Arizona Cardinals lose both offensive & defensive coordinator on same day…
Written by The Go-To-Man Mattie T. on February 6, 2009
It hasn’t even been a full week since the conclusion of Super Bowl XLIII, but the Arizona Cardinals are already making moves to try & improve their team for next season.
Offensive Coordinator Todd Haley accepted the head coaching position today with the Kansas City Chiefs, which ends his 2-year tenure in Arizona.
Haley immediately faces big issues in Kansas City, as star tight end Tony Gonzalez & running back Larry Johnson both want to be traded after clashing with former head coach Herman Edwards, who was fired on January 23rd.
Haley deserves a lot of credit for transforming the Cardinals into an explosive offense, as Arizona ranked 3rd in the league in scoring (26.7 points per game), 4th in total offense (365.8 yards per game), & 2nd in pass offense (292.1 yards per game) in 2008.
In Super Bowl XLIII, Arizona was able to erase a 20-7 fourth quarter deficit & rallied late to take a 23-20 lead, but were not able to make a key defensive stop as Pittsburgh scored with 35 seconds remaining to win their record 6th Super Bowl.
Speaking of defense? That’s where more bad news came in today for Arizona. Clancy Pendergast was fired despite Arizona’s resurrection during the playoffs, which saw them force a postseason-high 11 takeaways.
But in the Super Bowl, they only sacked Ben Roethlisberger once & forced just one turnover, which was off a tipped ball. On Pittsburgh’s final drive, Roethlisberger was able to find Santonio Holmes for the game-winning touchdown despite THREE Arizona Cardinals draped all over Holmes, who won Super Bowl XLIII MVP.
Pendergast has spent the last 6 seasons with Arizona.
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