It's A Dry Hot Seat... - Arizona Cardinals Madden 13 CCM

[UK0wnag3]

Dynasty Intro:

Spoiler

This is my first Dynasty, so for the first few days you might have to be patient with me, while I get up to speed with tables and such. For preseason games, I'm planning on just writing a small recap as part of a weekly update because I'll most likely be simming them. For regular and postseason games, I'm planning on doing full box scores and a full written recap, alongside continuing the weekly updates that will cover other things going on. If you have any questions, suggestions or comments, feel free, otherwise enjoy!

Edit:
Now I'm into a groove with this i'll give you a full rundown of the format. Whilst playing the games I will be constantly updating a post with the live stream of the game, barring any technical glitches as seen in week 11. After that will come the full game report courtesy of fictitious newspaper "THE REPUBLIC", written by their beat writer Joe Bloggs*. Then you'll get the box score and all the other scores from around the league. Any midweek articles will follow, such as interviews or kayfaybe "bleacher report" style "fluff" articles written by Stan Dardjock*. Then Joe Bloggs will post his weekly blog before we preview the weekend's game and eventually gameday.

*Note: It may seem obvious to most of you, but just in case, I am both Joe and Stan.

BREAKING NEWS:
Arizona Cardinals part company with Ken Whisenhunt! More to follow...



Current Schedule:

Spoiler

Arizona Cardinals 2012 Schedule
DATE	OPPONENT	RESULT
Sep 8	vs Green Bay Packers	Lost, 18-9
Sep 16	at Seattle Seahawks	Won, 30-20
Sep 23	vs Cleveland Browns	Won, 44-3
Oct 1	at St. Louis Rams	Won, 32-14
Oct 7	vs San Francisco 49ers	Won, 24-16
Oct 14	vs Philadelphia Eagles	Won, 17-13
Oct 21	at New York Giants	Won, 27-9
Oct 28	at Dallas Cowboys	Won, 41-12
Nov 4	vs BYE WEEK
Nov 11	at Cincinnati Bengals	Lost, 28-24
Nov 18	vs Baltimore Ravens	Won, 32-13
Nov 25	vs Seattle Seahawks	Won, 26-24
Dec 2	at Atlanta Falcons	Won, 34-17
Dec 9	at San Francisco 49ers	Won, 35-10
Dec 16	at Pittsburgh Steelers	Won, 31-16
Dec 23	vs St. Louis Rams
Dec 30	vs Washington Redskins

Current Depth Chart:

Spoiler

Arizona Cardinals Depth Chart - 2013
Regular Offense
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
WR	Larry Fitzgerald	Andre Roberts	Early Doucet	Stephen Williams
TE	Dale Thigpen (R)	Jeff King	Rob Housler
LT	Corey Ramella (R)	Nate Potter
LG	Daryn Colledge	Senio Kelemete
C	Lyle Sendlein	Jesse Daniels (R)
RG	Adam Snyder	Senio Kelemete
RT	Sebastian Vollmer	Bobby Massie
WR	Michael Floyd	Josh Cribbs	Juan Beall (R)
QB	Matt Schaub	Jordan Ricketts (R)	Ryan Lindley
FB	Anthony Sherman
HB	Beanie Wells	Isaac Redman	Ryan Williams	William Powell
Base 4-3 Defense
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
LDE	Calais Campbell	Ronald Talley
LDT	Dan Williams	Lamar Shears (R)	David Carter
RDT	Dan Williams	Lamar Shears (R)	David Carter
RDE	Darnell Dockett	Jeff Charleston
WLB	Quentin Groves	O'Brien Schofield
MLB	Daryl Washington	Stewart Bradley	Quan Sturdivant	Vontaze Burfict
SLB	Sam Acho	Antonio Coleman
CB	Patrick Peterson	Greg Toler	Jamell Fleming
SS	Adrian Wilson	Rashad Johnson
FS	Justin Bethel	Adam Walton (R)
CB	A.J. Jefferson	William Gay
Special Teams
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
K	Jay Feely
P	Dave Zastudil
PR	Patrick Peterson	Josh Cribbs	Andre Roberts	A.J. Jefferson
KR	Josh Cribbs	Patrick Peterson	A.J. Jefferson	Andre Roberts
LS	Daryn Colledge

[UK0wnag3]

THE REPUBLIC

Whisenhunt fired, search for replacement begins.




