We already knew he could sing. Now, we know he can play.

During the first week of Camp Cardinals, Darryl Washington proved he could carry a tune, both in the dining hall and with Doug & Wolf on Sports 620 KTAR. (As Adrian Wilson told us on the Big Red Rage: “he can really sing, no joke. I mean, he needs a recording contract.”)

But forget the bright lights of American Idol, this rookie just proved himself on the big stage of the NFL. Instead of carrying that tune, he just carried the Cards defense against Houston, basically telling the Texans – you’re all hat and no cattle. At least, as much as we can allow ourselves to read into a team high 13 tackle performance (9 solo) against mostly non-starters.

During the off-season, the Cardinals lost a #58 at weakside LB, when Karlos Dansby took his splendicular athleticism to the Dolphins via free agency for mad stacks (as the kids call plus-size amounts of money).

But, hang on, maybe we need to pump our brakes for a minute.

While Karlos Dansby currently resides in Miami, recently calling himself the best linebacker in the NFL (“by far” was the exact ‘Los quote, without mentioning that his bubble gum card doesn’t list a single Pro Bowl), the Cardinals new #58 just demonstrated what the coaches have been telling Paulie Pigskin for months now – wait until you see this 2nd round rookie accelerate to the football. Wait until you see the fastest linebacker at the NFL Combine flip the nitrous oxide switch and separate himself on the field and on film, not unlike watching Usain Bolt pull ahead of the pack to the finish line.

Moments after the game, in the Cards locker room during our Paulie Sideline postgame interview, I asked Washington: “what have the coaches told you so far?”

While still fielding congrats from other teammates in the hallway while we were live on the air, Washington made maybe the most glaring mistake of his night, saying that “the coaches just told me ‘thank you’…uh, no wait, they said ‘good job’ and I said ‘thank you.'”

Actually, Darryl, no worries. I think you got it right the first time. Ken Whisenhunt and his staff probably are saying “thank you” right about now.