Dilfer understands Rosen’s woes
Ex-QB convinced trying times will benefit rookie
These might be the worst of times for Josh Rosen and the Cardinals. One day, though, the rookie quarterback will look back amid the chaos and uncertainty, the losing and the midseason change at offensive coordinator, and remember these trying moments as the best of times.
So says former quarterback and Super Bowl champion Trent Dilfer, who knows a thing or two about Rosen as well as the topsy-turvy world of life in the NFL.
“I’ve been there,” Dilfer told azcentral sports on Monday. “I’ve been there (at Tampa Bay) with (offensive coordinator) Mike Shula when they wanted to get rid of me, they wanted to get rid of him. (Head coach) Tony (Dungy) was on his third year, we hadn’t won. This thing was bad. It was as bad as it gets.
“And in those moments is when the strength of those relationships start showing fruit. It happens all the time and it doesn’t get talked about it, it doesn’t get written about and analysts don’t talk about it on TV. But that’s the greatness of football. It’s when you can pull yourself up from the dirt and you do it with somebody who’s in the trenches with you.”
Dilfer, who once again is serving as coach for the Panini Super Bowl Kid Reporter program, became a mentor to Rosen after the two first met in 2014. Dilfer was coaching his popular Elite 11 quarterback camp and Rosen, a senior at St. John Bosco Prep in Southern California, was one of the top-rated quarterback recruits in the country. At the time, Dilfer thought Rosen was “a jerk.”
“He probably thought I was one, too,” Dilfer said, laughing. “We joke about it now. It was not the best start to a relationship. But I’ve really grown to respect the kid and I like the kid a lot. I like his approach. I like that he pushes back on common narratives. He’s a complex thinker and I think that’s really, really good. Especially considering the situation you’re in.”
That would be the Cardinals, who are off to their worst start since 2011 when they also lost six of their first seven games. One of the most glaring problems has been the offense, which ranks last or second-to-last in every major category. Following last Thursday night’s 42-10 embarrassing home loss to the Broncos, it wound up costing offensive coordinator Mike McCoy his job.
Rosen now will be reporting directly to Byron Leftwich, who was promoted from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator, and the two hope to get enough things hashed out in time for a reasonably good showing this Sunday at home against the 49ers (1-6). That relationship couldn’t be more important to the Cardinals moving forward, Dilfer says.
“If you’re an Arizona Cardinal, from front office to coach to player, you need solutions. You need answers,” Dilfer said.
“And it’s going to take some intellectual work to get it done. I think Josh is the right guy for that. Josh has been a winner. He was in a great high school program. He was around winning. He went to UCLA when they were winning.
“Now he’s in Arizona and it’s been a tough start and I think it’s a great test for a young player to dig deep into your soul and say, ‘OK, how am I going to turn this thing around? How are we going to become winners again?’ He has the stuff to do that.”
With so much turmoil swirling about the team, including Monday’s reports that All-Pro cornerback Patrick Peterson desperately wants off the sinking ship, it’s the perfect time for Rosen to grab the wheel and start steering his own future. But how can he successfully navigate his way out of danger with a broken running game, a shaky offensive line, an underwhelming wide receiver corps and a new coordinator with no experience in that role?
“I don’t have my crystal ball,” said Dilfer, who was the Ravens’ starting quarterback when they won Super Bowl XXXV. “However, the optimist in me would say that Byron-Josh relationship, because of going through so much with Mike now being gone and just the pressure of that, that pressure can create some real tightness in that bond. It can create some real intimate communication where you look each other in the eyes and say, ‘OK, I’ve got your back, you’ve got my back, let’s go do this thing.’ ”
Dilfer can see Rosen weathering the storm, however, when he looks back to their time together at the Elite 11 camp. Rosen, he said, “was kind of a know-itall” and “wasn’t into being coached.” That gnawed at Dilfer, who tried to get Rosen to look into the future and conceptualize the art of being a pro. Rosen, though, had his own thoughts.
“I was really hard on him because I saw his talent. I was like, ‘If this guy ever gets it, he can be as good as anybody,’ ” Dilfer said. “Now, to Josh’s credit, he came back a few years later and was a counselor for me, even though he didn’t like it.”
But Rosen came back because he’s not as stubborn as people think. He had time to ruminate about the message Dilfer was selling and it ultimately hit home. But that’s Rosen, Dilfer said.
Moves
The Cardinals signed offensive lineman Oday Aboushi and released defensive end Ifeadi Odenigbo. Also, the team re-signed cornerback Deatrick Nichols to the practice squad.