Cardinals rookies went through their first practice as professionals Friday, and accordingly, miracles were neither expected nor produced.

“They get a gold star if they can line up right today,” coach Ken Whisenhunt said.

There were two practices Friday, two more scheduled for Saturday and another Sunday. The idea is to teach the 47 players in attendance, mostly rookies, enough that they can compete for jobs when the entire team begins practicing in a few weeks.

“The thing that you tell them is you are not going to make the team this weekend,” Whisenhunt said. “If you want to make a good impression, don’t make mistakes and do it right from a technique standpoint. If you can work on those things and get better over the course of the days, then you’ll stand out and you’ll have a chance to get reps when the vets get in here. And that will give you a chance to make the team.”

In attendance were all seven draft picks, 16 rookie free agents, 16 players trying out and eight others who spent time on the practice squad last season.

The practices were filled with the basics, such as play calls and alignments. Some players had easier times with it than others.

For receiver Michael Floyd, the first-round pick, the practice seemed familiar because there are similarities between the Cardinals’ offense and the one used by coach Charlie Weis in Floyd’s first two years at Notre Dame.

“I’m adjusting to it,” he said. “It’s different from college to here and I have to make sure I’m crisp with everything.”

Whisenhunt called the workouts interesting.

“It was, in a lot of ways, fun,” he said. “The enthusiasm was great. The effort was great. Didn’t quite know what they were doing all the time.

“But it really makes you appreciate being on the field again. We didn’t have this last year because of the lockout and boy, this is a lot of fun, being out there with the guys, working on football stuff.”

It’s the first rookie camp in Whisenhunt’s five years with the team. Usually, rookies and veterans practice together, but the new collective-bargaining agreement changed some off-season practices.

This camp is for rookies and other young players. Everyone will participate in organized team activities, which start in two weeks, and the off-season concludes with a team minicamp in mid-June.

“You can devote more time to them, they’re getting more reps and you’re getting to see how they react to some situations,” Whisenhunt said. “Some of the instinctive things and what they’ve been coached on. Like a receiver when he beats a defensive back, is he going to get over the top, is he going to the run to the sideline?”

Reputations are like oil stains. They don’t remove easily.

But after years of draft-day debacles, the Cardinals finally are cleaning up their image as talent purveyors.

In the process, they finally might have solved the franchise’s deepest fundamental flaw.

“It starts with Michael (Bidwill) and Rod (Graves),” said Steve Keim, the recently promoted vice president of player personnel. “Those guys have continued to place more and more emphasis on our scouting department. It’s not just an afterthought anymore, and I think that’s extremely crucial to the success of a NFL team. Putting together a good scouting staff is every bit as important as putting together a good coaching staff.”

Start with Keim, who has taken on a more-authoritative role in personnel matters in recent years while his boss, Graves, tends to the business side of football. The results have raised the bar and some eyebrows.

Keim isn’t a general manager by title. But he talks like one. He acts like one. He’s not shy with his opinions. Recent draft classes reveal a franchise operating in sync, and a team enjoying a steady influx of young players. He knows what Ken Whisenhunt wants in a player, and over time, has earned the coach’s trust.

“Ken is all about character and intangibles and getting the right kind of players in the locker room,” Keim said. “And now we’ve hit on enough players where Ken feels comfortable with us, with the process.”

That hasn’t always been the case in Arizona.

Entering his 14th season with the team, Keim was just an underling with the Cardinals when the scouting department was full of crusty veterans who didn’t exactly blaze a trail. They read other people’s reports. One of them took the position that Terrell Suggs was nothing more than a third-round pick, and wouldn’t budge.

It created a dysfunctional paralysis, where the coach occasionally would leave the draft room shaking his head, or seething with anger. That’s no way to run a football team.

In the NFL, smart franchises use draft picks to address the future. They use draft picks to replace players who will be too expensive or too old in coming years. They use draft picks to select the best football players on the board.

Bad football teams are constantly treading water. They have holes to fill. They draft for need while other teams eye superior talent. That only widens the competitive gap.

Keim won’t take all the credit for the team’s enhanced performance in talent evaluation, citing scouting colleagues Jason Licht (former Patriots personnel director and finalist for the Bears’ GM vacancy), Dru Grigson (brother of Colts GM Ryan Grigson) and Malik Boyd. But something has changed dramatically in Tempe.

“We have guys that don’t get a lot of accolades,” Keim said. “But in the last five years, we’ve done a complete overhaul of the scouting department. And Jason (Licht) coming back is really going to bolster the strength of our department.”

Keim also credits Graves for affording him a “long leash,” and for reeling him in when necessary. Graves also deserves credit for apparently grooming a successor, for being committed to team and not his own ego, for recognizing his own spotty record as a talent evaluator.

Two years ago, Keim was working for the Cardinals while living in North Carolina, a decision born out of convenience. Now he’s full-time in Arizona and a hot name in league circles, having just interviewed for the Rams’ GM job.

Imagine how good he’ll look if Ryan Williams (last year’s second-round pick) and Michael Floyd (first-rounder in 2012) are standout performers this season.

“I think there are three things that make a great personnel man: your eye to evaluate talent, your organizational skills and your conviction,” Keim said. “If you’re talking to a GM or a head coach about a player they don’t know, and you don’t come full tilt with strong conviction, how can they believe in you?

“To me you have to be willing to stand up and swing for the fences. You don’t get better by trying to hit singles all the time.”

Impact players and keen-eyed evaluators are hard to find in the NFL. Generally, you don’t get one without the other. And after all these years, the Cardinals might have figured it out.

Reach Bickley at dan.bickley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8253. Follow him at twitter.com/danbickley. Listen to “Bickley and MJ” weekdays on 2-6 p.m. on XTRA Sports 910.

