RugbyMuffin
ASFN IDOL
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2003
- Posts
- 30,485
- Reaction score
- 4,877
Didn't watch the game till Saturday night, and had "technical difficulties" on Sunday night.
On to football......
The two biggest things I take away from this preseason game were:
1. Patrick Peterson does what he SHOULD do and makes a back up QB look like a back up QB and has a sweet INT and return in the 1st quarter. THE VERY NEXT PLAY, the Cardinals go for a TD, and get it with a very nice pass from Carson Palmer to Andre Roberts. Very un-Cardinal like, but that is a good thing.
2. John Abraham with a sack, strip, fumble. There was ZERO pass rush coming from anywhere else that I could see. Big time play, from a player who showed he still has that special quickness that you need in order to be a pass rusher. He made that sack look easy, WAY too easy.
Both those plays are plays that winning teams make in the NFL. Nothing was bigger than these two moments in my opinion.
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"First Half - Starters":
- Carson Palmer looks like a NFL QB, and he is embracing Arians philosophy. Might as well call him "Mad Bomber Palmer" cause he is going deep. He was taking big chunks of yardage, and his pass to Fitzgerald was something we have not seen in a couple seasons. Good stuff.
- Starters: Alfonso Smith, Larry Fitzgerald, Michael Foyd, Jim Dray, Rob Housler, Levi Brown, Paul Fanaika, Lyle Sendlein, Jonathan Cooper, Eric Winston.
- Jonathan Cooper looks pretty quick off the ball, he makes getting to the second level look easy. He was not pushed back to often, if at all when I was focusing in on him. Plus he plays with a lot of fight and tenacity. All good stuff.
- Paul Fanaika, 27 years old, 6'5" and 327lbs. Big guy, in shape, and has pretty good power. I was not blown away by his play, but I didn't see too much that was better then what I have seen from past Cardinals guards like Duece Lutui, and Daryn College. You could see why the coaches like this kid. He can play. I think he is on the roster already, he should be because he is already better than anything I saw out of Adam Snyder. His competition with College may be a lot more serious than most originally thought. He did get pushed around a little bit, but not like Snyder and College do.
- Alfonso Smith looked like Alfonso Smith. Run straight into the hole whether it is there or not. Did everything you would expect from him. Not a bad or good thing, IMO.
- Lorenzo Alexander didn't do too much on defense but you can see why he is an Probowl special teams player.
- Was not happy to see Andre Roberts not haul in a pass that hit him in the hands. No excuses. Gotta catch those. But again, Roberts does enough good that his average hands are something you can live with. Just frustrating when he does drop a pass regardless.
- The defense looked good against the run. Noticed that Jasper Brinkley was around the ball a lot, and plays strong against the run. Reggie Walker looked like Reggie Walker not a bad or good thing, IMO. I noticed that Amaya was playing a lot of snaps at safety.
- As was expected, outside of Abraham our pass rush is very suspect. No pass rush, and a questionable safety group lead to the 50 yard bomb that was completed by Rogers to James Jones. This is what I fear most for our defense. Not being able to consistently stop the deep ball.
- That being said the goal line stand was excellent. Our team seems a little more stout at the point of attack on defense. Not to mention Rashad Johnson did have a nice play to prevent a TD pass.
- Levi Brown - False start. Played solid, didn't see a mistake from Levi Brown besides the false start, but credit where credit is due.
- Tight end is a issue right now. Jim Dray looked like Jim Dray, and that is what a 4th string TE looks like. DC Jefferson is everything I expected, and even a little bit more. I love his shock and confusion face about how he didn't catch a pass right in his hands. Didn't see much from Housler either.
- Hope Zastidul can punt better than he did on Friday. Hope Jay Feely can kick better than he did on Friday. Hope Will Baston is not really our backup plan.
"First Half - Backups":
- Hope Padric Scott can keep his play up, he has good balance for such a big man.
- Matheui looks the part. Good punt returner, played pretty well on defense.
- Liked seeing Daryl Washington punching the ball out of a Packers' hands, even if it was called an incomplete pass.
- Matt Shaugnessy is definately a depth guy. Not saying he is a poor player, he is versatile, but there is better talent to put on the field. Let me be clear, I am very happy to have Shaughnessy on the team is he is solid depth guy, and plays well against the run.
