Revenge of the Birds
The Arizona Cardinals are 1-0 on the young season.
Well, they are 1-0 in the preseason, and they had some things that looked good on Saturday night, while other things did not.
The first thing I want to say is that I am not a huge “the preseason means something” guy, however there are things that we can evaluate and glean from the matchups, especially with a number of starters in action.
So, the good and the bad usually come from individual efforts, there were a couple of team things I saw that I liked as well.
Let’s take a look at the 5 winners and 3 losers from the Arizona Cardinals 20-17 win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
Winners
Emari Demercado – I don’t think anyone was concerned about Demercado’s standing on the roster, however his work with Jacoby Brissett and the second team offense solidified the fact that this dude is the third back on this roster, and a perfect complimentary piece to the James Conner/Trey Benson duo.
Tip Reiman – The penalty was not a penalty, but I guess in today’s NFL, we are protecting players, especially in the preseason. But as the kids say, Reiman got that man out of the club.
Darren Hall – The veteran cornerback had a great first game in the preseason, really pushing to get a chance to find a way onto the 53-man roster, or get himself a job somewhere else in the NFL.
Kitan Crawford – You see the excitement and upside in his game, and he played about as well as anyone could have asked in coverage. He has an uphill battle to get reps, but his athleticism and special teams work gives him a great chance at the 53-man roster.
Arizona Cardinals first team offense – I know, I know. The ending to drive one was gross, and they played it conservative on drive two after getting into a great position out of a 2nd and 21. However, what we can look at that was positive was they had 18 plays for 114 yards, that is 6.3 yards per play on offense and held the ball for over 10 minutes on those drives. That is the game plan and what you want to see from this unit.
Losers
Kyler Murray – There was one bad throw, and other than that it was as smooth as butter, but perception is reality for this fanbase. They won’t care about the process, they only care about the end result.
DeeJay Dallas and Greg Dortch – Guys… Can we not? Like, three fumbles? Really?
Arizona Cardinals first team defense – They did nothing wrong, I just hate that their first work together was in the negative field position and they were put in that position and couldn’t do anything to keep a great QB out of the endzone. It shows they need Calais, they need Josh Sweat, and they need time together.