As far as surprises go, an NFL team drafting a cornerback in the third round doesn’t usually cause a change in anyone’s vital signs.

But it was eye-opening last weekend when the Cardinals selected Oklahoma cornerback Jamell Fleming there, adding to a line of cornerbacks that already stretched out the locker-room doors.

Patrick Peterson is the only one in the line with a secure starting job. The position on the opposite side of the field is open, and the Cardinals are going through an intense search process to fill it.

“There’s nothing wrong with competition at any position,” cornerback Greg Toler said. “Me, I always know if someone is on my heels, it brings the best out of me. Just bring it on. Let’s just play ball.”

At least four cornerbacks, including Toler and Fleming, have a legitimate shot at starting at left cornerback. Toler was contending for the job last summer when he suffered a torn ACL and missed the season. A.J. Jefferson, who lost the starting job after seven games, is returning. William Gay signed as a free agent.

At least two factors motivated the Cardinals to sign Gay and draft Fleming: Coaches didn’t think the team was good enough at that cornerback spot last season, and they believe there is no such thing as having too many cornerbacks.

“If offenses are going to be in some form of a sub-package, where they have three or four receivers on the field 60 percent of the time, you are going to be running eight or nine defensive backs on the field,” coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “We saw tremendous value in players that were able to move around and play different spots and make it more difficult for offenses to get a feel for what we were doing. That’s why we had some success.”

Gay played his previous five seasons with the Steelers, who for years have run the same defensive system the Cardinals installed a year ago.

Gay was a full-time starter for two years, including 2011, but being in the starting lineup isn’t the be-all, end-all for him.

“At the end of the day, this league requires a good, solid four corners, maybe five,” Gay said. “My thing is if you’re stuck on just trying to be a starter, and that’s it, you’re really not focused on the right thing.

“It’s a ‘W’ at end of the day that counts. I don’t care what 11 (players) are out there. When I was a nickel (corner) in Pittsburgh, I got roughly 40 plays. That’s the way the offenses are starting to attack. You are going to get playing time, either way. You just want it to be competitive as possible and that’s what we’re going to make it be.”

Others cornerbacks could figure into the mix. Crezdon Butler played in just one game last season because of an ankle injury. Mike Adams is short (5-feet-8) but he’s held off challengers for the past five seasons. Marshay Green and Korey Lindsey are practice-squad players trying to make the regular roster.

Gay, Toler, Jefferson and Fleming are expected to be the top contenders for the starting job.

Toler estimates he’s 85 percent recovered from the torn ligament and hopes to participate in workouts this month and next. He’s gained 11 pounds up to 198, most of it appearing to be in his upper body.

“(Larry Fitzgerald) keeps telling me he’s going to take me up top,” Toler said. “He’s like, you know I’m going to test that knee out.’”

Defenders are at a disadvantage in the pass-happy NFL, where the rules favor the offense. On the flip side, a passing league means not only more employment opportunities for receivers, but for defensive backs, too.

“They’re giving us jobs,” Jefferson said, “but just making our jobs harder.”

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) The Arizona Cardinals waited until the third day of the NFL draft to address the team’s greatest need, the offensive line, then selected two players – tackle Bobby Massie of Mississippi in the fourth round and guard Senio Kelemete of Washington in the fifth.

The 6-foot-6, 320-pound Massie slipped farther in the draft than a lot of people had predicted, going to the Cardinals Saturday as the 112th player chosen overall.

”It just makes me hungry,” Massie said in a conference call. ”I was projected to go higher and earlier in the draft. It just makes me hungry. I’m just ready to strap on the pads and show teams why I should have been drafted earlier.”

Arizona general manager Rod Graves and coach Ken Whisenhunt said the team resisted going for an offensive lineman in the first two days of the draft, opting instead to go with players higher on the team’s draft board. The Cardinals selected wide receiver Michael Floyd of Notre Dame in the first round and cornerback Jamell Fleming of Oklahoma in the third round.

The Cardinals’ second-round pick had been shipped to Philadelphia as part of the trade that brought quarterback Kevin Kolb to Arizona.

Kelemete, 6-3 and 300 pounds, started all 13 games at left tackle for Washington last season but is projected as a guard with the Cardinals.

”It doesn’t matter,” he said. ”I just want to be out there and help contribute to the team. Wherever the coaches need me to go, wherever they need to put me in, I’ll play.”

Kelemete was a two-time team captain with the Huskies.

”I think my strengths are my attitude, being really aggressive,” he said, ”and bringing the best out of the guys around me.”

Massie played right tackle in college, the same position he will be competing for with Arizona. The Cardinals, plagued by inconsistent line play, re-signed left tackle Levi Brown in the offseason and signed free agent Adam Snyder, who can play either guard or tackle.

”I have the opportunity to prove myself,” Massie said. ”I want to get in, learn the system, and get around the guys, my teammates. My goal is to potentially be the starter by the time the season starts.”

Massie, from Lynchburg, Va., had a year of college eligibility remaining but chose to leave Ole Miss after the team went 2-10 last season, leading to the firing of coach Houston Nutt. Massie started all 12 games last season on an offense that struggled mightily, finishing 114th nationally at 281.25 yards per game.

Overall, he appeared in 37 games at Mississippi, starting the last 29 of them. He blocked for 14 100-yard rushing performances but said he considers pass blocking his biggest strength.

”For my size, I’m athletic for a big guy,” Massie said. ”I need to work on staying low in the running game and staying on linebackers in the second level.”

He said he didn’t know why he had slipped in the draft.

”A lot of teams that talked to me and told me they were going to draft me ended up passing,” Massie said. ”That’s just how the draft goes. I’m just proud to be in Arizona.”

