by John HickeyFiled under: Arizona Cardinals, NFC West
In talking about the Cardinals' 5-11 last-place finish in the NFC West, Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt wonders if his team in 2010 spent too much time living in the past.And he didn't exclude himself from the mix.
"I think sometimes you get emotionally attached to players and what they've done for you in the past, and you have a tendency to overlook certain things,'' Whisenhunt told The Arizona Republic.
"I think that builds up over time when you have success and you start evaluating players based on what you remember them doing a year or two or three or four ago and maybe not candidly assessing where they are now.
"You have to work past that. That's one of the things I've learned (this season).''
There was a lot for the Cardinals to learn this year. Arizona won the West in 2008 and 2009 with Kurt Warner at quarterback, then dumped former first-round draft pick Matt Leinart, Warner's would-be successor, just before the season began.
It wasn't a successful move, with Derek Anderson, Max Hall and finally John Skelton and Richard Bartel each having issues as the man taking the snaps.
And it's a coin toss whether or not dumping Leinart was the right move, as Whisenhunt admits.
"Who knows?'' he said. "That's the question that can't be answered, but I am sure it is a popular topic.''
Arizona will have to make some changes at quarterback; upgrading that position is among the Cardinals' top priorities. That doesn't mean that Whisenhunt knows what he's going to want to do specifically.
"If (an upgrade) means a veteran, if that means draft, I don't know right now,'' the coach said.
Skelton, a rookie out of Fordham, already is saying he'd like another chance after a hit-and-miss debut following injuries to Anderson and Hall. He was 2-2 as a starter.
"I feel I warrant a shot,'' Skelton said The Republic. "I'm not saying I deserve to be the No. 1. But I think I've shown enough to be in position to at least compete for the No. 1. Whether they tell me that or not, I'm going to go into camp and the whole offseason just preparing as if I am going to play.''
Skelton at least has a pretty good idea that he will be back. Many of his teammates will not be, that much is obvious, with Whisenhunt saying part of the problem in 2010 was "guys thinking they were a little better than they actually were.''
"I don't want to sit here and point the finger at any individual player,'' Whisenhunt said. "We, as a group, didn't get it done. We had a number of players this year that didn't play as well as they could, maybe as well as they have in the past.
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