Overall game thoughts.

[82CardsGrad]

Excellent points, all, Joe.

The problem is...the Cards didn't contain or cover last year and nothing's at all different.

This is awful, Joe. Pitiful, really.

Pop Warner defenses are coached better.

Yup... Was at the game today and it was unsettling (as much as a preseason game can be...).

Rolle looked totally lost (nothing knew...)
Pace is simply horrendous.
Berry over-pursued and in general, was simply ineffective.
Blackstock - see Berry...
Dansby - actually over-pursued more than Berry! I saw Dansby over-run two run plays! When he didn't have a blocker on him and should have been the guy to apply the first hit, he actually ended up never getting a hand on Green!!

Eric Green played well IMO...
Watson seemed VERY hungry and angry!

On offense, I hope I'm not reading more into this, but I'm getting a bit concerned with Matt's passes. His throws generally seem to be "soft" floaters. He's very lucky he's got WR's like Fitz and Q who can go up and snatch it better than anyone else in the league!
His throws are generally high as well, which will lead to tipped passes and INT's, if not getting his WR's pasted as they reach for balls... This is concerning...

 

[40yearfan]

Yup... Was at the game today and it was unsettling (as much as a preseason game can be...).

Rolle looked totally lost (nothing knew...)
Pace is simply horrendous.
Berry over-pursued and in general, was simply ineffective.
Blackstock - see Berry...
Dansby - actually over-pursued more than Berry! I saw Dansby over-run two run plays! When he didn't have a blocker on him and should have been the guy to apply the first hit, he actually ended up never getting a hand on Green!!

Eric Green played well IMO...
Watson seemed VERY hungry and angry!

On offense, I hope I'm not reading more into this, but I'm getting a bit concerned with Matt's passes. His throws generally seem to be "soft" floaters. He's very lucky he's got WR's like Fitz and Q who can go up and snatch it better than anyone else in the league!
His throws are generally high as well, which will lead to tipped passes and INT's, if not getting his WR's pasted as they reach for balls... This is concerning...

82, you thought his passes were high today? I know they were last week, but they looked spot on today as far as I was concerned.

 

[82CardsGrad]

82, you thought his passes were high today? I know they were last week, but they looked spot on today as far as I was concerned.

Well - he only threw 7 of them so not much to pick from... I guess today the issue wasn't so much that they were high, but man were they soft... No zip at all and it became very noticeable when Warner came in and it suddenly looked like the ball was being thrown by Roger Clemens!

 

[40yearfan]

Well - he only threw 7 of them so not much to pick from... I guess today the issue wasn't so much that they were high, but man were they soft... No zip at all and it became very noticeable when Warner came in and it suddenly looked like the ball was being thrown by Roger Clemens!

It looked to me like he was working on his touch. I believe Leinart has such a good eye of the field, he knows when he can just float a ball into a guy without worrying about an interception. Kinda like Billy Kilmer without the wobble.

 

[Assface]

Well - he only threw 7 of them so not much to pick from... I guess today the issue wasn't so much that they were high, but man were they soft... No zip at all and it became very noticeable when Warner came in and it suddenly looked like the ball was being thrown by Roger Clemens!

Matt throws floaters a lot on those medium routes to the outside. Fitz was lined up against 2 very good corners so far this preseason and when he doesn't have separation Matt just lofts it up to him because 99% of the time he's going to come down with the ball. I haven't noticed any floaters over the middle so far which is what gets receivers killed.

 

[joeshmo]

The oline opened up some enormous holes...HUGE. Edge ran into them and looked like he thought they'd collapse...he hesitated and stuttered but the holes remained. He'd have had huge yards if he had just hit the monster truck size holes.

Got to disagree. The holes that Edge was called to run to were not wide open. The cut back lanes were wide open but not the holes the FB was leading Edge into.

 

[az1965]

Who was the culprit on Shipp's 6 yard loss play? I believe that was the only negative rush play.

 

[D-Dogg]

Got to disagree. The holes that Edge was called to run to were not wide open. The cut back lanes were wide open but not the holes the FB was leading Edge into.

I can only go by what I saw from the right angle, up top view from my upper deck seats (the ones I only to to with the kids in preseason) where I see 11-on-11. In those, the holes wer enormous, the initial holes. I'm speaking specifically about the first two series. He had great big holes to run into, with secondary holes and cutbacks that were huge but he seemed to hesitate. That's what I saw live, and then on the jumbotron. I will reserve further comment until I see the broadcast, but it looked like Edge had a lot of room to run but seemed to hold up with nothing in his way...