He said he didn’t know much about the Cardinals.

”I know they throw the ball a lot,” Massie said, ”so I’ll keep the quarterback upright.”

TEMPE, Ariz. – The Arizona Cardinals waited until the third day of the NFL draft to address the team’s greatest need, the offensive line, then selected two players — tackle Bobby Massie of Mississippi in the fourth round and guard Senio Kelemete of Washington in the fifth.

The 6-foot-6, 320-pound Massie slipped farther in the draft than a lot of people had predicted, going to the Cardinals Saturday as the 112th player chosen overall.

“It just makes me hungry,” Massie said in a conference call. “I was projected to go higher and earlier in the draft. It just makes me hungry. I’m just ready to strap on the pads and show teams why I should have been drafted earlier.”

Arizona general manager Rod Graves and coach Ken Whisenhunt said the team resisted going for an offensive lineman in the first two days of the draft, opting instead to go with players higher on the team’s draft board. The Cardinals selected wide receiver Michael Floyd of Notre Dame in the first round and cornerback Jamell Fleming of Oklahoma in the third round.

The Cardinals’ second-round pick had been shipped to Philadelphia as part of the trade that brought quarterback Kevin Kolb to Arizona.

Kelemete, 6-3 and 300 pounds, started all 13 games at left tackle for Washington last season but is projected as a guard with the Cardinals.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “I just want to be out there and help contribute to the team. Wherever the coaches need me to go, wherever they need to put me in, I’ll play.”

Kelemete was a two-time team captain with the Huskies.

“I think my strengths are my attitude, being really aggressive,” he said, “and bringing the best out of the guys around me.”

Massie played right tackle in college, the same position he will be competing for with Arizona. The Cardinals, plagued by inconsistent line play, re-signed left tackle Levi Brown in the off-season and signed free agent Adam Snyder, who can play either guard or tackle.

“I have the opportunity to prove myself,” Massie said. “I want to get in, learn the system, and get around the guys, my teammates. My goal is to potentially be the starter by the time the season starts.”

Massie, from Lynchburg, Va., had a year of college eligibility remaining but chose to leave Ole Miss after the team went 2-10 last season, leading to the firing of coach Houston Nutt. Massie started all 12 games last season on an offence that struggled mightily, finishing 114th nationally at 281.25 yards per game.

Overall, he appeared in 37 games at Mississippi, starting the last 29 of them. He blocked for 14 100-yard rushing performances but said he considers pass blocking his biggest strength.

“For my size, I’m athletic for a big guy,” Massie said. “I need to work on staying low in the running game and staying on linebackers in the second level.”

He said he didn’t know why he had slipped in the draft.

“A lot of teams that talked to me and told me they were going to draft me ended up passing,” Massie said. “That’s just how the draft goes. I’m just proud to be in Arizona.”

He said he didn’t know much about the Cardinals.

“I know they throw the ball a lot,” Massie said, “so I’ll keep the quarterback upright.”

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) – The Arizona Cardinals waited until the third day of the NFL draft to address the team’s greatest need, the offensive line, then selected two players – tackle Bobby Massie of Mississippi in the fourth round and guard Senio Kelemete of Washington in the fifth.

The 6-foot-6, 320-pound Massie slipped farther in the draft than a lot of people had predicted, going to the Cardinals Saturday as the 112th player chosen overall.

“It just makes me hungry,” Massie said in a conference call. “I was projected to go higher and earlier in the draft. It just makes me hungry. I’m just ready to strap on the pads and show teams why I should have been drafted earlier.”

Arizona general manager Rod Graves and coach Ken Whisenhunt said the team resisted going for an offensive lineman in the first two days of the draft, opting instead to go with players higher on the team’s draft board. The Cardinals selected wide receiver Michael Floyd of Notre Dame in the first round and cornerback Jamell Fleming of Oklahoma in the third round.

The Cardinals’ second-round pick had been shipped to Philadelphia as part of the trade that brought quarterback Kevin Kolb to Arizona.

Kelemete, 6-3 and 300 pounds, started all 13 games at left tackle for Washington last season but is projected as a guard with the Cardinals.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “I just want to be out there and help contribute to the team. Wherever the coaches need me to go, wherever they need to put me in, I’ll play.”

Kelemete was a two-time team captain with the Huskies.

“I think my strengths are my attitude, being really aggressive,” he said, “and bringing the best out of the guys around me.”

Massie played right tackle in college, the same position he will be competing for with Arizona. The Cardinals, plagued by inconsistent line play, re-signed left tackle Levi Brown in the offseason and signed free agent Adam Snyder, who can play either guard or tackle.

“I have the opportunity to prove myself,” Massie said. “I want to get in, learn the system, and get around the guys, my teammates. My goal is to potentially be the starter by the time the season starts.”

Massie, from Lynchburg, Va., had a year of college eligibility remaining but chose to leave Ole Miss after the team went 2-10 last season, leading to the firing of coach Houston Nutt. Massie started all 12 games last season on an offense that struggled mightily, finishing 114th nationally at 281.25 yards per game.

Overall, he appeared in 37 games at Mississippi, starting the last 29 of them. He blocked for 14 100-yard rushing performances but said he considers pass blocking his biggest strength.

“For my size, I’m athletic for a big guy,” Massie said. “I need to work on staying low in the running game and staying on linebackers in the second level.”

He said he didn’t know why he had slipped in the draft.

“A lot of teams that talked to me and told me they were going to draft me ended up passing,” Massie said. “That’s just how the draft goes. I’m just proud to be in Arizona.”

He said he didn’t know much about the Cardinals.

