What are the Cardinals prepared to do about Manning?
Mar 8, 2012, 12:56 AM | Updated: Mar 9, 2012, 1:47 pm
It’s one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite
movies: the “What are you prepared to do?” speech that
Sean Connery delivers to Kevin Costner in
The Untouchables
Malone: What are you prepared to do?
Ness: Everything within the law.
Malone: And then what are you prepared to
do?
As I try to wrap my mind around a world in which the
Arizona Cardinals might be the leader in the clubhouse for
the services of THE Peyton Manning, I have to ask myself
the same question of them. What are you prepared to do?
Are you prepared to go blow-for-blow, dollar-for-dollar
with three of the richest owners the league has to offer
in Stephen Ross, Paul Allen and Daniel Snyder? Are you
prepared to look Kevin Kolb in the eye and tell him you’re
moving on? Are you prepared to have lost a second round
draft pick, a pro bowl cornerback, and millions of dollars
for what amounted to half of a season of Kolb?
Are you prepared to blindly commit to Manning not knowing
for certain his neck will hold up, his nerves will
regenerate and his arm strength will return? Are you
prepared to start John Skelton if Manning is not all the
way back by the start of the season? Are you prepared to
cede control of the offense to the quarterback instead of
the coaches?
What are you prepared to do?
It seems to me that those who dismiss the Cardinals
chances of landing Manning do so based on the presumption
the Cardinals aren’t willing to do what it takes.
Acquiring Manning requires thinking boldly, embracing risk
and seizing the moment; traits not normally associated
with the historically color-by-numbers Arizona Cardinals.
Some look at the Cardinals the way Connery looks at
Costner, saying – as Connery does – “do you really want to
get him?”
I think it’s a mistake to use fear as the rationale for
rejecting the Cardinals chances. There is a tendency –
maybe even a natural instinct – to dispatch the Cardinals
for no other reason other than…..they’re the Cardinals.
That mantra has been properly applied for decades; for me
its expiration date has long since come and gone. If the
Cards discover Manning has legitimate interest in bringing
his talents to the southwest, I’m certain they’ll proceed
with the kind of fervor that any other NFL team would. The
prospect is simply too good to pass up.
It would be bigger than Randy Johnson to the Diamondbacks.
Bigger than Steve Nash to the Suns. Bigger than Roenick to
the Coyotes. It would rival Charles Barkley to the Suns
and frankly, I think I could make a convincing argument it
would surpass Barkley to the Suns in terms of its impact.
Bigger star on a bigger stage. Oh yeah, there’s that
little matter of becoming an instant Super Bowl contender.
Maybe the Cardinals aren’t on Manning’s short list. Maybe
their offensive line is too suspect or Manning (as
Marshall Faulk suggested) doesn’t want to play in the NFC
because one day he wants to play his brother in a Super
Bowl.
But if you dismiss the Arizona Cardinals because they’re
the Arizona Cardinals, you do so at your own risk.