By the time the sun had risen on another valley morning, the news had already broke. Ken Whisenhunt was no longer the Head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.

After a meeting between GM Rod Graves, The Bidwill family and other top brass in the Cards' organisation late Wednesday night, the decision was reached that they were to go in a different direction, and Whisenhunt's services were no longer required.

After an 8 year playing career, Whisenhunt got his first coaching job at Vanderbilt as a special teams,halfbacks and tight ends coach. Stops at Baltimore,Cleveland, New York (Jets) and Pittsburgh followed, before Arizona gave him his first head coaching job, hiring him to replace Dennis Green. Whiz's high point came in the 2008 season, where he guided the team all the way to superbowl XLIII, where they would eventually lose 27-23 to the Pittsburgh steelers, where Whisenhunt had formerly served as an offensive co-ordinator.

But, naturally, there were low points too.
Whisenhunt never managed to find a replacement at QB for Kurt Warner, something that may unfortunately taint his legacy with the Cards, thanks to unsuccessful experiments with Matt Leinart, Max Hall, Derek Anderson, and more recently the duo of John Skelton and the costly Kevin Kolb. The QB issue coupled with a failure to improve the Offensive-line may have factored into a decision that, although was made quickly, seems to be supported by the media and fans alike.

GM Rod Graves said "We wish Ken all the best. He had a pretty good time here, but after talking through the night, and after looking at where we felt the organisation was headed, and how we wanted to move forward we decided to make the move. It's certainly not a decision we take lightly, but these things have to be done sometimes."

"The search for a replacement will begin immediately, but we don't want to rush it. We've got a week or so until camp starts and we'd like to have a guy in by then, obviously. But he has to be the right guy. For us, it's not about a big name, NFL experience, or past successes and failures. We're more interested in finding a guy who fits our philosophy, someone we can see eye to eye with."

Though he couldn't be drawn on actual names, one has to figure one of the candidates would be Ray Horton, who is currently the Defensive co-ordinator for the Cards, and has been linked with Head coaching jobs before.

Whisenhunt leaves the Cardinals with a 45-50 record, winning games at a .474% clip.

[UK0wnag3]

Arizona Cardinals Official Press Release:

The Arizona Cardinals are happy to announce the hiring of Rhys Withenshaw as the new head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.

He joins us as the first Englishman to ever coach in the NFL, after 4 years of coaching football both in America and abroad, and we look forward to working with him.

He will start right away and will be working closely with the players through the pre-season.

GM Rod Graves: "We had a couple of candidates that we wanted to talk to, and he was one of them. He said all the right things, and he knows what he wants to do. We don't feel a lack of NFL experience should put anyone at a disadvantage. He's a smart guy, he knows the game, and it shouldn't be a problem."

On the subject of Ray Horton, Graves said "We know Ray, he's been with us for a while now, and we like what he brings. He is one of the top defensive co-ordinators in the league, and we're lucky to have him. We talked to him about the job, but we both felt the time wasn't right, as he still feels he has work to do with our defensive unit."

END STATEMENT

[UK0wnag3]

THE REPUBLIC

Preseason Week 1 Recap, The QB Race, Cut Day & Other Stuff

Preseason Week 1:

John Skelton stole the show and may have placed himself ahead of Kevin Kolb in the race for the starting job. The Cards ran out 47-44 winners against the Kansas City Chiefs in one of the most entertaining preseason games in recent memory. Both teams looked sharp on offence, and horrific on defence.

The QB Race:

When Kevin Kolb departed after the first quarter, he must have thought he'd done enough to keep him at the top of the depth chart for at least a week.
Or maybe not. Because John Skelton came in and played the rest of the way, and he lit up the Kansas secondary, albeit backups. Kevin Kolb took one series, and continued to move the chains thanks to some impressive running by Beanie Wells. When they got to the Kansas 30, Kolb started to air it out, completing 3 consecutive passes to Larry Fitzgerald, the 3rd one for six points. When Kevin (And Larry) departed, John Skelton entered. The rest, was phenomenal.

