What I Saw

[Harry]

The most troubling thing was the Cards learned little from last year. If your vets are so fragile they can barely be used in preseason, they won't be sharp when the real games start. Palmer, sopposedly healthy, seems unable to throw on the run. Special teams are poorly coached. Despite better kickers, the FG team can't block and the gunners will be routinely out kicked by a real punter. They still have no return game. You can't let one player's absence control that. You need a plan B. The O-line is aging and the depth is questionable. Is BJ injury prone? Bethel will continue to be targeted in game situations. Ellington can make big plays but he'll find a way to hurt the team if he plays much. He's soft and he's admitted that.

New concerns include the D-lines failure to collapse the pocket and clog up mid-field scrambling lanes. They miss CC. I have to wonder about conditioning. This team looked gassed in quarter 4. TM looked better but not as good as he once was. Last year's safeties, Jefferson & Swearinger, were much better than this year's group. The situation can still be saved, but it needs immediate correction. The playoffs are possible but the margin for error has declined.

 

[juza76]

the defense can be good with the addition of nkemdiche e budda baker and using reddick as a full time starter

the problem is the offense, i feel pity for fitzgerald to play with this garbage around

 

[Cheesebeef]

Did Buddah even get on the field today? Can't remember his name called once.

 

[BullheadCardFan]

Did Buddah even get on the field today? Can't remember his name called once.

Don't remember seeing him. Was he active today?

 

[juza76]

Did Buddah even get on the field today? Can't remember his name called once.

budda is the best cover safety we have
mattieu has to play nickel and be near the line of scrimmage and not deep in coverage

 

[NMCard]

Seems like a young guy like Baker could be utilized on special teams coverage units?

 

[az jam]

We look old. Offense was terrible. Could be a long season again.

 

[DVontel]

Did Buddah even get on the field today? Can't remember his name called once.

Yea, I seen him on defense for about 5-6 plays & on kickoff/punt teams.

 

[AZCrazy]

I think getting our D to be its best is going to involve a little humility and crow eating on the part of the staff, and because of that it may not happen. Reddick is a linebacker. Bucannon isn't. He's a tweener they're trying to invent a position for.

I'd imagine that a defensive secondary that has players like Peterson, Mathieu, Baker, and Bucannon would be pretty legendary. Branch and Bethea are solid contributors as well, and maybe Bethel's light has turned on.

We need : Nkdemiche to play and play well, and Bucannon to come back somewhere useful. The D will be okay, especially w/ Baker in the wings. The offense on the other hand needs a complete makeover.

 

[iLLmatiC]

Did Buddah even get on the field today? Can't remember his name called once.

Saw him in dime packages.

 

[iLLmatiC]

And TM looked slow in coverage.

 

[Cheesebeef]

And TM looked slow in coverage.

Everyone was saying BADGER IS BACK! in preseason, but I didn't see it that much. He had the one nice pick where he made a jump on the ball... but it was his run back that caught my eye because of how relatively slow he looked there.

And he looked slow in coverage at times also. Definitely got worked over today.

 

[cardpa]

You have to wonder about personnel decisions made on this team. After Fitz you have Smoke who needs to prove he is back from his injuries and illness. After him you have Jaron Brown who has never been more than a #4 or 5 WR. Nelson is inconsistent as hell and Golden can't find his way onto the field. You are relying on Niche who hasn't proved he belongs and a group of lunch bucket guys some long of tooth and probably past their prime. AN old ILB and a young one trying to transition to a new position under fire. A mixture of grizzled vets in the back field who better days may have past them bye, one who is injury prone and hasn't played at a level he played just a few short years ago and one pro bowler. An Oline that has a center who wouldn't start anywhere else and a guard that hasn't played up to expectations since he got here. Tackles who have switched positions and are both learning to play on opposite sides. A QB who has definitely slipping down the slope. This doesn't sound like a contender when you look at it with a keen eye. There doesn't appear to be much in the way of youth to fill and replace down the road. You do have two good OLBs who should be contributors for a few years. A very good RB with not much else behind him. A head coach who seems to be following the same path as his predecessor, the first three years getting better and better then a dismal fourth year and if the team continues to play at the level it played today another dismal year. IN each case the HC was/is allowed too much say in personnel.

 

[iLLmatiC]

Yeah we should've looked for another WR in the off season. We lost Floyd and never really replaced him.

 

[SeattleCard]

Excellent post Harry.

I feel very discouraged about this coming season... hope I am wrong.

 

[Garthshort]

Harry, I agree with your point about not playing vets much in the PS. Seems like a fine line to me. We want to 'save' CP's arm in practice and his body in the PS games. Same with Larry and David Johnson. But it means that early in the season everyone is rusty, even if able to play. Damned if you do and damned if you don't. Bottom line, it looked to me that none of our "Big Three' were ready to play.

 

[WildBB]

The OL is most concerning right now.

They ran into a very Lions inspired Lions team (7 straight recent losses to us). But Palmer and co. let them off the hook.

