Sports Radio Interviews

Ken Whisenhunt Has Already Moved on From the Heartbreaking Loss Against the Titans

Even though the Cardinals have an improved defense this season and have been able to stand up at times to some pretty good offenses, this is a team that is built around their dynamic offense.  Prior to Sunday’s game against the Titans, the Cardinals were on a roll and the offense looked like it was in a great rhythm.  Anquan Boldin finally looked healthy for the first time all season, Larry Fitzgerald was making plays all over the field, the combination of Tim Hightower and Beanie Wells was actually giving Arizona some production in the running game, and Kurt Warner was putting up good numbers for the Red Birds.  However, the Cardinals were not able to have the services of Kurt Warner this past weekend because of the concussion symptoms that he was dealing with and even though he wasn’t the reason they lost the game, Matt Leinart and the Cardinals offense did not look the same against the Titans.  The big plays in the passing game just weren’t there.  Despite having a first round pedigree, Leinart is not nearly as good of a quarterback as Warner and if they want to repeat as NFC Champions in the desert, they better hope that Warner is able to make a quick recovery.

KenWhisenhunt joined KTAR with Doug and Wolf to talk about the loss against the Titans this weekend, the decision to not play Kurt Warner, the play of Matt Leinart, and the game this weekend against Minnesota.

On how he’s feeling after the loss:

“Well, I’ve already watched the film and we get a chance to do that with the team. Then we move on.  That was one of the issues that we talked about last night.  We’ve got a tough game this week against a very good opponent and we just focus on that.”   

On whether or not a loss like the one against the Titans will linger: 

“Well, I don’t know if you can ever get over losses especially since you’ve worked so hard to change the perception of the team and how you play games.  I was proud of the way our team went in there and fought yesterday and overcame a number of things and had a chance to win it.  The big important thing for us is to move on.  We understand now that this is a big game, a Sunday night game against a good opponent and I think that’ll help us get focused in on next week.”

On whether or not there were plays that they could’ve made earlier so that the game didn’t go down to the end:

“I mean there’s a number of plays in every game.  There’s probably five, six, or seven plays that make the difference in the game.  You always like to think that you coulda made those plays or things coulda been different.  I don’t think you can dwell on that.  Those are hard things to deal with especially when you lose, but that’s the game and we understand that.  Once again, look at a lot of the good things that we did.  The way that our quarterback played, the way we got a big kickoff return in response to their long touchdown run…all those things are really what it’s about for us.  Continuing to grow as a team.”

On the decision to not play Kurt Warner against the Titans:

“I think we addressed that yesterday after the game.  We evaluated it as the week went on and Sunday there was circumstances that we didn’t feel like it was right for him to play.  We made that decision and we moved on.  I think we’ve turned our page on that one and we’re looking forward to Minnesota this week.”

On whether or not he had to change the game plan because of Matt Leinart:

“No, I didn’t whittle it down.  Every Friday I ask the quarterbacks to give me a sheet that has different categories of plays and it puts down their favorite plays and it gives me and idea as a play caller what they like and the things that they’re comfortable with.  When we knew that Matt was going to go, I just looked at the priority of some of the plays I had in situations and went with those.  As far as calling the game, early on in the game, I wanted to give him some easy throws and wanted to make sure that we didn’t put too much on him.  As he got going, there was nothing that I felt that I couldn’t call, especially when he was 13 of 16 in the second half, and really played well.  Matt hasn’t had a lot of regular season game experience for a while and for him to play the way he did yesterday and for him to compete like that and get more and more comfortable was certainly an indication of all the hard work that he put in.”

What he learned about Matt Leinart:

“I don’t think there was anything for us to learn.  I’ve said all along that I’ve been excited about Matt and the progress that he has made.  This is a good opponent and a tough place to play and to see him respond that way is certainly encouraging.  I think that’s what being a backup quarterback, being a quarterback in this league is all about.  You gotta have those guys on your team and one day Matt will get a chance to show that he can do it on a consistent basis.  I’m pleased with that and just how he handled himself.”

On how they will deal with Minnesota this weekend:

“We gotta put in a game plan and we gotta execute it.  When we do that, we give ourselves a chance to win, I don’t care who were playing against.  This will be a challenge, they’re a hot team, they’re playing good football, we’ve shown that we can rise up to the opportunities and play.  Yesterday was an indication of the fact that we can play together as a team and give ourselves a chance to win.  Much rather be sitting here today after we pulled that out, but we didn’t.  We gotta go back to the drawing board.  The one thing that I know is that we have a bunch of guys that are tough guys, that will fight and that gives you a chance to win if you can limit your mistakes and continue to work together.” 

Listen to Ken Whisenhunt on KTAR with Doug and Wolf here

Tags: Arizona Cardinals, Ken Whisenhunt, KTAR, Matt Leinart, NFL