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What will the future be like? Will America still be fat? Will Sarah Palin be President? I don’t know the answer to these questions but I do know Darnell Dockett will be a Cardinal. And that fact helps me sleep at night. From raisingzona.com

Arizona Cardinals DL Darnell Dockett has signed an extension with the team.  It is reported to be through 2015.  That sounds like Darnell Dockett will be with the Cards for a long time.  Clearly if this had not happened, Dockett was going to go elsewhere.  That would have been a shame. Dockett is one of the hardest working players on and off the field.  He is the ultimate player.  He is worth all $47 million he will receive with this new contract.

This guy did deserve it. He is like a diesel engine out there on the field. Always giving 110%. And Dockett handled this contract situation with class unlike some other NFL players. From revengeofthebirds.com

Correct me if I’m wrong) the Cardinals needed to keep some of their core Defensive players from jumping the ship. Dockett is the kind of player that you need to keep. Dockett was patient, and he got the new deal he deserves. This should be a lesson to everyone else on the team that if you wait for an extension and keep on doing your job to try to make the team better, you will eventually be rewarded for it. Dockett is also the kind of player who won’t be like Albert Haynesworth and many others now that he has a new contract. He said that he is more motivated to “take his game to a new level” which is a frightening thought after how good he already is, and it will also make the job easier for Calais Campbell, Joey Porter, Adrian Wilson, Clark Haggans, and the rest of the defense.

Everything seems to be going alright in Darnell Docketts life for the moment. That’s a good thing. I think Dockett is becoming my favorite player on this Cards team. Nobody can match this guys personality and his enthusiasm for the game. He is the heart and soul of the defense and he is looking to get a new contract done. From azcentral.com

In Whisenhunt’s eyes, Dockett has matured greatly over the past year. Oh, sure, there has been the occasional transgression – taking a shower over the Internet this spring, for instance – but Dockett has never done anything malicious, never hurt anyone but himself off the field. “Darnell was obviously a highly emotional, highly intense player,” Whisenhunt said. “There is a period where you both have to gain the respect of each other. I’ve asked Darnell to do some things since our first year and he’s done them, besides play good football. t’s not coincidental that the Cardinals were ready to talk contract immediately after Dockett regularly attended off-season practices and workouts. General Manager Rod Graves and Drew Rosenhaus, Dockett’s agent, have had preliminary discussions about a new deal. Traditionally, the Cardinals wait until midseason to extend contracts, but Dockett’s deal might be different. “I’m not a money; I’m not a selfish guy,” Dockett said. “I care about winning. So I’m able to come to work and prepare, like I got a game tomorrow. I believe in the organization and I’m pretty sure they’ll take care of it sooner than a lot of people think.”

Dockett deserves a decent contract, he is a hard worker and always gives 100%. This town is ready for some football. People are dying for the season to start. It’s no surprise that Saturdays preseason game is sold out! From azcentral.com

The Arizona Cardinals have announced that their preseason home game Saturday against the Houston Texans is sold out. The Cardinals have now sold out all 44 games they have played at University of Phoenix Stadium, which opened in August of 2006. That streak includes all preseason games. Saturday’s game will be shown live on Channel 15. Kick off is set for 5 p.m. KTAR 620 AM will have the radio coverage.

I like the intensity baby! Sometimes you have to smack somebody across the face! The Arizona Cardinals are getting chippy in training camp. Its to be expected, these guys have been dying to get the pads on and hit somebody. From azcardinals.com

It started early on, when Larry Fitzgerald and Joey Porter took a turn battling each other on punt coverage on the outside, and a Fitz blow left Porter with a bloody lip (more on that in a later blog). But that was just a taste of the 11-on-11 battles to come. The donnybrook came first. Darnell Dockett — he’s always in these things, right? — blew up Alan Faneca and both tumbled to the ground right in front of quarterback Matt Leinart. Leinart was moving away, when Dockett swiped at his ankle and tripped him. A no-no, and Leinart wasn’t happy. When he and Dockett stood up, Leinart went up to Darnell and spiked the ball at Dockett’s feet in irritation. Then suddenly, tackle Levi Brown was there, punching Dockett in the shoulder pads sticking up for his quarterback, and the scrum was on. The next play, tight end Stephen Spach and linebacker Cody Brown mixed it up, with Spach grabbing Brown’s facemask. It didn’t get overly heated until linebacker Joey Porter saw it happen. “Don’t let ‘em grab your (expletive) facemask,” Porter screamed at Brown. A little while later, it was the third unit’s turn, when linebacker Mark Washington and offensive lineman Tom Pestock went at it, exchanging punches. And when it was over, it was over.

