SF vs ARI: Heroes and Goats

[kerouac9]

OT: Deadspin is now a zombie blog, which is sad. I hadn't been reading it as long as I wish I had, but it was a great place to gather different voices and address sports in a fiercely irreverent and outsidery way. I wandered in the wilderness for a while after Grantland, and Deadspin was what I needed. It's going to be hard to track the writers that I liked like Barry Petchesky, Dom Constantino (a good NFL writer), David Roth, and (especially) Drew Magary. I first discovered Deadspin when they broke the book open on Manti Te'o's fake girlfriend, but I came to love it in the last four years. RIP.

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Kenyan Drake - Welcome to Arizona, Kenyan. This might be the best Cardinals debut since Anquan Boldin's first game. I think it speaks to the robustness of the offense that's being built here.

Budda Baker - Credit where it's due: Baker was all over the field last night. It wasn't a perfect night, and Baker really struggles in man coverage without significant help. But he played better down in the box.

Joe Walker - The reason Haason Reddick is sitting out on 55% of the defensive snaps is because he can't make good run fits. San Francisco rushed for 3.26 YPC is because Joe Walker can.

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Patrick Peterson - Ugh. Not a good night from Patrick Peterson. Bad-to-nonexistent tackling plus a rough night in coverage. Maybe it takes an embarrassment like this to get him locked in for the rest of the year?

Christian Kirk - 5 targets resulted in 2 receptions for 8 yards and 0 first downs. I love it when people say that Kirk is good.

Terrell Suggs - Had another neutral zone infraction penalty last night. His fifth pre-snap penalty of the year.

Did the future of football arrive?
People will point to Murray's high QB rating against a very good defense and 10 YPA and say that he had a great night. While the memory is still fresh, let's look at Murray's 3rd downs:

• Kyler Murray sacked by Dee Ford for no gain. Penalty on Dee Ford: Horse Collar Tackle, 15 yards (no play)
• Kyler Murray sacked by Dee Ford for -12 yards
• Kyler Murray pass incomplete short right intended for Christian Kirk (short of first down)
• Kyler Murray pass complete short left to KeeSean Johnson for 13 yards (tackle by Emmanuel Moseley)
• Kyler Murray pass incomplete deep right
• Kyler Murray pass complete short middle to Larry Fitzgerald for 9 yards (tackle by K'Waun Williams) (short of first down)
• Kyler Murray pass incomplete short left intended for Charles Clay

On seven 3rd down plays, Murray had 2 first downs (plus one due to a penalty) and two sacks.

 

[Vacard]

Sacks were due to an atrocious RT vs the best d-line in football. DJ kept Bosa honest however.

 

[MadCardDisease]

I was hoping for more from Suggs this year. Maybe father time has finally caught up with him.

 

[slanidrac16]

For as much as we bash the offensive line Kugler and his boys have stepped up. Yes there are some breakdowns from time to time but overall our running game has been pretty damn good.

We scored 25 points on a team that was allowing 11 points per game. We had over 150 yards rushing. If we can just stop the drive killing penalties this offends would even be better.

 

[Dr. Jones]

Me too @MadCardDisease . Suggs has truly disappointed.

I'm half and half on Budda. Was he all over the place? Yes. Did he still get burned by Kittle and made to look like a fool on national TV? Absolutely. I actually think the lack of prep time for San Fran really helped him this week as they had no time to scheme up some truly good misdirection plays.

Our run defense last night truly exposed how horrible of a bust Reddick is. How about the TD at the end of the half? When Jimmy threw it, it seems to be in the air for 5 full minutes. Time slowed down for me and I instantly saw it was Reddick guarding the WR. It was at that instant, that I realized how truly god-awful Reddick's instincts are.

Our 3rd down defense is truly reflective of our LBer's and our inability to pressure the QB. Truly embarrassing.

Welcome to Arizona, Kenyan. This might be the best Cardinals debut since Anquan Boldin's first game. I think it speaks to the robustness of the offense that's being built here.

Love that comment @kerouac9. And I am hopeful that K2 can learn from his situational gaffe's like he has with his personnel groupings. We may have an offense that can get a lot of things done in the NFL going forward.

 

[b8rtm8nn]

I would have Humphries as a hero, placed next to Mason Cole and handled the edge pretty well, even after getting dinged.

But, he doesn't trump the other 3, so it's an honorable mention from me.

 

[splitsecond]

Deadspin writers throwing a tantrum and mass-resigning because they were told to stop throwing tantrums and stick to sports is peak Deadspin.

 

[Shane]

I was hoping for more from Suggs this year. Maybe father time has finally caught up with him.

ehhh at his age still on pace for 9-10 sacks and has 4 FF to boot. Could be much worse.

 

[Shane]

Nice write up K9

 

[GatorAZ]

Kirk was really good last week then disappears. Maybe the ankle was tender on a short week but he never really puts together consistent production. Some of it is not on him but we need the ball in his hands more.

 

[Dr. Jones]

ehhh at his age still on pace for 9-10 sacks and has 4 FF to boot. Could be much worse.

It might actually be better if he had 5 sacks this year.... Doesn't try to anticipate the snap, set his edge consistently, and contained the run. Those penalties are backbreakers.

 

[Shaggy]

For as much as we bash the offensive line Kugler and his boys have stepped up. Yes there are some breakdowns from time to time but overall our running game has been pretty damn good.

