview of the Arizona Cardinals?
ROTB Poll: (for those who watched the entire podcast)
Poll
What grade do you give Bootleg Football’s 2025 Preview of the Arizona Cardinals?
0%
A+
(0 votes)
0%
A
(0 votes)
0%
A-
(0 votes)
0%
B+
(0 votes)
0%
B
(0 votes)
0%
B-
(0 votes)
0%
C+
(0 votes)
0%
C
(0 votes)
0%
C-
(0 votes)
0%
D
(0 votes)
0%
F
(0 votes)
0 votes total Vote Now