What else is going on. Oh, Dan Williams, a defensive tackle from Tennessee, showed up after taking care of his contract negotiations. Now he has a chance to win the starting nose tackle position. From foxsportsarizona.com

Dan Williams made his much anticipated training camp debut on Tuesday and passed his conditioning test without a problem. However, the increased altitude finally caught up with the first-round draft pick as he was spotted at the oxygen machine on at least one occasion. Williams will join an already stout group of defensive linemen, but the same can’t be said for the team’s linebacking corps. The Cardinals lack both star power and depth at linebacker, but the arrival of Williams should help. Coach Ken Whisenhunt talked about the presence of Williams and the importance of the nose tackle position in the 3-4 defense.

Man Oh Man this summer is going by slow. Now that Amare is gone what we got to talk about? Its so slow Beanie Wells is doing the weather! I guess Beanie had dreams of doing something else when he was a kid. Beanie does make a pretty good weather man, but seriously how hard is that job in Phoenix? “The forecast for today? Hot as a MoFo!” From cardinals.clubs.nfl.com

Growing up, it wasn’t NFL stardom that drove the dreams of Beanie Wells, but instead a desire to be in front of the camera. The original hope was acting – more specifically, to become “a movie star.” Eventually, football became Wells’ immediate path, but his other desires didn’t die. At Ohio State, Wells’ major was communications and by then, TV was the goal. The NFL would come first, but finding a job in television would be on the other end of his career. So Wednesday, after appealing to local NBC affiliate KPNX (Ch. 12) to appear on its news team, Wells got a chance to report the weather on the 5 p.m. newscast. He joked about the heat – “It’ll be 111 degrees on Thursday, too hot for me” – and he lobbied for fans to come to training camp – “In Flagstaff, I like that, 81 degrees, and I need you guys up there. On top of seeing practice, you can enjoy the beautiful weather.” The 21-year-old even zinged veteran anchor Mark Curtis. Curtis made a crack about being good in football and then said it was on Playstation, to which Wells replied, “Was that around back then?”

And thank the lord for Darnell Dockett! Honestly, we haven’t had a sports personalty like this in the valley since Charles Barkley. He opened up to the fans during an online chat on Sports Nation and he didn’t disappoint.

Yeah I said it. Compared to last season the offensive line is better and that is going to make things easier for Matt Leinart and the running game. The Cards O line is ranked 13th, not to shabby. See things aren’t so bad after all. From sports.yahoo.com:

13. Arizona Cardinals: This is probably the one area of the Cardinals that you can say has truly improved over the past year. Every other position has regressed, primarily because of the loss of players. But the Cardinals are hoping they’ll make a transition to being more of a running team now that quarterback Kurt Warner(notes) is gone. With Levi Brown and Deuce Lutui(notes), there are a couple of strong starters and the work of offensive line coach Russ Grimm is outstanding. However, if quarterback Matt Leinart(notes) doesn’t learn to get rid of the ball, there could be problems.

I can’t talk about the Cards without throwing in some Darnell Dockett. Dockett was giving a radio interview for 106.7 the Fan , when he let this fly about Albert Haynesworth not attending Redskins mini camp. From phoenix.fanster.com:

“I was kind of disappointed to see him not want to be a part of his team after he got that money. I feel that he’s making it harder for guys like myself, guys like Kevin Williams, guys like Aubrayo Franklin in San Francisco, guys like Jay Ratliff in Dallas, these guys are going out balling every day showing up to OTAs that are not even mandatory. We’ve got to come and put down our work and show these teams that we want to get paid. Here you got a guy who is one of the highest paid defensive tackle in the league and he’s not even showing up. You making it harder for us to get paid. Teams are looking like, ‘Why should we pay this guy $50-60 million when this team just paid this guy $100 million and he’s acting the way he’s acting?’ I just feel salty by it.”

