NFL
Big changes from top to bottom in Arizona

By Jack Magruder
Special to The Seattle Times

GREG BRYAN / AP Dennis Green says the Cardinals have the talent to make the playoffs, but that would be a surprise to most.

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PHOENIX — Pete Kendall was among the first to scratch new Arizona coach Dennis Green's itchy trigger finger.

A sturdy guard with the Seahawks who started at center for the Cardinals last season, Kendall was the first training camp casualty, cut after physicals but before the first workout.

Green cited tape of five games of the Cardinals' 4-12 season, saying the line appeared to lack chemistry, although some speculated something more.

The move came a month after the NFL forced the Cardinals to forfeit a week of strength and conditioning work after some players complained to the players' association, feeling the new regime overstepped union guidelines governing offseason workouts.

It is unclear if the two are related, although the New York Jets seemed to think Kendall could still play, giving him a five-year, $20 million contract five days later.

But one thing is clear: Green's my-way-or-the-highway approach already has shaken up an offensive line that will attempt to protect third-year quarterback Josh McCown, whose three career starts include a 28-10 loss in Seattle last year.

"You can't be surprised by anything that is going to happen this year, or from this point on," said offensive tackle L.J. Shelton, son of former Sonics forward Lonnie Shelton. "We have to make changes from top to bottom, so who can really say they are safe?"

Shelton cannot. He is one of three former No. 1 draftees — defensive linemen Calvin Pace and Wendell Bryant are the others — who lost their starting positions in the offseason, and there are nine new starters for a team that scored the fewest points in the NFL last season and gave up the most.

With Kendall gone and Shelton demoted, Green has installed rookie fourth-round draft choice Alex Stepanovich of Ohio State at center and moved Leonard "Big" Davis to left tackle, Shelton's former spot.

Davis, the second overall pick in the 2001 draft, has spent all of his previous three years on the right side. He played right guard in 2001 and last season while playing right tackle in 2002.

He is big enough — 6 feet 6 and 381 pounds — to block Mount Rainier, but it remains to be seen whether he can handle quick outside rushers.

Veteran right tackle Anthony Clement retained his spot, while holdover Cameron Spikes and Reggie Wells are the likely guard starters on a unit that has struggled in the preseason.

	Pete Kendall was released, then signed by the Jets.

The Cardinals had the third-worst rushing average (3.8 yards per carry) in the NFC last season and gave up the second-most sacks (44) in the NFL — one seemingly begetting the other in an ugly cycle. Cannot run. Fall behind. Lose control of the game. Forced to pass. Sack.

It is not the kind of production an offensive mind such as Green can be expected to tolerate, especially after saying he expected the Cardinals to make the playoffs this season.

"It would be very disappointing if we are not a playoff team. I think we have that kind of talent," Green said.

Green has history on his side. After jumping from Stanford to the NFL in 2002, Green guided the Minnesota Vikings to an 11-5 record in his first year.

Green is one of only eight NFL coaches to make the playoffs in each of his first three seasons.

He sees similarities between the Cardinals and the Seahawks, beyond the fact that the Cardinals have won only one playoff game since 1947 and Seattle has won none since 1984.

"People think it (Seattle) is one of the fastest rising programs in the NFL. Their player talent pool came from the exact same one that our pool comes from," Green said.

"Why would we all of a sudden think that because they went to Seattle, they were tough enough to dig themselves out of a non-playoff program? Why do we think that because they came to Arizona they couldn't do the same thing, unless it was expectations and commitment?

"You expect to be a playoff team and you make the commitment to do it. I would say that's how Seattle dug their way out of it, and that's how we'll dig our way out of it."

Starting in the trenches.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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