Here’s everything you need to know about Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians: In his first season as a head coach, in 2012, he was named the NFL coach of the year. In his second season as a head coach, in 2013, he got some coach of the year votes and would have been a very good choice. And now in his third season as a head coach, he’s the overwhelming favorite to win coach of the year again.
With Sunday’s win over the Cowboys, the Cardinals have the best record in the NFL, and Arians is the clear choice for the best head coach in the first half of this NFL season. He was also the best head coach in the NFL in 2012, when he led the Colts to the playoffs after he was abruptly forced into taking over the team when Chuck Pagano had to be hospitalized for cancer treatment. And in 2013, Arians took over a Cardinals team that had gone 5-11 the year before and led them to a 10-6 record despite a brutally tough schedule.
How does Arians do it? The first answer is that he’s got a great personality and can inspire the passion of his players. He can fly into a rage, like most good football coaches can, when he feels his team has been wronged in some way. (He went a little overboard when he called a low block by Broncos tight end Julius Thomas that injured Arizona’s Calais Campbell the dirtiest play he’s ever seen, but don’t you think players want a coach who will go overboard to stand up for them?) But Arians can also be jovial and funny, both with his players and the public. When asked what Cardinals fans needed if they wanted to look like him when dressing up for Halloween, Arians answered, “Attitude. And a cocktail.”
But while Arians certainly has a likable personality, it shouldn’t be overlooked that he’s also a great Xs and Os coach. Arians was a very well-regarded offensive coordinator during his years in Pittsburgh. Before finally getting a shot as a head coach as a 60-year-old in 2012, he had a long and impressive career that included being Peyton Manning’s first quarterbacks coach in Indianapolis and a stint at Alabama as an assistant under Bear Bryant.
Coaches are ultimately judged by what their teams do in the playoffs, and so far Arians hasn’t coached a playoff game. (In 2012 Pagano returned from cancer treatment in time to coach the playoffs, and in 2013 the Cardinals fell just short of the playoffs.) But it looks like Arians has a playoff team on his hands this year. And no one should bet against Arians having his players ready to play their best football in January.
Here are my other thoughts from Sunday:
Do people realize how good Calais Campbell is? I think football fans know that Campbell is a good defensive lineman for the Cardinals, but he’s actually quite a bit better than just “good.” Even against Dallas’s offensive line -- the best offensive line in football -- on Sunday, Campbell stood out. He made a phenomenal move to penetrate into the backfield and then grab DeMarco Murray to bring him down behind the line of scrimmage on Dallas’s first drive, and as I watched him do that I wondered if there was a single other defensive lineman in the league who would’ve made that play. Maybe J.J. Watt. That’s about it.
A first in Minnesota. Matt Asiata, the Vikings’ running back, became the first player in NFL history to run for three touchdowns and a two-point conversion in one game on Sunday. Granted, two-point conversions have only existed since 1994, so maybe by saying “NFL history” I’m making this sound like a bigger deal than it is, but it’s still a fairly impressive feat. And it was a good 29-26 win for the Vikings over Washington on Sunday. This Minnesota team isn’t going to make the playoffs, but the Vikings are playing hard for first-year coach Mike Zimmer and have some good young players. I liked what I saw of the Vikings on Sunday.
What’s gotten into Roethlisberger? In his last two games, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is 65-for-86 for 862 yards, with 12 touchdowns and no interceptions. Roethlisberger has never led the league in any major statistical category, but he has a chance this year, as he’s second in passing yards and second in passing touchdowns. He’s playing his best football.
The Patriots are dominant. Five weeks ago, people thought New England was dead and Tom Brady was washed up. Now the Patriots are on a five-game winning streak and Brady is the favorite to win league MVP. After Sunday’s win over the Broncos, the Patriots have outscored their opponents by a total of 83 points on the season, the best of any team in the NFL.
The Rams’ pass rush is suddenly great. In their first five games, the Rams’ defense had a grand total of one sack. In their last three games, the Rams’ defense has 13 sacks, including eight of Colin Kaepernick on Sunday in an upset win over the 49ers. I think the biggest difference is putting rookie defensive tackle Aaron Donald in the starting lineup. He’s become a force in the middle.
The 49ers aren’t a playoff team. Sorry, San Francisco, but your path to the playoffs is just too steep. With both the Cardinals and Seahawks in front of the 49ers in the NFC West, and the Lions, Packers, Cowboys and Eagles set to make the wild card race crowded, San Francisco isn’t going to get there.
The Jets are a mess, but Percy Harvin is good. Harvin had 225 all-purpose yards (129 receiving, 88 on kickoff returns, eight rushing) in the Jets’ loss to the Chiefs on Sunday. The Vikings and Seahawks both decided that Harvin’s attitude made him more trouble than he’s worth, and maybe he’ll wear out his welcome in New York, too. But right now he’s just about the only guy on the Jets’ offense who looks like a competent professional football player.
Brandon Weeden is terrible. Not that this is exactly breaking news, but Weeden just has no business playing quarterback in the NFL. He was awful for the Browns after they wasted a first-round draft pick on him, and he was awful yesterday for the Cowboys in place of the injured Tony Romo. But while Weeden deserves a lot of blame for the Cowboys’ loss to the Cardinals, Cowboys coach Jason Garrett and offensive coordinator Scott Linehan deserve plenty of blame for their play calling. It’s absolutely crazy that Weeden dropped back to pass 36 times and only handed off to DeMarco Murray 19 times. When you’ve got an MVP candidate at running back and a deadbeat like Weeden at quarterback, you should be running at least twice as often as you pass. Garrett got badly out-coached by Arians on Sunday.