- Again, we are going to be struggling for a pass rush this year.
- J.Arenas is a player. Really good tackler, quick, and fast. He will make the final 53.
- If Charles Hawkins keeps this up he is making the final 53.
- I won't even go into Drew Stanton. Officially: No comment. In other words, go ask K9 about how DS played.
- Cool to see Tom Moore in Cardinal red.
- 2nd team OL: Potter, Selemete, Gibson, Rachal, Massie. I was surprised to see Selemete out there
- J.Brown may be the 5th WR, he is at least at the top of the quest for the #5 WR at this moment.
- Stephan Taylor is not ready yet, IMO. Played well, but he is not that good running the ball, yet. He has to hit the hole faster, but seems to have good vision.
Half Time:
- In the first part of the second half I saw: Justin Bethel, J.Arenas, #59, #32, #51
- Drew Stanton is still in, and still completing passes to Jaron Brown.
- Charles Hawkins still in, still producing
- Jim Dray is a 4th stringer.
- Bethel looked OK, tackled well.
- Lindley is in, Offensive Line: Joe Caprioglio, Earl Watford, Adam Bice, Chilo Rachal, Jamaal Johnson-Webb
- C.Richal is not very good. He is going to stuggle to make the final 53.
- Earl Watford was un-assuming.
- Lindley actually completed some passes, Dan Buckner, R.Toma
- Kenny Demens had a nice tackle
- Ronnie Yell had a nice play on defense too.
- Jonathan Mathis almost killed the nth string Packers QB
- At this point I saw on defense: Tony Jefferson, #22, Colin Parker, #41, Zack Nash
- Charles Hawkins cannot fumble the ball like that. But, it was nice to see he can at least catch a punt if needed as well.
- M.Schuler makes a catch........in garbage time.
- Earl Watford gets a personal foul in the latter stages of the game.....hopefully he learns how ridiculous that is.
- Just in case you were all nervous, TerBush did get in the game.
- Eventhough it was the 4th quarter of the 1st preseason game of the year, it was nice to see our defense get a 3 and out to end the game.
-----------UPDATED THE ROSTER, FINAL 53, and Current Starters links can by found in my signature.
On to football......
The two biggest things I take away from this preseason game were:
1. Patrick Peterson does what he SHOULD do and makes a back up QB look like a back up QB and has a sweet INT and return in the 1st quarter. THE VERY NEXT PLAY, the Cardinals go for a TD, and get it with a very nice pass from Carson Palmer to Andre Roberts. Very un-Cardinal like, but that is a good thing.
2. John Abraham with a sack, strip, fumble. There was ZERO pass rush coming from anywhere else that I could see. Big time play, from a player who showed he still has that special quickness that you need in order to be a pass rusher. He made that sack look easy, WAY too easy.
Both those plays are plays that winning teams make in the NFL. Nothing was bigger than these two moments in my opinion.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"First Half - Starters":
- Carson Palmer looks like a NFL QB, and he is embracing Arians philosophy. Might as well call him "Mad Bomber Palmer" cause he is going deep. He was taking big chunks of yardage, and his pass to Fitzgerald was something we have not seen in a couple seasons. Good stuff.
- Starters: Alfonso Smith, Larry Fitzgerald, Michael Foyd, Jim Dray, Rob Housler, Levi Brown, Paul Fanaika, Lyle Sendlein, Jonathan Cooper, Eric Winston.
- Jonathan Cooper looks pretty quick off the ball, he makes getting to the second level look easy. He was not pushed back to often, if at all when I was focusing in on him. Plus he plays with a lot of fight and tenacity. All good stuff.
- Paul Fanaika, 27 years old, 6'5" and 327lbs. Big guy, in shape, and has pretty good power. I was not blown away by his play, but I didn't see too much that was better then what I have seen from past Cardinals guards like Duece Lutui, and Daryn College. You could see why the coaches like this kid. He can play. I think he is on the roster already, he should be because he is already better than anything I saw out of Adam Snyder. His competition with College may be a lot more serious than most originally thought. He did get pushed around a little bit, but not like Snyder and College do.
- Alfonso Smith looked like Alfonso Smith. Run straight into the hole whether it is there or not. Did everything you would expect from him. Not a bad or good thing, IMO.