We scored 25 points on a team that was allowing 11 points per game. We had over 150 yards rushing. If we can just stop the drive killing penalties this offends would even be better.

It wasn't really the penalties that killed the drives. Just taking bad sacks destroyed a few of them.

 

[jmt]

I was hoping for more from Suggs this year. Maybe father time has finally caught up with him.

IMO Suggs is done.

 

[Shaggy]

Kirk was really good last week then disappears. Maybe the ankle was tender on a short week but he never really puts together consistent production. Some of it is not on him but we need the ball in his hands more.

You could say the same about Fitz then. It's just hard to determine how good or bad a WR is if they never get the ball thrown to them.

 

[kerouac9]

ehhh at his age still on pace for 9-10 sacks and has 4 FF to boot. Could be much worse.

Maybe, but if he gets 8 sacks and 12 penalties playing part-time, that's a hard thing to deal with. Especially at $5 million plus $2 million in dead money next year.

 

[ProdigalSun]

What no Andy Isabella!!!

 

[slanidrac16]

It wasn't really the penalties that killed the drives. Just taking bad sacks destroyed a few of them.

The one big sack we have to understand that there are going to be times kyler will attempt to escape the rush with his athletic ability. Most times he will succeed. However on that particular play he did make the first guy miss only to turn and there was a second guy there to clean it up. Basically a jailbreak. He is much better now than he was in the first couple of games.

 

[Krangodnzr]

Me too @MadCardDisease . Suggs has truly disappointed.

I'm half and half on Budda. Was he all over the place? Yes. Did he still get burned by Kittle and made to look like a fool on national TV? Absolutely. I actually think the lack of prep time for San Fran really helped him this week as they had no time to scheme up some truly good misdirection plays.

Our run defense last night truly exposed how horrible of a bust Reddick is. How about the TD at the end of the half? When Jimmy threw it, it seems to be in the air for 5 full minutes. Time slowed down for me and I instantly saw it was Reddick guarding the WR. It was at that instant, that I realized how truly god-awful Reddick's instincts are.

Our 3rd down defense is truly reflective of our LBer's and our inability to pressure the QB. Truly embarrassing.



Love that comment @kerouac9. And I am hopeful that K2 can learn from his situational gaffe's like he has with his personnel groupings. We may have an offense that can get a lot of things done in the NFL going forward.

I don't know. Nearly EVERY ILB matched up on a slippery wide receiver is going to end up that way. Basically you are thinking that Reddick should keep up with Emmanuel Sanders on a sprint to the pylon. That was REALLY good play design there.

Reddick ran immediately to try and keep up, but he's just not going to beat a fairly quick receiver in that situation.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Kirk was really good last week then disappears. Maybe the ankle was tender on a short week but he never really puts together consistent production. Some of it is not on him but we need the ball in his hands more.

It’s why I believe kirks ceiling is a great #3. He’s too inconsistent and injury prone.

 

[Dr. Jones]

I don't know. Nearly EVERY ILB matched up on a slippery wide receiver is going to end up that way. Basically you are thinking that Reddick should keep up with Emmanuel Sanders on a sprint to the pylon. That was REALLY good play design there.

Reddick ran immediately to try and keep up, but he's just not going to beat a fairly quick receiver in that situation.

Hell no I'm not thinking that. I am expecting him to understand the situation and do one of three things. 1. Put his hands up. Even in failure, it would have proven to be more situationally aware. 2. Stop, and turn his head knowing he can't catch up and try to bat the pass down. 3. Stop, turn his head around early, hoping to pick it off and completely change the game.

All three, based on the speed of the play, (quick boom-boom) were easily within his grasp. His brain chose to blindly run after a player he had no chance of catching. After being in the NFL for 3 years.

 

[Shaggy]

I don't know. Nearly EVERY ILB matched up on a slippery wide receiver is going to end up that way. Basically you are thinking that Reddick should keep up with Emmanuel Sanders on a sprint to the pylon. That was REALLY good play design there.

Reddick ran immediately to try and keep up, but he's just not going to beat a fairly quick receiver in that situation.

I look at that play and if Reddick turned his head to look for the ball at all, he could have blocked or picked it off for a pick 6. Even if he put out his right arm/hand out, he would have blocked it. Not sure why he didnt atleast do that when he saw Sanders arms go to his chest for the catch.

 

[Dr. Jones]

I look at that play and if Reddick turned his head to look for the ball at all, he could have blocked or picked it off for a pick 6. Even if he put out his right arm/hand out, he would have blocked it. Not sure why he didnt atleast do that when he saw Sanders arms go to his chest for the catch.

Ha! we basically said the same thing at the same time.

 

[Shaggy]

Ha! we basically said the same thing at the same time.

Ha ha sure did.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Ha ha sure did.

These were my thoughts viewing that play. He had to know he wasn’t “catching” sanders. So the logical thing seeing a shallow route would be to try to disrupt it. He’s not football smart.

 

[Krangodnzr]

I look at that play and if Reddick turned his head to look for the ball at all, he could have blocked or picked it off for a pick 6. Even if he put out his right arm/hand out, he would have blocked it. Not sure why he didnt atleast do that when he saw Sanders arms go to his chest for the catch.

That's a tall task when you are sprinting in chase position. I think it was Aikman who said as much.

I wouldn't key in on a play where Reddick is sprinting to catch a much faster player to condemn his play, there are 100's of other plays where Reddick has no excuse. At least with this play, most ILBs would've been beaten like this.