Four consecutive losses will tick off anyone, and Ken Whisenhunt is there.
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The Arizona Cardinals coach called out players by name in front of the entire team after Monday night's 24-3 loss to the San Francisco 49ers and even targeted the injured.
"He called out some guys in the training room that we need on the field," Cardinals defensive end Darnell Dockett told The Arizona Republic. "Hopefully the message got to some guys. We've got one more game before this bye week. We've got to do whatever we have to do to win this game, by all means necessary.
"We're going to need some guys to suck it up to win this game and then they've got a whole week off. Hopefully that message rings a bell to a lot of players."
It's not a good sign when both the coach and team leaders hint that some aren't exactly pushing themselves to get back on the field. Whisenhunt was asked about Dockett's statement.
"I'm not sure in what context Darnell was talking about from that standpoint," Whisenhunt said. "We've been banged up this year, but we welcome any guys back.
"We're not proposing that injured guys play. I think (head athletic trainer) Tom Reed and our medical staff do a great job, and our guys work to get better. But we'll certainly take any of these players back that are ready to play, that can help us."
It's a bit odd that tight end Todd Heap (knee), cornerback Greg Toler (hamstring) and right guard Adam Snyder (quadriceps) are the only ones close to returning. Quarterback Kevin Kolb (ribs) is out, running back Beanie Wells can't come back from the injured reserve/designated list until next week and left tackle Levi Brown is out for the season.
Whisenhunt, himself, made it sound like there's more to it.
"We'll get on these guys more," he said. "One of the things is we'll have the players get on the other players. Peer pressure plays a part in that. You've got to get on your leaders to do that."
Sounds like that's what Dockett was trying to do. And it sounds like more is going on behind the scenes than we know.
Follow Kareem Copeland on Twitter @kareemcopeland.