“I know they throw the ball a lot,” Massie said, “so I’ll keep the quarterback upright.”

TEMPE, Ariz. – The Arizona Cardinals could be thinking big in this year’s draft.

That’s big as in some mountainous offensive lineman to fill the team’s biggest need.

The Cardinals need someone to play right tackle, or at least right guard, and conventional wisdom has them going in that direction with the 13th overall pick on Thursday night.

Yet it’s no foregone conclusion, with the team still searching for a reliable No. 2 receiver behind Larry Fitzgerald. That could tempt Arizona to go for Notre Dame‘s Michael Floyd.

“He’s a good young player,” coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “We got the chance to sit down and meet him and talk with him. That’s probably one of the most rejuvenating parts of this whole process is to talk to them about their challenges, what they’ve gone through, how they’ve progressed in their careers, and we really enjoyed our time with him.”

Floyd’s stock has risen steadily since the college season ended, with strong showings at the NFL combine and in his pro day workout.

At 6-foot-2, Floyd says he wants to model his play after Fitzgerald. The two, both from the Minneapolis area, are friends and reportedly plan to work out together this off-season. A question Floyd has had to deal with is about off-field issues.

A year ago, he was suspended from the Notre Dame team after a drunken-driving arrest on campus but was reinstated after he met the conditions set by the university and by coach Brian Kelly for his return. Floyd says he has learned from the situation and has taken steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

As always, much depends on what happens before the Cardinals get their pick.

Reilly Reif, a 6-foot-6, 313-pound tackle from Iowa, could still be on the board, although there is a considerable school of thought that he will be taken by the Buffalo Bills at No. 10. Guard-tackle Cordy Glenn of Georgia, 6-5 and 345 pounds, also is a possible choice, with Buffalo again a possibility. If the team decides to go with a guard, though, Stanford’s David DeCastro, 6-5, 316, has drawn raves. For that reason, he could be gone by No. 13, too.

Any other offensive lineman might be a reach at No. 13. The Cardinals have studiously avoided such moves in Whisenhunt‘s years with the team.

“What we don’t want to do is draft a lineman just to draft a lineman because that’s what you think you have to do,” Whisenhunt said. “You’ve got to trust your process and you’ve got to pick the best player available that fits your team.”

Complicating matters is the absence of a second-round pick. That was sent to Philadelphia as part of the trade for quarterback Kevin Kolb.

Arizona would consider a trade to move down in the draft, and perhaps get a second-round selection, but it seems a good share of the teams ahead of the Cardinals are willing to do so as well.

‘We would certainly like to be able to have multiple picks beyond the ordinary seven rounds, and this year we’re minus a second,” general manager Rod Graves said, “but we’ll see what happens. We may end up getting back into a second, but if not then we’ll work with what we have and try to optimize it the best we can.”

The Cardinals addressed some of the line issues in free agency, re-signing left tackle Levi Brown and signing free agent and former San Francisco 49er Adam Snyder. Snyder can play both guard and tackle but the Cardinals probably would rather slide him in at guard.

“Obviously, getting Levi and Adam was big for us,” Whisenhunt said. “We made no bones about the fact that we wanted to address our line. To think that you were going to be able to get three or four guys in free agency, that’s just not going to happen. However it came out, we felt like we made two strong additions in getting Levi back and getting Adam.”

Unless there’s some kind of trade, Arizona’s second pick won’t come until the third round, the 80th selection overall.

But the Cardinals have been known to find success in the later rounds.

Last year’s draft, considered to be a highly successful one for the team, had cornerback-punt returner Patrick Peterson as the no-brainer top of the list at No. 5 overall. But the Cardinals love their second-round pick, running back Ryan Williams, despite losing him to injury for the entire season. Fourth-round pick Sam Acho became the team’s starting outside linebacker and led the team in sacks with seven. The third-round pick, tight end Rob Housler, and sixth-round pick, nose tackle David Carter, became significant contributors.

“The teams that have been the most successful have had a history of strong drafts,” Graves said, “back to back drafts, and a record of having historical success in drafting. That’s certainly what we’re working for.”

 Arizona Cardinals update:

Here are some of the stories/opinions/tidbits gleaned over a few hours of skimming this morning.

– ESPN is reporting that 12 teams have contacted Peyton Manning’s representative. The Cardinals are among them. I have no confirmation of that but don’t doubt it.

– ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that Manning would rather play in the AFC than the NFC. 

– ESPN’s John Clayton, via NFC West blogger Mike Sando, reports the Cardinals have about $3 million in cap space. That’s a surprisingly low figure but as Sando points out, it doesn’t preclude the Cardinals from signing Manning. I assume that figure includes Levi Brown’s current $17 million cap number. That will be eliminated/decreased soon. Teams can easily clear space to do what they need to do at this time of year. It’s an indication, however, that signing Manning would mean the team would not be a big player in free agency.

Not that I expected the Cardinals to be. Coach Ken Whisenhunt said after the season that he didn’t see much roster turnover coming.

– Adam Schein on msn.foxports.com says the Cardinals-Manning infatuation is not one-sided. Manning has put out feelers to the Cardinals, Schein says. And the Cardinals have had discussions about signing Manning’s former teammate, receiver Reggie Wayne. I would caution that teams have a lot of internal discussions about players at this time of year. But it’s an interesting note.

– If you hear word that coach Ken Whisenhunt is in Florida this week, don’t automatically think it’s because Manning is also there. Whisenhunt is partaking in NFL competition committee meetings. It’s a coincidence.

Thursday, March 8, 2012 at 07:56 AM

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Two things are certain about the 2012 Cardinals:

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They will stage a riveting quarterback competition in Flagstaff. And when they leave training camp, they’ll have one of the best backups in the business.