- Lorenzo Alexander didn't do too much on defense but you can see why he is an Probowl special teams player.
- Was not happy to see Andre Roberts not haul in a pass that hit him in the hands. No excuses. Gotta catch those. But again, Roberts does enough good that his average hands are something you can live with. Just frustrating when he does drop a pass regardless.
- The defense looked good against the run. Noticed that Jasper Brinkley was around the ball a lot, and plays strong against the run. Reggie Walker looked like Reggie Walker not a bad or good thing, IMO. I noticed that Amaya was playing a lot of snaps at safety.
- As was expected, outside of Abraham our pass rush is very suspect. No pass rush, and a questionable safety group lead to the 50 yard bomb that was completed by Rogers to James Jones. This is what I fear most for our defense. Not being able to consistently stop the deep ball.
- That being said the goal line stand was excellent. Our team seems a little more stout at the point of attack on defense. Not to mention Rashad Johnson did have a nice play to prevent a TD pass.
- Levi Brown - False start. Played solid, didn't see a mistake from Levi Brown besides the false start, but credit where credit is due.
- Tight end is a issue right now. Jim Dray looked like Jim Dray, and that is what a 4th string TE looks like. DC Jefferson is everything I expected, and even a little bit more. I love his shock and confusion face about how he didn't catch a pass right in his hands. Didn't see much from Housler either.
- Hope Zastidul can punt better than he did on Friday. Hope Jay Feely can kick better than he did on Friday. Hope Will Baston is not really our backup plan.
"First Half - Backups":
- Hope Padric Scott can keep his play up, he has good balance for such a big man.
- Matheui looks the part. Good punt returner, played pretty well on defense.
- Liked seeing Daryl Washington punching the ball out of a Packers' hands, even if it was called an incomplete pass.
- Matt Shaugnessy is definately a depth guy. Not saying he is a poor player, he is versatile, but there is better talent to put on the field. Let me be clear, I am very happy to have Shaughnessy on the team is he is solid depth guy, and plays well against the run.
- Again, we are going to be struggling for a pass rush this year.
- J.Arenas is a player. Really good tackler, quick, and fast. He will make the final 53.
- If Charles Hawkins keeps this up he is making the final 53.
- I won't even go into Drew Stanton. Officially: No comment. In other words, go ask K9 about how DS played.
- Cool to see Tom Moore in Cardinal red.
- 2nd team OL: Potter, Selemete, Gibson, Rachal, Massie. I was surprised to see Selemete out there
- J.Brown may be the 5th WR, he is at least at the top of the quest for the #5 WR at this moment.
- Stephan Taylor is not ready yet, IMO. Played well, but he is not that good running the ball, yet. He has to hit the hole faster, but seems to have good vision.
Half Time:
- In the first part of the second half I saw: Justin Bethel, J.Arenas, #59, #32, #51
- Drew Stanton is still in, and still completing passes to Jaron Brown.
- Charles Hawkins still in, still producing
- Jim Dray is a 4th stringer.
- Bethel looked OK, tackled well.
- Lindley is in, Offensive Line: Joe Caprioglio, Earl Watford, Adam Bice, Chilo Rachal, Jamaal Johnson-Webb
- C.Richal is not very good. He is going to stuggle to make the final 53.
- Earl Watford was un-assuming.
- Lindley actually completed some passes, Dan Buckner, R.Toma
- Kenny Demens had a nice tackle
- Ronnie Yell had a nice play on defense too.
- Jonathan Mathis almost killed the nth string Packers QB
- At this point I saw on defense: Tony Jefferson, #22, Colin Parker, #41, Zack Nash
- Charles Hawkins cannot fumble the ball like that. But, it was nice to see he can at least catch a punt if needed as well.
- M.Schuler makes a catch........in garbage time.
- Earl Watford gets a personal foul in the latter stages of the game.....hopefully he learns how ridiculous that is.
- Just in case you were all nervous, TerBush did get in the game.
- Eventhough it was the 4th quarter of the 1st preseason game of the year, it was nice to see our defense get a 3 and out to end the game.
-----------UPDATED THE ROSTER, FINAL 53, and Current Starters links can by found in my signature.
