30 Thoughts from Sunday

[Chopper0080]

1-Carson looked good, not great. He is a streaky passer which showed throughout the game.

2-Ellington getting hurt sucks as he was having a pretty good game.

3-Chris Johnson gave us a lot more production than I thought he would. Not great, but good.

4-David Johnson was used well, and was given a great chance to be successful. Always better to be able to ease young players into roles to develop confidence than having to throw them in the fire.

5-Fitz looked in mid-season form. Not the player he was, but if Palmer can stay healthy, Fitz can be productive.

6-John Brown is a stud.

7-JJ Nelson is re-routed down the field too easily. If he wants to develop into anything other than a role player, he will have to get stronger. But, we knew that when we drafted him.

8-Veldheer was solid, not great.

9-Larsen continues to play well without much fanfare. Great depth player.

10-Sendlein still is Sendlein.

11-Cooper remains hot and cold. Had some very good plays, followed by some bad ones.

12-Watford help up ok. Similar game to Cooper.

13-Fells had a good day receiving and ok day blocking.

14-Gresham looked ok.

15-Didn't see Niklas which may earn the new Ghost designation.

16-Campbell needs to dominate more. He vanishes too often. For those who are critical of Patrick Peterson's game, those same arguments apply to Campbell.

17-Rucker is a great role player.

18-Gunter was ok, I would like to see more push in the middle.

19-Mauro was ok. Limited athlete who should probably sub at best.

20-Okafor had a good game. He is on his way to a big contract.

21-Golden had a Golden game. Good effort on the rush which got him close at times. Not a fast rush layer though.

22-Minter struggled in coverage but made some good plays in the second half of the game. He is definitely more comfortable seeing what is in front of him, and attacking it downhill.

23-Weatherspoon looked ok. I was expecting more.

24-Bucannon looked ok. Nothing spectacular. Honestly, he is similar to Minter in his game but I believe he has more ability to improve in space.

25-Patrick Peterson had a very good game. Disrupted Cooks with press coverage most of the game, and only gave up one real pass play which was almost impossible to cover. Tough to guard the flag route from the slot vs an accurate passer like Brees.

26-Powers was good. Underrated guy.

27-I don't know how much Bethel played, but I didn't notice him. That is either good, or because he didn't play much.

28-Mathieu was all over the place. It's the first time I have seen him play like he did at LSU. Assuming health, he is a star in the making.

29-Rashad Johnson had his usual game. Only gaffe was a poor angle on a tackle which resulted in a big game. He is nothing special, but a decent guy to have at the back of coverage.

30-Butler is what he is. yesterday made me worry about him vs the Rams and Seahawks. Austin and Lockett might have big games vs his punting.

 

[MrYeahBut]

#13 Considering what Fells did in the game, your comment seemed like an understatement... dude was a monster... well, as far as a Cardinal TE he was..

#30 After Butler's first punt, I was ready to explode. He redeemed himself somewhat after that.


Nice observations on your part.

 

[BullheadCardFan]

30-Butler is what he is. yesterday made me worry about him vs the Rams and Seahawks. Austin and Lockett might have big games vs his punting.

Butler scares me every time he punts. Never know what you are going to get. There has to be a better guy available

 

[PJ1]

Tough evaluation. Watford and Fells had big games in my opinion. I really like Mauro. Guy makes plays. Good for the rotation.

 

[Krangodnzr]

30-Butler is what he is. yesterday made me worry about him vs the Rams and Seahawks. Austin and Lockett might have big games vs his punting.

I agree with a lot of what you said.

I saw one play where Stephone Anthony tackled Ellington for a loss, and Cooper flat out missed him. Cooper has to make that block, and if he does Ellington would've had a nice game considering how the rest of the run blocks set up.

I agree about Campbell, and based on previous comments, so does BA. He needs to do more. He's just good enough that he isn't replaceable, but I don't think he's a top defensive lineman all of the time. He has moments where he looks like the 2nd best lineman in the league, and has quarters to full games where he does very little.

I highlighted the comment on Butler because I think it deserves more expansion. Good teams cannot have bad punters or kickers. Butler hasn't shown that he can be a good punter in the NFL. Maybe the staff sees something in practice, but Butler hasn't shown anything on live film. I think he is the biggest weakness on the team right now.

 

[Krangodnzr]

Tough evaluation. Watford and Fells had big games in my opinion. I really like Mauro. Guy makes plays. Good for the rotation.

Watford had moments where he looked pretty bad, but overall he played a decent game. I think Watford will have a few games where better defensive lineman eat him alive.

The good part: I think Sowell gives up 2-3 sacks in this game so Watford is an improvement.

 

[SoCal Cardfan]

#13 Considering what Fells did in the game, your comment seemed like an understatement... dude was a monster... well, as far as a Cardinal TE he was..

#30 After Butler's first punt, I was ready to explode. He redeemed himself somewhat after that.


Nice observations on your part.

No doubt, when I saw a Cards logo on a top ten fantasy TE list, I think I may have teared up a little.

 

[unseenaz]

John brown had a huge 3rd down drop at the end of the 1st half, and the 13 men on the field for the punt were 2 things that stuck out to me.

Hopeful for Ellington (man...already??) is ok. the offense got flat in the 3rd quarter but put the game away in the 4th.

Outside of all the damn screen plays, the D looked good. We NEED to develop some sort of pressure on the QB tho.

The oline looked good in the run game .. But the saints don't exactly have a good pass rush game but they were in Palmers grill a few times.

 

[WindCardinal]

27-I don't know how much Bethel played, but I didn't notice him. That is either good, or because he didn't play much

Bethel did not play any defensive snaps. A bit concerning..

