The Cardinals scaled back their defense after a week three
loss to Seattle and the team is chomping at the bit to put
more back into the scheme. But defensive coordinator Ray
Horton is doing what he’s supposed to do as a coach, and
he’s telling them they’re not ready.

“I didn’t think they were ready and that’s kind of my job
and we’ve been limited,” Horton said. “When you’re ready
to do it, you’ll do it. And they’re there now, they’re
ready.”

Horton said they’re ready but not this week. When asked
why he won’t implement more against the Steelers, his
answer was simple.

“Probably because of number 17, Mike Wallace. He’s a
special guy and you have to respect what he does. And I
don’t want a bad matchup with 17, who’s averaging 20 yards
a catch, running deep on us.”

I like that a coach is being a coach. Horton respects his
guys and their ability but he doesn’t want to go one step
forward, two steps back with this defense. It seems to me
that Horton understands the importance of confidence in
this league. He understands that they have pride and were
embarrassed when the defense was scaled down but he also
understands that confidence is important when trying to
move forward.

“I think if you look the guys are really starting to pick
up the defense and starting move a lot faster and there’s
less mental mistakes,” Horton said. “And now we just gotta
win because they are getting close to being really what we
want them to be.”

Again, only time will tell. We’ve been saying that a lot
this season with the defense and the offense.

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