Assuming Kevin Kolb is still working in Arizona.

“You’re never certain of anything in this world,” he said before leaving for West Texas. “But I am very confident they’re going to keep me around.”

As the offseason begins in Arizona, Kolb is finally feeling normal. He hasn’t played since the first series against the 49ers on Dec. 11, when he took a knee to the back of the helmet. He watched Sunday’s game in sweat clothes, wearing earplugs to protect his brain.

But this time, he was fully engaged in the Cardinals’ 23-20 victory over Seattle on Sunday, exhorting his teammates along the way.

“The last five days I’ve had no symptoms,” Kolb said. “I felt really good on Sunday, and that’s the first time that I’ve felt right on game day. I don’t know if you saw me, but I was a lot more emotional. I was into the game. It felt good to be that way again.”

By now, most people understand that concussions can be menacing. A leading doctor in the field said he knows of a NHL player who began the season on the inactive list and has “contemplated suicide numerous times” because of severe depression and memory loss. The injury should never be minimized.

Yet Kolb’s first season in Arizona was underwhelming. He missed games due to turf toe, fretting that the unmanly nature of the injury would make people think he was “a big weenie.” He missed the last three games with a concussion. He won only twice in nine starts.

It was not the impression he wanted to leave in his first year, after publicly declaring his love for Valley living.

Meanwhile, Cardinals fans are becoming emotionally vested in John Skelton. His bad throws are maddening. His victories are always gritty and rarely pretty. But he fights and he wins, and on Sunday, after fainting in pregame preparations, he left the field with an oozing sense of conquest. He was pumping his fist and acknowledging the fans. It was like he owned the place.

After winning 6 of 8 games, Skelton’s voice has grown, too. He speaks like a starting quarterback, not a designated driver dangling a set of keys. He has newfound credibility with the guys in the locker room, and there is no longer a clear hierarchy at quarterback in Arizona.

“That’s what this is all about,” Kolb said. “Everyone fights for their jobs everyday in this business: coaches, players, trainers. There is always someone nipping at your heels. John (Skelton) is a competitor. Rich (Bartel) wants to take my job, too. That’s the way this thing is designed.”

Kolb is owed a $7 million roster bonus in early March. Unless the Cardinals find a way to land Peyton Manning or Green Bay reserve Matt Flynn, they will have invested $19 million into Kolb by the time the 2012 season commences.

There will be far more pressure on Kolb in Year 2, internally and externally. It will be his make-or-break year in Arizona. He says he welcomes the challenge.

“The Super Bowl motivates me,” Kolb said. “I don’t need motivation from proving people wrong or validating certain moves. For me, it’s winning the Super Bowl and getting that ring on your finger.

“I’m looking forward to the offseason. I think we found a little bit of an identity the past half of the season. Everyone always associated Arizona with an offensive juggernaut, but we have a chance to be a really good, complete team.”

For starters, they’ll feature one of the best No. 2 quarterbacks in the NFL. Only his identity remains a mystery.

Reach Bickley at dan.bickley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8253. Follow him at twitter.com/danbickley. Listen to “Bickley and MJ” weekdays from 2-6 p.m. on KGME-AM (910).

About the only thing that separates the Cardinals from the Seahawks these days is that one of them practiced in sunny, 70-degree weather to prepare for Sunday’s season finale.

Both are not only 7-8, they took similar paths to get there. Both teams were 2-6 at the halfway point of the season. Both pulled themselves up to ground level and took a peek at the playoffs before losing last week.

Both have defenses featuring young, dynamic players and offenses that are works in progress, often minus the progress part.

“We both have done things that we are excited about,” Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “We have won some games against good opponents. We’ve done a good job at home. They’ve done a good job at home. There is a little bit of a difference as far as they’ve had success running the ball lately. We’ve had a little bit more success throwing the football lately, especially in the fourth quarter.

“It’s a good matchup of two teams in a division that have played good football over the back half of the season.”

Both teams have a chance to finish .500 Sunday. The one that does will claim second place in the NFC West, a small consolation for teams out of the playoffs. But you find motivation wherever you can.

“It’s really important,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll said of finishing .500. “That’s what we have to play for at this time. That’s not anywhere near where we wanted to be, but it’s what we have available, and we’re going for it. I know that those guys feel the same way.”

The Seahawks have won three consecutive games over Arizona, including 13-10 in Week 3 in Seattle. The Cardinals scored just 38 points in those three losses, which all came after Carroll became coach in 2010.

Turnovers have been the biggest problem for the Cardinals in those games. They committed nine to Seattle’s three.

In the loss earlier this year, Cardinals quarterback Kevin Kolb had two passes intercepted deep in Seattle territory, and kicker Jay Feely missed field-goal attempts of 51 and 49 yards.

The Seahawks were no offensive juggernaut, gaining 261 yards and scoring one touchdown, but they were far more efficient than the Cardinals.

Seattle’s offensive attack has changed since that game, while the Cardinals are much different defensively.

The Seahawks gradually came to rely more upon a physical running game, spearheaded by Marshawn Lynch, who has gained at least 100 yards in six of the past eight games. In Week 3, it was a mystery why Lynch (19 carries, 73 yards) didn’t get the ball more.

“I think we have improved in big areas, particularly after we made it through the first half and just struggled growing with the young guys up front,” Carroll said. “We started getting better and we just improved to where we can win some football games finally.”

The Cardinals had won six of seven games before last week’s loss in Cincinnati. They did it with a defense that played consistently well throughout games, and an offense that came alive in the second half, especially the fourth quarter.

Both teams will begin their off-season on Monday with questions at quarterback. Seattle’s Tarvaris Jackson has displayed toughness in playing through a pectoral injury, but it’s questionable whether he will remain the Seahawks starter beyond Sunday.

