A much tougher schedule and some notable player defections mean that improving upon last year's playoff excitement probably isn't in the Cards

With the addition of a new deep threat, Moore should get less attention and more catches.  Scott Troyanos

On the wall of the Cardinals' players and coaches dorm at their Flagstaff, Ariz., training camp, there is the following message from the National Park Service: "What to do if you see a mountain lion: Do not run. Do not approach it. Do not crouch down. If attacked, remain standing and fight back."

Well, here come the mountain lions. Last year the franchise built its 9-7 record and won its first playoff game in 51 years thanks in part to a schedule that had only one opponent that finished with a winning record. Now Arizona faces eight of them, all of whom reached the postseason in 1998. The Cardinals are not running or crouching, they're fighting back; but what do they have to fight with?

Free agency took away the best member of a mediocre offensive line, left tackle Lomas Brown. Arizona's first-round draft choice (No. 21 overall), L.J. Shelton, who was chosen to replace Brown, was still unsigned as SI went to press. Gone is last year's sturdiest linebacker, Jamir Miller, and the offense will be minus the combined 122 pass receptions supplied by fullback Larry Centers, utility back Eric Metcalf and tight end Chris Gedney, who are all gone this year. Two-time Pro Bowl defensive left tackle, Eric Swann, is coming back from surgery to correct an arthritic left knee, and his sidekick, Mark Smith, who played the best of any of the Arizona linemen in '98 but got paid the least, is holding out until he feels that his salary situation is remedied.

That's the bad news. The good news: Arizona is young, with only two projected 22 starters 30 or older. The Cardinals' top draft pick (No. 8 overall), wideout David Boston, has so far given Arizona just what it wanted -- a deep threat to go with a potent twosome of Rob Moore and Frank Sanders (last year's top receiver in the NFC, with 89 catches). Adrian Murrell, the tailback, is coming off his third straight 1,000-yard season. Right cornerback Corey Chavous is developing into a fine running mate for All-Pro Aeneas Williams, and left defensive end Andre Wadsworth, last year's first-round draft choice, got off to a great start in camp. Then there's Jake Plummer, the freewheeling young quarterback.

For the first half of '98 Jake the Snake was Jake the Turtle, a dink and dunk passer in the offense crafted by new coordinator Marc Trestman, a veteran of the Bill Walsh system in San Francisco. Take what the defense gives you, don't screw up, safety at all costs. The Cardinals had taken a wild stallion and put him in front of a cart. Through eight games he was averaging a measly 9.7 yards per completion, close to the bottom of the league, and the team was 4-4. Coach Vince Tobin had a talk with his coordinator. "Vince came into my office," Trestman says, "and told me, 'I want you to turn Jake loose. We can't go into the playoffs with a defense carrying a try-not-to-lose offense.'"

So the Cardinals went to a no-huddle, hurry-up attack. Trestman cut down the playbook and stressed the things Plummer does best -- stretch the field, throw on the move. Plummer's yards-per-completion average rose to 13.0 for the last eight games, and he trimmed his interceptions from 12 in the first half of the season to eight in the second. And Arizona, riding the crest of three straight wins and 902 passing yards by Plummer, reached the postseason.

For the record, Plummer says all the right things. "It took me awhile to learn the system.... I had to cut down on mistakes.... I was throwing too many interceptions." But one day in practice this summer, while watching her son whipping the ball downfield, Marilyn Plummer said, "Jake was miserable early last year. He was worried about getting his steps right and not making mistakes. Then one day he just said the hell with it and started playing."

Now, in his fourth year in the league, Plummer is poised to take his place among the big boys, the Favres and Youngs and Aikmans and Marinos.

And the defense? Swann is the key. "It was a case of degenerative arthritis last year, of bone rubbing on bone," he says. "The cartilage was gone. I could play in spurts but I couldn't sustain it. They drilled into the bone, trying to stimulate cell growth to get the cartilage to reform. But now I fully expect to be ready for the season. My weight will be down to 295. I'll be quicker, I'll be hitting the gaps. It'll be like turning on a light switch: Bam! I guarantee you, the old Swannie will be back. They'd better work on their hard count because I'm going to be coming."

So will the mountain lions.

-- Paul Zimmerman

Fast Facts

1998 RECORD: 9-7 (2nd in NFC East)
     NFL rank (rush/pass/total): offense 21/8/13; defense 20/17/21

1999 SCHEDULE STRENGTH (rank): 4 (tie)
     Opponents' 1998 winning percentage: .535; Games against playoff teams: 9

Player to Watch

You want to know the statistics of the great Ken O'Brien-Dan Marino, Jets-Dolphins shootout of Sept. 21, 1986? Ask Corey Chavous. "Marino, 30 of 50 for 448 yards, six touchdowns," he says. "O'Brien, 29 of 43, 479 yards, four touchdowns, all to Wesley Walker." That's when the Cardinals' right cornerback started building his library, which now numbers some 500 game tapes. "I used to tape everything," he says, "college and pro. The great SEC teams, the great Florida attack of the '80s, Kerwin Bell to Ricky Nattiel, the NFL, anything I could lay my hands on. I'd get six-hour tapes and fill 'em up." He'd study the coaching films, then take them home -- and keep them. There might be a few better cornerbacks in the NFL, but none have seen and studied as many games as this second-year pro. In his rookie season of '98 the Cardinals played him at strong safety, then switched him to corner in Game 12. With All-Pro Aeneas Williams on the left side, Chavous became a target, but he held up well. Now he's five pounds lighter, better and smarter. Arizona could have the best pair of corners in the game.

Other Info

1999 Team Schedule
Team Depth Chart