NFL GameDay - Cards’ problems start in locker room
By Darren Urban, Tribune
November 5, 2006
No one knows for sure the inner workings of any NFL locker room, and the Cardinals are no exception. But at 1-7, it’s clear that it won’t take too much more for the team to fracture, if it hasn’t started to happen already.
Defensive end Bertrand Berry took aim at his Cardinals teammates late last week on his weekly radio show on ESPN (860 AM) with some stinging comments about their dedication and work ethic, mentioning there were players in the locker room that don’t like each other.
“And I’ll be honest, I feel that way about certain people,” Berry said. “There are certain people that I don’t really care to be around.
“I don’t want to hang out with these people. I just don’t. Because I don’t like them. I don’t like their attitude. I don’t like their approach to the game and I don’t like their actions on the field.”
It was pointed out by co-host Ron Wolfley — a former NFL player — that most players have some teammates they don’t care for. But with a 1-7 record and a seven-game losing streak, “it magnifies all the raw feelings,” Berry said, “and brings them to the surface.”
The thing is, these feelings have been bubbling for a while. And not just with Berry.
After the most recent loss, safety Adrian Wilson was asked about the fight left in the team and he said “I think there is in a few players and I think a few players are just here.”
Receiver Anquan Boldin, who has been seething after every loss, mentioned that “guys have to make up their mind to come out and play. It ain’t hard.”
And even before the season began, quarterback Kurt Warner seemed to forecast difficulty, noting that “until I see 53 guys preparing Monday through Sunday, doing the little things, taking care of details, showing up to practice every single day, ready and willing to do whatever it takes” the Cards wouldn’t reach their goals.
Forget the meltdown against the Bears. Berry said — somewhat shockingly — that the Cards haven’t recovered from the St. Louis loss three games into the season. That’s awfully early for a season to go off the tracks.
But here the Cards are. It may be tough to recover when, as Berry noted, they were so concerned about their weekend plans that during their two days of practice last week “we were not really learning anything.”
Perhaps there will be a players-only meeting Monday, as Berry suggested. Something has to happen. Otherwise the chasms in the locker room are only going to get worse.
alright.. enough looking ahead, we have a team to beat today. The beating begins in 1 hour. 