 

[Totally_Red]

Whis better not be too set in stone with his Steeler power running game.

Our strength is still the 3 wr set.

Ain't it the truth?!? Not to mention we don't have anything approaching a Jerome Bettis/Mike Alstott type on the roster. At least the first team pass protection seemed decent Saturday. But then the Houston announcers spent the second half whining about a continuing lack of pressure on the QB. Makes me wonder if our O-line was good, or if Houston just can't rush the passer.

For this season, this team will live and die with the passing game and may still struggle in the red zone.

 

[English on tour]

what was the deal on penalties last night?

havent seen too much about it - have we tightend up a bit?

 

[Mitch]

I can only go by what I saw from the right angle, up top view from my upper deck seats (the ones I only to to with the kids in preseason) where I see 11-on-11. In those, the holes wer enormous, the initial holes. I'm speaking specifically about the first two series. He had great big holes to run into, with secondary holes and cutbacks that were huge but he seemed to hesitate. That's what I saw live, and then on the jumbotron. I will reserve further comment until I see the broadcast, but it looked like Edge had a lot of room to run but seemed to hold up with nothing in his way...

The first run play for Edge...the hole was so wide you could drive a Mack truck through it. But...instead of bursting through the hole, Edge does his little Fred Flintstone shuffle steps and only winds up getting seven yards instead of seventeen.

The great running backs have a mentality that every time they touch the ball, they could go the distance..which is why Edge is not a great running back. Maybe he had more of a homerun mentality in Indy, but here in Arizona he's a try to shuffle and squirt for three yards back.

 

[Duckjake]

The first run play for Edge...the hole was so wide you could drive a Mack truck through it. But...instead of bursting through the hole, Edge does his little Fred Flintstone shuffle steps and only winds up getting seven yards instead of seventeen.

The great running backs have a mentality that every time they touch the ball, they could go the distance..which is why Edge is not a great running back. Maybe he had more of a homerun mentality in Indy, but here in Arizona he's a try to shuffle and squirt for three yards back.

Watching the Tivo this morning that is exactly what I was thinking. "Plodding" is the word I used to describe Edge's running. On at least one play Edge had his head down well before he was going to make any contact.

Maybe he's shell shocked from last season.

 

[ajcardfan]

Edge, even pre-injury, has always been a 4th quarter RB. If he's not producing in that situation, then it's time to be worried about RB. Right now, I think we have much bigger problems.

 

[slanidrac16]

In this day and age of the NFL , a rb better hit the hole at full speed and go. It looks as though Edge has lost a 1/2 step. I honestly can't see him breaking anything longer than about a 10 yard gain. Anyone else notice how he seems to stumble at times while making a cut?
We don't have a Bettis/Parker combo here. We are not going to be able to do what they have done.
That being said, the offense seems to be the least of our worries.

 

[D-Dogg]

The first run play for Edge...the hole was so wide you could drive a Mack truck through it. But...instead of bursting through the hole, Edge does his little Fred Flintstone shuffle steps and only winds up getting seven yards instead of seventeen.

The great running backs have a mentality that every time they touch the ball, they could go the distance..which is why Edge is not a great running back. Maybe he had more of a homerun mentality in Indy, but here in Arizona he's a try to shuffle and squirt for three yards back.

Mitch, this is EXACTLY what I was seeing...and I was shocked at how big a few of those holes were.

I can only think that Edge is expecting the holes to collapse immediately (which is what happened the few times the OL opened holes last season). Perhaps he will have faith in the holes staying open if the OL continues to hold them like that. If he doesn't, I'd rather have Shipp or JJ run in those huge lanes...JJ could have broken a huge one if he was running into that first hole.

 

[jefftheshark]

I thing Edge is playing to not get hurt. And judging from the Oakland game, I don't particularly blame him.

If he sees a hole open up in front of him, I think that he is thinking, "If this game was for real, I would have had big yards. But hey, I don't even want to be playing in the preseason, so I'm not going to break my a$$ to get through it. I'm now going to fall down on Wells' big fat butt and let that break my fall."

I know that is a lot for him to be thinking, but by this stage of his career, the game has slowed down considerably for him.

JTS

 

[20yroldcardfan]

the way i read it from everyone, i always thought that was just edge's game. rarely breaking huge plays, but picking up consistant chunks, nothing flashy, the whole game. but effective nonetheless, see his placing in the all time rushing list.