Good turnout for the voluntary workouts. “80% of success is just showing up. That can’t be right, but its always a good idea to let people know your a team player. Stay in the loop. From cardinals.nfl.com:

“I can’t even name someone who wasn’t here,” quarterback Matt Leinart said. That’s because the list was so short. Linebacker Gerald Hayes was gone, although coach Ken Whisenhunt said Hayes should return Thursday. Rookie free agent corner back A.J. Jefferson was absent because Fresno State’s semester has yet to end. And guard Deuce Lutui remains unsigned.  “It helps the team in a season, as far as jelling and as far as coming out of the gates playing well,” linebacker Joey Porter said. “The more guys you have attending OTAs and mini camps, it’s going to make the team better.”

Deuce Lutui is still play’n hard ball. Hope they get that straightened out. Even Darnell Dockett showed up. The man has one of the most entertaining twitter page ever. And just the other day he decided to expand to UStream and shower live. He’s sorry about that now. From azcentral.com:

“It’s a learning experience for me,” Dockett said. “I’ve never been in trouble, I’ve never been in the news or on gossip sites or things like that. I apologize to all the kids, everybody in the community who looks up to me. I apologize to my team. I walked by each player individually and apologized. I got to do better things than that. “Y’all will never see me on no news or media, anything like that again, unless it’s for me trying to take somebody’s head off.”

The big question mark for this team is how well Matt Leinart is going to play. Has turned the corner, can he be a starting quarterback in the NFL and lead the Arizona Cardinals to a winning season? Ken Whisenhunt seems to think so…Kind of. From azcentral.com:

“Coach Ken Whisenhunt emerged from the minicamp as cautiously optimistic as a parent returning safely from a driving session with a teenager. “I was pleased with what I saw,” Whisenhunt said. “I know we still have a long way to go, but it was a good start for us.” Leinart has spent his first four NFL seasons traveling in the same circle. From backup to starter as a rookie, from starter to backup in his second season, preseason starter to backup in his third, backup in his fourth and now back to starter. Several factors make this a pivotal season for Leinart: He turned 27 on Tuesday. It’s his fifth year, and in 2011 his salary increases by $5 million, and he could earn a $5 million roster bonus. If Leinart proves himself this season, the Cardinals likely would want to restructure his contract. If Leinart fails, he would not return, at least not at that pay grade.”

Most experts and commentators don’t think Leinart can get the job done. He doesn’t have the best track record. The CBS Power Ranking isn’t showing us any love. From revengeofthebirds.com:

Its is what it is. We will do the best with what we have. I think Leinart is going to be a decent quarterback this coming season, we just need to make sure he doesn’t have to carry the team every Sunday. He’s not that kind of quarterback. That why its important to concentrate on the defense this summer. We are not going to be able to score like we did last year. we shouldn’t have to. Thats why I am such a fan of Darnell Dockett. He is such a professional. Just a solid defensive player with nothing on his mind but getting better this of season. Right? Right. From sportsbybrooks.com:

Do we go with Matt Leinart? Do we draft a quarterback? That seems to be the hot question these days concerning the Arizona Cardinals. I think we should go with Matt Leinart. Someone who is familiar with the coaches and the system. The receivers seem to be comfortable with him. And if Leinart needs help, Larry Fitzgerald is only a phone call away. From azcentral.com;

“Fitzgerald is close friend’s with Kurt Warner, but said he is excited to get back to work with Matt Leinart. “I know he’s been chomping at the bit for this opportunity for a long time,” Fitzgerald said. I asked Fitzgerald if he though Leinart had been treated fairly, given that he’s been such a polarizing figure for many fans. Fitzgerald said he is willing to spend as much time as possible working with Leinart this off-season. “Matt knows all he’s got to do is call me. That’s my boy. I’m going to do anything he needs me to do that he feels will make him better.”

I have heard some crazy talk with regards to the need to draft a quarterback. Tim Tebow?? Jesus’s quarterback was good with Florida, surrounded by talent and an offense geared to his abilities. If he was as good as everybody says he wouldn’t have stayed for his senior year. This guy has a slow release, exactly the opposite of what our recievers are used to, and thats not going to change by September. I have heard from a valuable source that the Cardinals are interested in quarterback Jason Campbell from the Redskins. I still believe Leinart is our best choice. With a full summer of workouts as the starter I think he will be able to lead this team to another winning season. As for the draft. Look, even with a hall of fame quarterback it was no guarantee we were getting back into the playoffs. This team struggled at times defensively, especially late in the season. Our secondary needs work and we need to give Darnell Dockett some help in pressuring opposing quarterbacks. And I think those issues should be addressed in the draft.