“We will go into the off-season with Tarvaris as our quarterback, and we will see what the off-season brings,” Carroll said. “He was absolutely hurt and found a way to play and gave us everything he had. He gave us a chance to turn this thing around. I’ll always be proud of him for that.”

For the Cardinals, Kolb is expected to miss his third game because of concussion and his seventh overall due to injuries. The trade that brought him from Philadelphia to Arizona has not yet paid dividends.

His backup, John Skelton, has shown the ability to bring the Cardinals from behind in the fourth quarter. The problem is, his poor play early in games is a big reason they have been behind in the fourth quarter.

“I’m sure, like anything, with experience and time it will come,” Skelton said of playing better in the first half. “At the same time, there are mistakes that even a rookie shouldn’t be making that I’m making out there sometimes.”

The Cardinals’ defensive game plan against the Seahawks in Week 3 was rudimentary compared with the schemes coordinator Ray Horton is calling more than three months later.

“We played almost nothing in that game; I didn’t think we could,” Horton said. “And now we have, I’d say probably 90 percent of our stuff in and it’s available and called.

“On my call sheet, there is only one play I’m not going to call, definitely, and the rest is available. So we are light years ahead.”

The Cardinals played well defensively in the 13-10 loss to Seattle, but the Seahawks offense was dealing with numerous injuries at the time. The Seahawks gained just 261 total yards and scored one touchdown.

But the Cardinals forced only one turnover, a problem throughout the season. The Cardinals have just nine interceptions and nine fumble recoveries.

Improving upon that is one of Horton’s goals for next season.

“The other was probably figuring out what we’re doing on ‘goal line,’ ” Horton said. “Those are the two things that stick out. Every time we get in what we call goal line personnel, they score. And we’re not NFL level on turnovers. Those are the main things we will really look at.”

Porter wants to play

Outside linebacker Joey Porter’s only two seasons in Arizona ended in injury, but even though he will be 35 in March, he would like to play in 2012.

“Last year was the first time I had ever been on IR (injured reserve),” said Porter, who had a triceps injury last year. “To have it (an injury) again this year, it was just like, ‘Man.’ But you play this game long enough, you’re going to cross that road eventually.”

Porter underwent surgery to repair meniscus in his left knee in October and was not able to return. Even if healthy, he would have been a reserve.

“I haven’t even crossed the path of thinking (retirement) yet,” he said. “Once I get healthy with my knee, everything else is fine.”

A fine Friday

Defensive end Darnell Dockett was fined $30,000 for two illegal hits in last Saturday’s game against the Bengals. Dockett was called for a horse-collar tackle and for hitting quarterback Andy Dalton in the knee area.

Safety Adrian Wilson was not fined for a hit on Dalton that drew a roughing the passer penalty. That’s a tacit admission by the NFL that the hit was legal.

That penalty nullified an interception by cornerback Patrick Peterson, and the Bengals ended up scoring a field goal.

Injury update

Quarterback Kevin Kolb (concussion) and cornerback Patrick Peterson (Achilles’) are listed as questionable for Sunday’s game, but Peterson seems to fit that category better.

Kolb has been limited in practice and is still experiencing concussion symptoms, Whisenhunt said on Friday. It would be surprising if he plays.

Peterson practiced Friday for the first time this week, and he will be tested before the game to assess his readiness.

Tackle Brandon Keith (ankle) was ruled out.

Happy holidays

Offensive tackle D.J. Young received a belated Christmas gift earlier this week when he was promoted from the practice squad to the regular roster.

Young was on the practice squad all season, making $5,700 a week. This week, he’s making the minimum salary for a rookie, a little more than $22,000.

He has the Eagles to thank. They tried to sign him off the Cardinals’ practice squad this week, and the Cardinals responded by offering to promote Young.

It wasn’t a hard decision for Young, who is from Lansing, Mich., and played at Michigan State.

“It wasn’t tempting at all,” Young said of the Eagles’ offer. “You’re dealing with nice, sunny skies every day out here. The Cardinals obviously see some potential, but there’s obviously stuff I need to work on. I’m happy they want me to be here.”

Young has an opportunity to make the regular roster in 2012. The Cardinals have not drafted an offensive lineman since 2009.

Campbell, Fitzgerald honored

The local chapter of the Pro Football Writers Association gave defensive end Calais Campbell the Lloyd Herberg MVP Award and receiver Larry Fitzgerald the Steve Schoenfeld Good Guy Award on Friday.

Campbell, in his fourth season, leads the Cardinals with eight sacks and has also knocked down 11 passes and blocked three field goals.

Fitzgerald, who won the MVP award in 2007, was recognized for being available, insightful and professional in dealing with media.

The awards are named after two former Cardinals and NFL beat writers for The Republic.

Herberg covered the Cardinals from the time they moved to Arizona in 1988 until 1994, when he died of cancer.

Schoenfeld covered the NFL and the Cardinals from 1988 to the summer of 2000. He was killed by a hit-and-run driver in October 2000.

Faith has been restored. The Cardinals have regained the public trust. Fans appreciate the head coach all over again.

Do not apologize for your wild mood swings. In Arizona, we’re all dealing with post-traumatic pigskin syndrome.

“I think this shows everyone that we take this thing very seriously,” quarterback Kevin Kolb said. “We came to work every day. We were trying to solve the problems. We were meeting longer, tightening up the details. You don’t always find that desire in the NFL. The whole group wanted to do this.”

From the ashes, that group is now glowing. The Cardinals have four consecutive victories and an outside chance to make the playoffs. If they beat the Bengals on Saturday, Christmas literally will come early for Valley fans.

