The Pulse: Fans say James Bettcher will do ‘fine’ as the Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator
Feb 13, 2015, 3:03 AM | Updated: 3:04 am
There’s a new sheriff in town, at least on the defensive side of the ball in Glendale.
The Arizona Cardinals elevated James Bettcher from the outside linebackers coach to defensive coordinator last Wednesday.
It’s the highest position the 36-year-old coach has held, and we recently asked our readers in our Sanderson Ford Poll Question of the Day, which can be found in the right-hand column of our home page, how they think Bettcher will do in his new role.
Our readers appear to be cautiously optimistic about the new defensive coordinator, as 315 of the 463 voters (68 percent) answered, “Fine, defense is talented,” implying that the Cardinals have such a strong defensive core that it’ll be hard for Bettcher to fail.
The answer that came in a distant second was, “Great, he’s ready,” with 16 percent (75 voters overall) taking this option.
That means more than 84 percent of our readers voted for one of the two positive choices. When the Cardinals introduced Bettcher on Tuesday, head coach Bruce Arians called him a “shooting star” and said he has command of the locker room.
Sixty-one voters (13 percent) said the Bettcher promotion was, “Medicore, he lacks experience.” Although his age isn’t disconcerting to Arians, it appears a few fans feel differently.
And finally, just 3 percent of voters (12 overall) answered, “Poorly, he’s no Todd Bowles,” referring to Bettcher’s predecessor, who took a head coaching job with the New York Jets in January.
Speaking of Bowles, the defensive guru weighed in on Bettcher’s promotion last week on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM, saying, “Bruce knows what he’s doing when he’s picking guys, so I trust (the selection) completely.”
