A year ago, in the wake of their wild-card win over the Cowboys , Arizona was one of those next great teams everyone was talking about. But a funny thing happened on the way to the coronation. Funny things, actually, that led to a 6-10 season and now cloud the future of the Cardinals , things such as: ?Big heads and busted knees. The franchise's defensive line of the millennium—Andre Wadsworth and Simeon Rice at the ends, Eric Swann and Mark Smith at the tackles—disintegrated. Wadsworth , the draft's third pick in 1998, has seven sacks in 27 career games and has had two knee surgeries, including one in July that could force him to miss the first two weeks of this season. Rice is a bona fide pass rusher, second in the league with 16� sacks last year, but he was a contract holdout as opening day drew near. Smith, who got a $705,000 raise in the off-season despite playing only 3% of the Cardinals ' defensive downs last year because of a contract holdout and right-knee surgery, has been a consistent money malcontent. Seven knee operations doomed Swann 's career and caused Arizona to release him in July; he'll try to revive a flagging career in Carolina this fall. ?A bum thumb and crushed confidence. Quarterback Jake Plummer sprained the thumb on his passing hand midway through the 1999 preseason and should have skipped five weeks. He sat two. "I learned a big lesson," Plummer says. "If you're really hurt, you hurt the team a lot more by playing than by sitting." A broken right ring finger at mid-season cost him five more games. The worst quarterbacking numbers of any NFL starter-nine TDs, 24 interceptions—resulted, and Plummer spent this off-season going back to school on his craft in film-room sessions with offensive coordinator Marc Trestman . "Nobody's calling me the next Montana anymore," Plummer says ruefully. ?Little relief from the draft. Recent No. 1 picks have more often been disappointing than dominating. The Cardinals hit on Rice in 1996, but there are no standouts yet from among the other first-rounders since then: wideout David Boston , tackle L.J. Shelton , Wadsworth and cornerback Tom Knight. This year's top choice, running back Thomas Jones , looked quick and powerful enough in training camp that the Cardinals have good reason to think he'll turn out more like Ottis Anderson than Leeland McElroy . The smell of great expectations gone bad is why defensive coordinator Dave McGinnis came to training camp in Flagstaff, Ariz. , this summer preaching results to his defense. "Don't talk to me anymore about pedigree," he told his unit. "Show me production. In the NFL , reality is not perception." He should have been talking to the whole team. Reality for the Cardinals in 2000 is that their young players, led by Plummer , must play better. Working with Trestman over the past few months, the 25-year-old quarterback learned a valuable lesson: Don't try to be who you aren't. "Marc had me look at every interception I threw," Plummer says. "And I learned from some of those bonehead plays. Sometimes last year I was trying to make Brett Favre throws—which I can't make anyway—with three quarters of a thumb. It was about being young and wanting to be great right away. This year I won't force things." Plummer 's job got a lot tougher when big-play wideout Rob Moore was lost for the season after tearing his left ACL against the Vikings in Arizona 's third preseason game. Boston , a second-year man whom coach Vince Tobin says "has the ability to be a star in this league," becomes a starter. Plummer and Boston aren't the only kids under pressure. Strong play by offensive tackles Shelton , 24, and Anthony Clement, 24, is vital in a division of strong pass rushers such as Bruce Smith , Michael Strahan and Dan Wilkinson . Twenty-two-year-old Jones needs to step in and justify the Cardinals ' faith in him. Second-rounders Johnny Rutledge, 23, and Raynoch Thompson, 22, must contribute at outside linebacker. Even with their defensive stars, the Cardinals were 30th in the NFL against the rush last year. They need Smith, a solid run stopper, to get focused and help fix that, because middle linebacker Ronald McKinnon is too light, at 240 pounds, to plug many holes. Arizona will find out right away how it stacks up on the ground, opening against 253-pound rookie masher Ron Dayne of the Giants in Week 1, followed by the relentless Emmitt Smith in Week 2. Six-time Pro Bowl pick Aeneas Williams keys a physical but unspectacular secondary. This looks like a middle-of-the-pack team at best, the natives' enthusiasm notwithstanding. "I'm excited," says G.M. Bob Ferguson . "Nobody thought we'd do anything in 1998, and we ended up winning a playoff game. Nobody thinks we'll do anything this year, and we're better than we were then."  
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