Back when the Cardinals were 1-6, it was easy to think the worst. Some wondered about the locker-room culture, and if there was enough fear in the air. Others said Ken Whisenhunt had done nothing without Todd Haley on the staff or Kurt Warner on the field.

Some of the criticism was warranted. Some of it was the hot, white noise that accompanies a six-game losing streak in a hostile new world.

Today, Whisenhunt has his own streak going. He’s earned consecutive game balls. He kept his players believing. And though it’s nothing you’d put on a tombstone, he became the most successful coach ever employed by Bill Bidwill.

In the NFL, validation can be tricky and temporary. In our search to reduce complex matters into things we easily can understand, we spend far too much time obsessing, assessing, elevating and deconstructing coaches. As Kolb pointed out, this is mostly about the players, and their collective will to win.

Yet lately, it seems like Whisenhunt is making all the right decisions, getting all the right bounces, throwing all the right challenge flags. And think about this:

During training camp, John Skelton suffered a high-ankle sprain. Rich Bartel enjoyed a personal breakthrough, playing well enough to earn the No. 2 job. But after quietly progressing in practice — deftly imitating Ben Roethlisberger while the running the scout team — Skelton suddenly was reinstated as backup Oct. 23, before the game against the Steelers, even though Bartel had done nothing to lose the job.

What if Whisenhunt never makes that move?

“I think Ben and myself are similar in a lot of ways,” Skelton said at the time.

With one more victory, things would get even more interesting. Defensive coordinator Ray Horton said he might reward his players by unbraiding his hair and letting his afro fly for the final game against Seattle (“you’ll see some real 1970s throwback hair”). And with a loss by either Detroit or Atlanta, the Cardinals could be alive entering the last week of the regular season. That’s remarkable.

“We want to be as good as anyone in the league,” Kolb said. “We want to win the Super Bowl. That’s our goal, and no other goal is good enough.”

Back when the Cardinals were 1-6, it all appeared so bleak. Disgruntled fans feared the organization was feeling the gravitational pull of its history, a franchise retreating to the dark ages.

This is what happens to a region of BFF’s (battered football fans), where losing had once been a way of life. We become angry birds, overly sensitive to prolonged losing streaks. That’s why this resurgence is so meaningful. It gives fans hope that the glory years weren’t a fluke, or just about the brilliance of Warner.

When they were 1-6, it seemed certain that a Week 15 game against the lowly Browns would snap the sellout streak in Glendale. To the contrary, it drew a massive television rating, watched by 41 percent of the households in the Valley.

Somehow, the Cardinals have clung to relevancy.

And with one more victory, Whisenhunt can guarantee his fourth non-losing season in five years at the helm.

In Arizona, that’s saying something.

Reach Bickley at dan.bickley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8253. Follow him at twitter.com/danbickley. Listen to “Bickley and MJ” weekdays from 2-6 p.m. on KGME-AM (910).

Faith has been restored. The Cardinals have regained the public trust. Fans appreciate the head coach all over again.

Do not apologize for your wild mood swings. In Arizona, we’re all dealing with post-traumatic pigskin syndrome.

“I think this shows everyone that we take this thing very seriously,” quarterback Kevin Kolb said. “We came to work every day. We were trying to solve the problems. We were meeting longer, tightening up the details. You don’t always find that desire in the NFL. The whole group wanted to do this.”

From the ashes, that group is now glowing. The Cardinals have four consecutive victories and an outside chance to make the playoffs. If they beat the Bengals on Saturday, Christmas literally will come early for Valley fans.

Back when the Cardinals were 1-6, it was easy to think the worst. Some wondered about the locker-room culture, and if there was enough fear in the air. Others said Ken Whisenhunt had done nothing without Todd Haley on the staff or Kurt Warner on the field.

Some of the criticism was warranted. Some of it was the hot, white noise that accompanies a six-game losing streak in a hostile new world.

Today, Whisenhunt has his own streak going. He’s earned consecutive game balls. He kept his players believing. And though it’s nothing you’d put on a tombstone, he became the most successful coach ever employed by Bill Bidwill.

In the NFL, validation can be tricky and temporary. In our search to reduce complex matters into things we easily can understand, we spend far too much time obsessing, assessing, elevating and deconstructing coaches. As Kolb pointed out, this is mostly about the players, and their collective will to win.

Yet lately, it seems like Whisenhunt is making all the right decisions, getting all the right bounces, throwing all the right challenge flags. And think about this:

During training camp, John Skelton suffered a high-ankle sprain. Rich Bartel enjoyed a personal breakthrough, playing well enough to earn the No. 2 job. But after quietly progressing in practice — deftly imitating Ben Roethlisberger while the running the scout team — Skelton suddenly was reinstated as backup Oct. 23, before the game against the Steelers, even though Bartel had done nothing to lose the job.

What if Whisenhunt never makes that move?

“I think Ben and myself are similar in a lot of ways,” Skelton said at the time.

With one more victory, things would get even more interesting. Defensive coordinator Ray Horton said he might reward his players by unbraiding his hair and letting his afro fly for the final game against Seattle (“you’ll see some real 1970s throwback hair”). And with a loss by either Detroit or Atlanta, the Cardinals could be alive entering the last week of the regular season. That’s remarkable.

“We want to be as good as anyone in the league,” Kolb said. “We want to win the Super Bowl. That’s our goal, and no other goal is good enough.”

Back when the Cardinals were 1-6, it all appeared so bleak. Disgruntled fans feared the organization was feeling the gravitational pull of its history, a franchise retreating to the dark ages.

