Jared CohenThere is no sugar coating a four game losing streak and the first who would tell you that, despite his even keel approach, is Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt. But now with a brutal part of the schedule ahead, the Cardinals need to avoid panic.
“We got to all look at ourselves at what we are going and the one thing you have to do is avoid a sense of panic,” said Whisenhunt on Tuesday. “I don’t like any better that we’ve lost four in a row but we’re going to continue to work.”
“I don’t know what kind of message it sends when you do that,” Whisenhunt mentioned. “These games aren’t a function of us not being prepared, it’s not that we haven’t seen things that we are ready for, it’s that we haven’t made the plays in the situation.”
The struggles have not just come from the offense, who has scored just 36 points in the last four games. The defense and special teams showed struggles on Monday night against the 49ers, especially with missed tackles.
For the Cardinals to get back to what they were doing right during the first month of the season, Whisenhunt mentions it comes down to execution.
“We have made some plays,” said Whisenhunt. “We’ve made enough plays to win four games. We just have to make plays to win some more games.”
“We’ve got good guys, good men,” added Whisenhunt. “They have responded to challenges in the past, they are going to be challenged this week and I expect them to respond.”
The matchup against the 49ers was tough but the road upcoming is even tougher. Two straight road games against the Packers and the undefeated Falcons after a bye week lies ahead. Both of those teams are strong in areas that the Cardinals have struggled with as of late. The Packers and Falcons have a fantastic pass rush led by Clay Mathews for Green Bay and John Abraham for Atlanta. Both also have a lot of playmakers offensively that the Cardinals can ill-afford to miss tackles with.
Whisenhunt expressed Tuesday the level of importance improving and working hard on the practice field and carrying that over to the field on Sundays.
In other news, Ken Whisenhunt announced on Tuesday that he expects running back Beanie Wells to return to practice next week coming off a turf toe injury. He is allowed to return to game action on week 12 against the St. Louis Rams off the IR.