 

[Lagerfilled]

In Campbell's defense... He did have 6 tackles as a 3 technique and we was repeatedly going up against Pro Bowler Jahri Evans. Not going to dominate every opponent. Now against Seatlle, he will absolutely kill their LG.

 

[RON_IN_OC]

Butler scares me every time he punts. Never know what you are going to get. There has to be a better guy available

Actually, I'd be more worried if Butler had the leg to out kick the coverage...He doesn't, though...His shorter high kicks, should be more cover-able and limit the return damage. Just my observation.

 

[Chopper0080]

#13 Considering what Fells did in the game, your comment seemed like an understatement... dude was a monster... well, as far as a Cardinal TE he was..

#30 After Butler's first punt, I was ready to explode. He redeemed himself somewhat after that.


Nice observations on your part.

Fells made plays when he was wide open. IMO, he made the plays he is expected to made. He wasn't making contested catches or drawing coverage. He is a secondary option who needs to make those plays because he will be forgotten. He had a good day, but not a spectacular one.

 

[RON_IN_OC]

John brown had a huge 3rd down drop at the end of the 1st half, and the 13 men on the field for the punt were 2 things that stuck out to me.

Hopeful for Ellington (man...already??) is ok. the offense got flat in the 3rd quarter but put the game away in the 4th.

Outside of all the damn screen plays, the D looked good. We NEED to develop some sort of pressure on the QB tho.

The oline looked good in the run game .. But the saints don't exactly have a good pass rush game but they were in Palmers grill a few times.

I saw 2 sacks and several times Brees was pressured out of the pocket...What else can they do against a mobile QB like that?

 

[Chopper0080]

Tough evaluation. Watford and Fells had big games in my opinion. I really like Mauro. Guy makes plays. Good for the rotation.

For a fringe roster player before camp, Watford had a good day. For a starting NFL RT, he had an ok day. I was actually shocked Watford had as many mistakes as he did as he is built to do well vs power. He is going to have some tough days vs speed guys because that is where his game is weaker.

 

[RON_IN_OC]

Fells made plays when he was wide open. IMO, he made the plays he is expected to made. He wasn't making contested catches or drawing coverage. He is a secondary option who needs to make those plays because he will be forgotten. He had a good day, but not a spectacular one.

If he keeps making those plays, though, he will earn the respect of opposing D's and then start drawing more coverage...and that will open things up for the other receivers. Fells' mantra should be, Just Keep Catching, Just Keep Catching...

 

[RON_IN_OC]

27-I don't know how much Bethel played, but I didn't notice him. That is either good, or because he didn't play much

Bethel did not play any defensive snaps. A bit concerning..

Why? IMO, if your 4,5,6th DB's don't have to see the field much, that's a good thing. It means the starters are healthy and doing their job.

 

[Chopper0080]

In Campbell's defense... He did have 6 tackles as a 3 technique and we was repeatedly going up against Pro Bowler Jahri Evans. Not going to dominate every opponent. Now against Seatlle, he will absolutely kill their LG.

As I said, Patrick Peterson gets killed on this board for having similar games vs top competition.

 

[Chopper0080]

Actually, I'd be more worried if Butler had the leg to out kick the coverage...He doesn't, though...His shorter high kicks, should be more cover-able and limit the return damage. Just my observation.

He is an awful directional kicker, and I worry about his line drive kicks.

 

[Chopper0080]

If he keeps making those plays, though, he will earn the respect of opposing D's and then start drawing more coverage...and that will open things up for the other receivers. Fells' mantra should be, Just Keep Catching, Just Keep Catching...

Agreed. He will have a very good year if he continues to make those plays. He looked like a viable NFL TE in the passing game, but his run blocking is still sub par.

 

[JCSunsfan]

On that first John Brown touchdown. Palmer rolled out and Cooper did an excellent job of following him out and protecting him as he set up on the outside.

 

[Chopper0080]

I saw 2 sacks and several times Brees was pressured out of the pocket...What else can they do against a mobile QB like that?

Yeah, we will need more interior pressure up the middle to generate more consistent pressure. Interior pressure will give our edge guys more time to get to the QB, throw off the QBs rhythm, and can push the QB to the edges.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Also, the running game really helped give Palmer a little more time. 57 plays total, 25 running plays. That is about as balanced an offense as you will find in the NFL.

Its so fun to see play action passes, when the fake actually has significance.

 

[Shaggy]

I am excited to see how Golden progresses. I watched some of the game again last night and he was everywhere. He never gave up on the play even if it was on the opposite side of the field.

The one play where NO was 3rd and 5 near the AZ goal line, where Robinson almost made it to the the first down marker. Golden was playing the left side and ended up coming all the way down to the play and finished Robinson off was awesome to see. He never gave up on the play.

 

[kerouac9]

I think that John Brown was actually a little inconsistent this game. By my count, Brown was the intended target on 5 passes in the second and third quarter (when the offense seemed to bog down) and only came up with 1 reception. He was bailed out by two or three holding penalties on that poor Breaux kid, several of which were pretty questionable.

If Brown's going to get those targets, he's got to cash in on them. It seemed like the offense only came out of the rut once Palmer starting looking more at Fitzgerald.

Minter was absolutely getting leveled by OL and one time just bounced off Khiry Robinson.

 

[rickrude]

5-Fitz looked in mid-season form. Not the player he was, but if Palmer can stay healthy, Fitz can be productive. - Fitz would have had a 7 Catch 120+ yard game if Palmer finds him deep on the sideline in the 2nd half.

6-John Brown is a stud. - Started out great, but didn't make a whole lot of noise after the first two possessions, outside of drawing a penalty.


It still amazes me how Fitz doesn't seem to be the first or second option in the red zone, or on 3rd down and short yardage. Palmer seems to almost never look for him, when by all accounts, Fitz still catches pretty much everything.