Cut Day:

LaRod Stephens-Howling was the only standout from the first four players cut by the Cards. The one they call "Hyphen", a seventh round pick in 2009, has struggled to break through and found himself at the wrong end of the depth chart. Full List:

LaRod Stephens-Howling - HB
Steve Skelton - TE
Alfonso Smith - HB
Marshay Green - CB

Other Stuff:

• Steve Skelton was cut from the roster yesterday. John's younger brother spent most of last year on the practice squad.

• The Seattle Seahawks cut Terrell Owens this week.

[UK0wnag3]

THE REPUBLIC

Preseason Week 2 Recap, Kolb's drive, Beanie's Injury, Cut Day & Other Stuff:

Preseason Week 2 Recap:

The Cardinals are off to a 2-0 start in pre-season. If only it was the real thing. The Cards continue to amaze on offence and suffer on defence, coming out triumphant, winning 41-38 over the Raiders. John Skelton started and did ok, but was poor compared to the show he put on last week. Rich Bartel saw some game time, but Kevin Kolb came in for the last quarter and vowed to make the QB race interesting, with a flowing game winning drive, capped off with a one yard touchdown run by Thomas Clayton.

Kolb's Drive:

People around the country are still asking just who this Kevin Kolb imposter is. After an impressive game winning drive against the Raiders, Kolb said "It felt good to be in that situation. It really gets the adrenaline going."

People will be hoping this seemingly new Kevin Kolb can stick around, and stay healthy.

Beanie's Injury:

Beanie Wells managed to break a thumb against the Raiders. He will be out for at least a week, probably more.

Cut Day:

No real suprises. By cutting Mike Leach it looks like the Cards are banking on Todd Heap staying healthy, something he has always struggled to do. We'll see.

DeMarco Sampson - WR
Reggie Walker - MLB
Michael Adams - CB
Blake Gideon - SS
Mike Leach - TE

Other Stuff:

• In what continues to be a rollercoaster of a preseason, New Orleans blew out the Jags 50-0 at the superdome.

[UK0wnag3]

THE REPUBLIC

Preseason Week 3 Recap, Cut Day & Other Stuff:

Preseason Week 3 Recap:

Rhys Withenshaw must think this coaching stuff is easy. The Cards are now 3-0 after a 34- 13 win over the Titans. The Cards haven't had the hardest of pre-season schedules by any stretch of the imagination, and pre-season rarely has any relevance to the real season, but still, 3-0 is a good start.

Cut Day:

Another cut day, more casualties. D'Anthony Batiste saw some game time last year as part of the O-Line that couldn't have stopped a pig running down an alley. All Cardinal QB's have probably just let out a sigh of relief now that he's gone. Full List:

James Sanders - FS
Brandon Williams - ROLB
Ricky Lumpkin - DT
D'Anthony Batiste - RT
D.J. Young - LT
Isaiah Williams - WR

Other Stuff:

• New Orleans Saints traded running back Pierre Thomas to the Buccaneers. No word on yet on what it cost the Bucs.

[UK0wnag3]

THE REPUBLIC

Preseason Week 4 Recap, Cut Day & Other Stuff:

Preseson Week 4 Recap:

The Arizona Cardinals have gone undefeated in pre-season, beating the Denver Broncos 18-10 in a close fought game at the University Of Phoenix Stadium. The Cardinals looked the poorest they have all pre-season. Wouldn't it just be typical Cardinal fashion to see them trending the wrong way at the wrong time? Let's hope not. A win is a win, right?


Cut Day:

Surely no one saw this coming. Vonnie Holiday, Clark Haggans and Paris Lenon all cut, in which was described by Rhys Withenshaw as a "concerted effort to get younger." He said "What we are doing here is a process. I felt comfortable with the depth we have, so I was OK in letting three older guys go. They're still talented guys, no doubt, but I felt with what we were trying to do, it was better for us to go in a younger direction. We've got some really promising players on the roster, but they won't progress without game time. I wouldn't be cutting the veteran guys if I didn't think the younger guys were up to the task"

Rich Bartel - QB
Thomas Clayton - HB
Vonnie Holiday - LE
Landon Cohen - RE
Clark Haggans - LOLB
Paris Lenon - MLB

Other Stuff:

• Three teams have had perfect pre-seasons: The Arizona Cardinals, the New York Jets and fellow NFC WEST rivals the San Francisco 49ers.

[Gronk4M13]

Following.