This is what happens to a region of BFF’s (battered football fans), where losing had once been a way of life. We become angry birds, overly sensitive to prolonged losing streaks. That’s why this resurgence is so meaningful. It gives fans hope that the glory years weren’t a fluke, or just about the brilliance of Warner.

When they were 1-6, it seemed certain that a Week 15 game against the lowly Browns would snap the sellout streak in Glendale. To the contrary, it drew a massive television rating, watched by 41 percent of the households in the Valley.

Somehow, the Cardinals have clung to relevancy.

And with one more victory, Whisenhunt can guarantee his fourth non-losing season in five years at the helm.

In Arizona, that’s saying something.

Reach Bickley at dan.bickley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8253. Follow him at twitter.com/danbickley. Listen to “Bickley and MJ” weekdays from 2-6 p.m. on KGME-AM (910).

It almost always is preferable to overcome rather than succumb, and Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt thinks his team’s rebound from a 1-6 start could have an impact this off-season and in future years.

“Your younger players are now developing and learning how to do it when it’s been as tough as it could possibly be,” Whisenhunt said. “And that means it makes you stronger as a team going forward. If you learn how to win and you don’t know any different, then when you lose it can really be catastrophic.”

Imagine if the Cardinals had collapsed instead of winning six of the next seven games. Or what life would be like now if the Cardinals had started 6-1, then lost six of the next seven.

Whisenhunt would have received a game ball Oct. 30, not Dec. 18, for winning the most games in franchise history. And there would be speculation about his job status.

“Oh, my God,” Whisenhunt said, laughing, when asked to imagine if the halves of this season had been flipped. “They’d be taking the game ball back, that’s what they’d be doing.”

It’s been two seasons in one for the Cardinals. This is not anyone’s ideal scenario for a season, but if a team can have only one winning streak a year, better it come late than early. If the Cardinals had blown a 6-1 start, there would be a clamor for a major housecleaning at the team’s facility, starting with the head coach’s office.

But winning in the second half has changed everyone’s outlook on the Cardinals’ future.

“It builds equity,” Whisenhunt said. “When you go through the pain of losing those games with all these young guys, and they understand now what they have to do in order to get out of it, that makes you stronger as a team.

“You have this group of young players who understand ‘This is what we have to do. This is the standard that we have to set in practice and in meetings and what we have to do in games.’

“Now when you have a group of free agents come in here, you have a group of guys who won’t accept anything but this standard.”

The Cardinals had that equity after winning the NFC West in 2008 and 2009. They lost it in 2010, when quarterback Kurt Warner retired, receiver Anquan Boldin was traded and linebacker Karlos Dansby and safety Antrel Rolle didn’t re-sign.

The 5-11 record in 2010 produced new questions about the abilities of Whisenhunt and General Manager Rod Graves to successfully retool the roster. Six losses in September and October gave critics additional fuel.

Those questions still might exist, but six victories in the past seven games have at least siphoned away some of the anger.

They also have given Whisenhunt additional credibility with both fans and players. At midseason, he was being criticized for reciting mantras of “staying the course” and “we know this system works.”

“You got to be consistent,” Whisenhunt said. “If you have a consistent message, the guys will believe in you and believe in what you’re doing.

“That’s what they’re looking for. I yell and scream at times when I get mad, but you do it all the time, it doesn’t mean as much.”

A toll taken

Beanie Wells has been playing with a painful, swollen right knee since the sixth game, yet he needs only 6 rushing yards to reach 1,000 for the season.

Throughout the season, Whisenhunt has praised his running back’s toughness, because it’s clear Wells isn’t 100 percent. The condition of Wells’ knee is a “week-to-week thing,” Whisenhunt said. “It’s a different struggle every week for him trying to get his knee ready. He’s not as elusive as he would be if was he 100 percent healthy, and we understand that.”

That’s especially clear when Wells breaks through the line and faces linebackers and defensive backs at the second level, Whisenhunt said.

Even when he’s healthy, Wells isn’t a shifty back. He’s physical and he’ll run defensive backs over before trying to dodge them. But every back needs to be able to cut hard to evade defenders, and Wells is having a hard time doing it.

Wells touched the ball 16 times against the Browns on Sunday. On four occasions, he made it to the second level of the defense but couldn’t make the first tackler miss. Most of the time, the Browns tackled Wells by diving at his feet.

If healthy, Wells might have broken one or two of those plays for bigger gains.

“They’ve either came to cut him or he’s gotten hit from the side where he can’t plant and cut back under, or he can’t pick his feet up and get through that tackle,” Whisenhunt said. “But let’s not forget that Beanie’s had a good year for us. We’re really focused on trying to get him the 1,000 yards and have him fight through this thing.”

Coach’s Corner

“I think that when we were sitting 1-6 and everybody was killing us, we were focused on just doing it one week at a time. Would it be great to have a winning season? You’re darn right it would be. It would be something very special because of where we were. But to be honest with you, I hadn’t thought about that. All I thought about was trying to win this game and that if we can continue on this, that’s something that’s pretty good. Winning four in a row is something we haven’t done here, not since I’ve been here.”

– Ken Whisenhunt

Stat pack

The Cardinals have won four consecutive games in a season for the first time since 1999. They haven’t five games in a row since 1977.

Beanie Wells has 10 rushing touchdowns, tying for the fourth-best season total in franchise history. John David Crow set the record with 14 in 1962.

The Cardinals have won three overtime games this season. That ties them with eight other teams for the most in NFL history.

The Cardinals converted 8 of 16 third-down opportunities against the Browns. The 50percent conversion rate was their highest of the season.

Larry Fitzgerald has 20 receptions of at least 20 yards this season, and 10 have come in the fourth quarter or overtime. Fitzgerald had 14 catches of at least 20 yards in 2010.