Boldin and Smitty OK After Helmet to Helmet
At the end of the Jets game, there was a scary moment in which Eric Smith and Cards WR Anquan Boldin collided. Boldin was taken to Mt. Sinai in New York, but all tests resulted in a good prognosis for Boldin. It sounds as if Smith might have suffered a concussion, based on what I heard from a Darrelle Revis interview in which he said ”when [Smith] woke up..” Kurt Warner talked to the press about the precarious nature of playing football.
“It was scary — it’s the scary part of this business. I can’t get it out of my mind. No matter how you play, you want to walk off the field healthy and my teammates healthy. I’ll just be happy when I see him walk into the facility again.”
It was an accident plain and simple, and with less than a minute left until the Cardinals could head for home, the injury was needless. The way Mangini was managing the game late, in going for two to make 56 -35, it was clear that he was trying to send a message to Cardinals Coach Ken Whisenhunt to “just stay down.” But Whisenhunt didn’t seem to get it. If I was a Cardinals fan this morning, I would be fuming that my coach was still gunning it and hanging players like Boldin and the clearly flustered Kurt Warner out to dry in a meaningless portion of the game.
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Totally agreee- When arizona got the ball for their final drive around the 2minute warning, they were down by 21 points. No chance for a comeback anymore. Their coach should of had the Cards taken a knee or just ran the ball a couple of times. And sadly, even after Boldin hit, the coach was still trying to score, airing it out. Just crazy!
I hate how all of the national sports media has stated the hit to be a helmet to helmet hit that was like dirty and unnecessary. He was trying to break up the catch by trying to hit Boldin in the chest where the ball would of been, but unfortunately Rhodes hit Boldin first and altered his body bringing his head down to the level where Smith was expecting the ball to be, not Boldin’s head.
You’d think they would have played Leinert and some 2nd stringers- like the Jets did against SD in a similar sitaution.
This is all on Ken Whisenhunt. In the first half he handed the Jets 3 points by dropping Warner back to pass with 12 seconds left well in their own territory. That was a silly call and had little or no chance of anything beneficial for his team. Same thing down by 21 with 27 seconds left in the 4th when Boldin went down. There was no chance of winning the game at that point. Call off the passing attack or at very least put in your subs. Mangini can be stubborn to a fault at times (3 runs on NE from the 3) but he has never been as silly as Whisenhunt was. The Cardinals players and media should be calling him out and he should be apologizing to Warner and Boldin for jeopardizing their health for no reason.
First of all it wasn’t deliberate or dirty. Anyone who says so didn’t see the play or the repaly. It was an unfortunate accident. And there was NO PENALTY on the play.
Regardless of what happend, any coach who cares about his players would not risk them getting injured in a game that is out of reach.
Leaving your starters in a game that is already of of reach is simply stubborness and stupidity by the coach. Maybe he was pissed at Mangini giong for 2 points and airing it out on 4th down. Maybe he had something to prove, thus leaving his starters in the game??? Thought?
For all of the fans that have been killing Mangini….take a look at the “great” Cardinal staff. Not only did Whisenhunt contiune to call passes (one that almost got his best player killed) he still had Warner in the game for no reason. Lets not forget that this genius had Warner (who played the worst half of football of his career) try and throw a pass with 10 secs remaining FROM HIS OWN 20. This of course led to another 3 pts to go up 34-0. Suprisingly the “awesome” FOX crew forgot to disect that.
Even though the hit was an accident and even though there was no penalty, don’t be surprised if the league issues a fine to Smith or the Jets. I doubt it will be severe, but it will be done most likely.
By the way, I’m glad to hear they are both okay (to some degree). I doubt either one of them will be playing this week, but you never know. I’m surprised they know what state they are in after that hit. They (and we) are very lucky that they injuries were not more serious. My prayers are with them.
DaveTN, they have Hall of Famers on their roster, hence the stat padding. As for Smith, if he wants to make a name for himself like this, I hope he never plays another down in this league. Anquan Boldin is one of the greatest players at his position in last 10 years, and if you consider his stats, top 10 of all time (think I’m nuts, just check the stats, I dare you). We have a MORON on our roster, and Mangina should apologize for the act by cuting the idiot.