Over at azcentral.com; they are talking about possible off season moves the Cards might take. Should Ken Whisenhunt get a new contract? Absolutley. Should we keep Anquan Boldin? Nope. Keep Matt Leinart or go shopping in the draft? Undecided. I’m leaning towards keeping the guy. The other decisions are no-brainers, make Beanie Wells our feature back and rework Darnell Dockett’s contract and lock him up. No need for anything drastic. I think we have enough talent to make the playoffs again next year. Its a change talking about the success of the Cards. I don’t know about you guys but I had a lot of fun this season. From revengeofthebirds.com; “That’s not to say that we have nothing to be proud of. That marks three straight non-losing seasons that we as Cardinals have experienced under the Ken Whisenhunt era. During that time we saw one of the most explosive offenses in the league that won the division twice, won four playoff games and one NFC Championship game. We’ve also seen countless records broken and more national recognition that we’ve ever been accustomed to before. The Cardinals have the pieces set in place to be a competitive team for a long time. With some tweaking to both sides of the ball, the Cardinals may be ready to make another Super Bowl run in 2010.” Yeah, I had a blast watching the Cardinals this season. We’ll get’em next year!

This team is going to have to win the damn SuperBowl before it gets any respect. The Saints are favored by 7 last time I checked. By the time the Saints play, they will be coming off of two weeks rest. And remember they lost their last three games. Not exactly on fire at the moment. The Cardinals are coming off the game of the century. Offensively they are playing better than any team in the NFL. Defense is another story. So the Saints are still a dangerous team but nothing like they looked 4 weeks ago. I wish Antrel Rolle would stop giving them bulletin board material. From azcentral.com; ”What set things off was this quote attributed to Rolle about Packers Aaron Rogers that reporter Michael Silver wrote on yahoo.com: “Let me tell you something – that dude is scary. We have a great defense and we were up on him and ready to pounce, and he found ways to tear us apart. “I don’t ever want to face him again in my life. I am dead serious. I’ll face Drew Brees any day of the way before I face him again.” Brees brushed off the remark on Tuesday telling reporters, “I think that’s just part of the game. We’ve encountered that over the year. The fact is, that doesn’t affect the way I prepare.” Now Rolle is backing off the comment. I think you should always let a sleeping dog lie. Until you have to go into the Superdome and kick the shit out of it!

It’s hard being a rookie. Just look at the photos of the Suns rookies and what they had to wear for a night on the town. You think dressing as a banana is bad how about being left with a $29,681.79 bill!!! Thats how much Arizona Cardinals rookies had to ante up.  Courtesy of Darnell Docketts twitter;

“What they dew on our way to bomb rush the rookie party eat real good and leave them the bill! Lmfaoooo”

“Look at the seafood tower the rookie asses are in trouble lmfao each tower $450 we order 6 of em”

“8bottles of louie da 13th all billed to the rookies lmfaooo and can someone tell me why does Mascotto taste so damn good omg!”

“I’m gonna def twitt pic the bill OMG shit gonna be off the hook I’m taking 6bottles of mascato home off the Rip Lmfao kobe steak 125 a slice”

“DAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMN!!! Loook at the rookies bills. WTF!”

Arizona Cardinals defensive end Darnell Dockett said the elbow pressed into Matt Hasselbecks throat while he was on the ground was just an accident. From ktar.com; Arizona defensive tackle Darnell Dockett says he has talked to Seattle’s Matt Hasselbeck and “everything’s cool” between him and the Seahawks quarterback. “I’m not going to sit here all mad about Seattle,” Dockett said after Wednesday’s practice. “I’ve got much respect for Matt Hasselbeck and the things he’s done. If I had a personal tough man award I would give it to him.” Matt Hasselbecks brother Tim is still fired up over the incident. From revengeofthebirds.com; ”Tim Hasselbeck, Matt’s brother who was also a quarterback in the league (For the Cardinals in 2007) had this to say, “Let me tell you something, that was a dirty, cheap shot move by Darnell Dockett,” Tim Hasselbeck told 710ESPN Seattle. “I don’t care what he wants to say now. I’ve been on teams with good guys, and I’ve been on teams with bad guys — bad guy. And, what he did was flat-out dirty and I hope the league fines him, and I hope they fine him heavily, because I think he deserves it.”  Today the NFL fined Dockett $7,500. I always think of Dockett as a big lovable teddy bear. Who could kill you.