More bad news is that the Rams are looking pretty legit and will get better as Goff makes advances in his 2nd year.

 

[Chopper0080]

Our defense looked ok, but our really bad offense made it look much worse. At some point, Arians has to figure out a way to generate some sort of consistency or the defense will continue to be exposed. Without Nkemdiche, we don't have one DL on our roster that the oppossing team has to worry about and Nkemdiche can't get/stay on the field.

 

[PJ1]

hi

The most troubling thing was the Cards learned little from last year. If your vets are so fragile they can barely be used in preseason, they won't be sharp when the real games start. Palmer, sopposedly healthy, seems unable to throw on the run. Special teams are poorly coached. Despite better kickers, the FG team can't block and the gunners will be routinely out kicked by a real punter. They still have no return game. You can't let one player's absence control that. You need a plan B. The O-line is aging and the depth is questionable. Is BJ injury prone? Bethel will continue to be targeted in game situations. Ellington can make big plays but he'll find a way to hurt the team if he plays much. He's soft and he's admitted that.

New concerns include the D-lines failure to collapse the pocket and clog up mid-field scrambling lanes. They miss CC. I have to wonder about conditioning. This team looked gassed in quarter 4. TM looked better but not as good as he once was. Last year's safeties, Jefferson & Swearinger, were much better than this year's group. The situation can still be saved, but it needs immediate correction. The playoffs are possible but the margin for error has declined.

Who is BJ?

 

[WindCardinal]

Not sure why they're playing Bethea as deep safety... baker would be a better option

 

[82CardsGrad]

The most troubling thing was the Cards learned little from last year. If your vets are so fragile they can barely be used in preseason, they won't be sharp when the real games start. Palmer, sopposedly healthy, seems unable to throw on the run. Special teams are poorly coached. Despite better kickers, the FG team can't block and the gunners will be routinely out kicked by a real punter. They still have no return game. You can't let one player's absence control that. You need a plan B. The O-line is aging and the depth is questionable. Is BJ injury prone? Bethel will continue to be targeted in game situations. Ellington can make big plays but he'll find a way to hurt the team if he plays much. He's soft and he's admitted that.

New concerns include the D-lines failure to collapse the pocket and clog up mid-field scrambling lanes. They miss CC. I have to wonder about conditioning. This team looked gassed in quarter 4. TM looked better but not as good as he once was. Last year's safeties, Jefferson & Swearinger, were much better than this year's group. The situation can still be saved, but it needs immediate correction. The playoffs are possible but the margin for error has declined.

100% agree... I couldn't shake the nagging feeling that I was watching a team that seemed unprepared and not ready for prime time. I think the fact that so many of our key players barely played in preseason impacted the results today. Palmer, DJ, John Brown, Iupati, Shipley, Veldheer, Fitz, Badger, Dansby...
The defense played well enough in the first half, but that was it... Stafford essentially had his way with little concern for any aspect of our defense.
This HAS to be Palmer's last season. He looked every bit his age, even after barely playing a series in the preseason! And because of that, I couldn't tell if what I was seeing with Fitz were initial signs of his erosion, or, he and Palmer simply not being in sync. What I do know is that I don't believe I have ever seen a day when Larry was targeted 13 times and walked away with only 6 catches! This team will never win if Fitz is targeted that often and can't convert 75% or more of those targets!

Dawson hits the post? Seriously?????
Gotta give props to Reddick though... he looked very good out there today.
God be with Bethel... He will be targeted a record number of times this season!
Our o-line is a mess, period.

What lies ahead appears to be at best, rocky... but if it were worse than that, I wouldn't be surprised at all...

 

[Cheesebeef]

Harry, I agree with your point about not playing vets much in the PS. Seems like a fine line to me. We want to 'save' CP's arm in practice and his body in the PS games. Same with Larry and David Johnson. But it means that early in the season everyone is rusty, even if able to play. Damned if you do and damned if you don't. Bottom line, it looked to me that none of our "Big Three' were ready to play.

no one was complaining about the starters getting little play in 2014/2015 when we came out playing good football right off the bat.

I don't think it was a matter of our Big Three not ready to play... I think it's a matter of two of the big three being past their prime and the other might have done serious damage to his wrist. I mean... a big 3 of Palmer/Fitz/DJ isn't really a big 3. No one is scared of two of those guys.

 

[AZCrazy]

Fitz is still a gamer, and gives maximum effort, but still needs a QB to deliver the ball.
Want to hear some heresy?
With the addition of Budda Baker and the reluctance to play Mathieu at corner, we should trade the Badger for some offensive firepower.
If he's lost a step, he's a man without a positon except dime safety.

 

[SoCal Cardfan]

BA's play calling is garbage... The line sucked.... had injuries... But he calls 1 screen (iirc) very few draws....
Nothing to alleviate a pass rush.

He always seems to think we have the Cowboys O-line... And Palmer is paying the price for it.

 

[Harry]

hi


Who is BJ?

Screwed this one up good. I meant DJ, but without adding Humphries I'd still have confused everyone!