Snakester
Draft Man
The starters were out after the first drive except for Humphries, but you can tell that they will be really good like last year. The trio of Veldheer, Iupati and Mathis looks strong. Shipley played ok. He looks very average at best. DJ Humphries looks better than last year. He did get beat a couple times, but at least he has shown improvement. If he can keep getting better each game he might not be a liability to start the season. Everybody will be watching him closely all preseason to see if he can be the right tackle BASK hopes he can be.
Out of all the backup offensive linemen the two that stood out to me in this game were center Evan Boehm and guard Cole Toner. I thought Boehm looked solid. He is already the best center on the team in my opinion. I would start him now so he can have a chance to gel with the starting o-line. He's tough, aggressive and holds his ground well. This was a really good game to watch him since he played all but the first drive.
Cole Toner really surprised me. He has really good footwork and uses his hands well. For a rookie from a small school like Harvard to show this amount of skill this quickly has got to be making Steve Keim and the coaching staff really happy. I thought he played a solid game. He played most of the game at LG and then switched over to RG for the fourth quarter. I can see him and Boehm making this team. OT John Wetzel would be the next best that I watched. He would be a good candidate for the practice squad. I really believe the Cards will have to sign a vet tackle so there is at least one good backup at tackle.
The quarterback play was not as good as I had hoped for after Carson Palmer went out. I expected Drew Stanton to play much better than he did, but it is only the first preseason game. Matt Barkley had a lot of ups and downs playing most of the game. He didn't get much help from his receivers or the O-line. I liked a lot of what I saw from him. He stood in the pocket and didn't get rattled under pressure. He made some very good throws. The biggest problem that I see with his game right now is he is not using his check downs very well. There were many times in this game that if he would have used his backs and short underneath throws he would have had much more success. Its early yet, but I think he has a good chance of making the team. I am looking forward to seeing how he performs in the fourth preseason game. Jake Coker didn't enter the game until the fourth quarter so its hard to give him a fair evaluation. He has great size and a strong arm, but he looks like a long term project.
This team has to have the deepest set of running backs in the NFL. David Johnson had a couple nice runs before he left the game and looks just as good as last year. Having Chris Johnson and Andre Ellington as the backups is awesome. Both ran well in the game especially Ellington . I have never seen a better backfield for the Cardinals in all my fifty years. If the Cards only keep four backs instead of five there is still tough competition for that spot. Kerwynn Williams and Stepfan Taylor we all know, but I am looking forward to seeing more of the big back Elijhaa Penny. The 6-2 235 pounder showed he's definitely in the mix with the way he ran against Oakland.
The tight end group is also deep and should be improved over last year. Jermaine Gresham and Darren Fells are penciled in as the starters, but Troy Niklas seems to have finally arrived. He played a solid game against Oakland both receiving and blocking. Everybody had to have loved the catch and run he had bouncing off a couple of players to get down inside the ten yard line. Hopefully he can stay healthy this year. Ifeanyi Momah looked good, but had a couple drops. He needs to make those catches. He is a mismatch for linebackers and most DB's with his size 6-7 and athletic ability. That's four good tight ends on the roster. Gerald Christian came in to the game in the second half. He blocked pretty well. I don't think he beats out the other four, but he could make the practice squad.
At wide receiver our starters are as good as any team in the league. They didn't play much in this game. John Brown didn't play because of his concussion. Michael Floyd had a nice 30-yard grab on that first drive. After the starters went out I was not impressed with anyone else in this game. I was hoping we would find a return man that was good out of the backups, but no such luck from what I can see so far.
Out of all the backup offensive linemen the two that stood out to me in this game were center Evan Boehm and guard Cole Toner. I thought Boehm looked solid. He is already the best center on the team in my opinion. I would start him now so he can have a chance to gel with the starting o-line. He's tough, aggressive and holds his ground well. This was a really good game to watch him since he played all but the first drive.
Cole Toner really surprised me. He has really good footwork and uses his hands well. For a rookie from a small school like Harvard to show this amount of skill this quickly has got to be making Steve Keim and the coaching staff really happy. I thought he played a solid game. He played most of the game at LG and then switched over to RG for the fourth quarter. I can see him and Boehm making this team. OT John Wetzel would be the next best that I watched. He would be a good candidate for the practice squad. I really believe the Cards will have to sign a vet tackle so there is at least one good backup at tackle.
The quarterback play was not as good as I had hoped for after Carson Palmer went out. I expected Drew Stanton to play much better than he did, but it is only the first preseason game. Matt Barkley had a lot of ups and downs playing most of the game. He didn't get much help from his receivers or the O-line. I liked a lot of what I saw from him. He stood in the pocket and didn't get rattled under pressure. He made some very good throws. The biggest problem that I see with his game right now is he is not using his check downs very well. There were many times in this game that if he would have used his backs and short underneath throws he would have had much more success. Its early yet, but I think he has a good chance of making the team. I am looking forward to seeing how he performs in the fourth preseason game. Jake Coker didn't enter the game until the fourth quarter so its hard to give him a fair evaluation. He has great size and a strong arm, but he looks like a long term project.
This team has to have the deepest set of running backs in the NFL. David Johnson had a couple nice runs before he left the game and looks just as good as last year. Having Chris Johnson and Andre Ellington as the backups is awesome. Both ran well in the game especially Ellington . I have never seen a better backfield for the Cardinals in all my fifty years. If the Cards only keep four backs instead of five there is still tough competition for that spot. Kerwynn Williams and Stepfan Taylor we all know, but I am looking forward to seeing more of the big back Elijhaa Penny. The 6-2 235 pounder showed he's definitely in the mix with the way he ran against Oakland.
The tight end group is also deep and should be improved over last year. Jermaine Gresham and Darren Fells are penciled in as the starters, but Troy Niklas seems to have finally arrived. He played a solid game against Oakland both receiving and blocking. Everybody had to have loved the catch and run he had bouncing off a couple of players to get down inside the ten yard line. Hopefully he can stay healthy this year. Ifeanyi Momah looked good, but had a couple drops. He needs to make those catches. He is a mismatch for linebackers and most DB's with his size 6-7 and athletic ability. That's four good tight ends on the roster. Gerald Christian came in to the game in the second half. He blocked pretty well. I don't think he beats out the other four, but he could make the practice squad.
At wide receiver our starters are as good as any team in the league. They didn't play much in this game. John Brown didn't play because of his concussion. Michael Floyd had a nice 30-yard grab on that first drive. After the starters went out I was not impressed with anyone else in this game. I was hoping we would find a return man that was good out of the backups, but no such luck from what I can see so far.