Love Darnell Dockett. The hard playing defensive end is quite the character on Twitter. One of his recent tweets;

“Wow! I got a lot of honors in my life but ths 1 is gr8. I made mickey andrews all Def team. ths ran chills through my body look who’s on it

2:20 PM Nov 4th from UberTwitter.”

Mickey Andrews, Florida State Defensive Line Coach, will not be returning to FSU. So sportingnews.com has put together an all Mickey Andrews defense list with the likes of Andre Wadsworth, Derrick Brooks, Deion Sanders and of course Darnell Dockett. Dockett is as upset as anybody about the Arizona Cardinals struggles this season and after the defensive performance in the loss to Carolina he wants his teammates to focus in practice so as to be better prepared for Sunday. From azcentral.com; ”I know a lot of guys have a lot of things on their minds,” Dockett said, “personal issues at home, financial things and regular-life situations. I just try to get my guys when they come to the field to (think), ‘Hey, for this next two hours, just focus on what we got to do to be successful on Sunday. You usually don’t win a game on Sunday. You usually win the games Wednesday, Thursday, Friday in practice. I’m just trying to get my guys to understand that you can’t just turn it on on Sunday.” Hell yeah Darnell. Lets slap some heads and get everybody on the same page!

I thought this was going to be a close game, it was a blow out. Kurt Warner had a great day at the office, he went 32 for 41 with 276 yards. Warner surpassed 30,000 career passing yards. The offense looked fluid, we rushed for only 62 yards but it was enough to keep the Seattle defense honest, Tim Hightower scored on a two yard run. The Arizona Cardinals Defense can be proud almost pitching a shut-out. From revengeofthebirds.com; “What a way to make a statement like not allowing a touchdown and holding your opponent to 14 rushing yards. The Cardinals answered critics when they contained a capable passing attack and kept the Seahawks out of the end zone. After failing to register any sacks the last two games, the Cardinals also walked away with five today. Pressure on Matt Hasselbeck was the key to the game, as it kept their offense out of sync and also forced several three and outs. To add to their already impressive day, they also forced a fumble and picked off Hasselbeck late in the game. The secondary fixed many of their flaws and didn’t allow a big play down field. The most important stat of the night, is that the defense didn’t blow a big lead in the second half.” I bet Darnell Dockett is going to have a lot to tweet about tonight!

So the Arizona Cardinals are heading up North to play The Seattle Seahawks. I wouldnt mind visiting that part of the country, maybe for a Pearl Jam concert, I was listening to the reissued Ten (10) album yesterday, good stuff and Backspacer isnt that bad either. Where was I, oh yeah the Cards. It would be nice if the Cards could put some pressure on the quarterback. Our pass defense is ranked 32nd overall, in games where we have pressured the quarterback and gotten a sack we have been successful. In games where the pass rush has been neutralized we have been beaten, like the Colts game. Sundays target is Matt Hasselbeck. And Hasselbeck loves us. When it came to the Pro-Bowl he voted for DRC and Adrian Wilson. Hasselbeck evens tweets to the Cards Darnell Dockett. From ktar.com; ”Bitter rivals? The games between them are intense, but the run-up to Sunday’s latest meeting of the Cardinals and the team from which they seized the NFC West title last season feels like a love-in. Hasselbeck’s Twitter stream this week has included requests from Dockett not to use hard snaps counts or other tricks to disrupt Arizona’s pass rush. “no hard counts?” Hasselbeck tweeted back. Dockett has also tweeted joke gift offerings. “I’m thinking if I bring @MatthewHass8 sum cheesecake he will let me get 2sacks” Dockett posted Tuesday.”  What Id LOVE is for Dockett to put this guy on his back a couple of times. This is an important game, it would mean we would be above .500 and tied with San Francisco at 3-2 in the NFC West. Jeez tied with San Fran, what a crazy season this has been.