- Lang stepped up. For a guy who injured his back the previous day, he showed his dedication to coaches on Friday night's game by playing and playing well. That impressed me a lot. Now I believe coaches will be easy on him through the week, but I presume he will still play with the starters in week 2 barring any set back.

- Linebackers failed to impress. From the starters to the scrubs, no linebacker in particular stood out to me on his own on Friday. Mulumba made a nice play later in the game that caught my attention, but other than that and one sack by Francois, it was vanilla and void of any big plays even when a few were available.

- Special teams players look tentative. The coaches expect more fire from these young guys looking to make the team and it wasn't there from what I could see. The blocking and tackling was largely disappointing to say the least. Safety David Fulton missed what would have been a major straight line tackle on the Cardinals' big return in the 4th quarter. The play was right there for him and he whiffed.

- Is Newhouse seen as a liability by the coaching staff? My guess is yes. Help was slid his way on a play which resulted in a sack for a loss from a free corner blitz from the opposite side of the line. This was good play call by the Cardinals' defense. Smart teams know your liabilities and scheme accordingly. I am sure this factors into coaches feeling more and more comfortable putting Barclay out there in his place.

- WR Walker plays with focus and heart. Apart from his raw talent, those two traits are tremendously important for future greats in this league. On a play which resulted in an interception at the end of the first quarter, he is open near the sideline. Harrell instead throws to a covered Ross. On the return, Walker closes in on about a 5 yard gap to make the play and tackle Peterson. It was a great hustle play.

- Will Davon House prove he belongs? He played from behind on a big gain in the first quarter by allowing too much separation in coverage and he failed to make any kind of play on the ball carrier on a pass play later in the game. On that play, he allowed the receiver to knock him to the ground while he remained on his feet for extra yardage. I feel like this shows an unwillingness to be physical when the play is in front of him. Very disappointed all around with his performance.

Originally Posted by: DarkaneRules 

How many series did the STARTERS actually play on Defense?

I don't think they gave up any points.

House was still in when he gave up the TD, but I don't think that many of the other starters were in.

I really don't know for sure, but if it was like the offense, the starters just weren't in there very long.

edit:

Seems to me every team has their own adgenda when it comes to preseason games.

The Cardinals have a new coach, a new QB, a new coaching staff, I agree that they outplayed The Packers, but I think Mike was all about getting film on a lot of new guys.
The cardinals came in wanting to build some momentum.

I know he wants to win every game, and he deserved to be pissed, but in the end i think The Packers staff aquired a lot of the info: they were lookin for.

Originally Posted by: buckeyepackfan 

House talked a big game in the off-season. That is why I am holding him to a higher standard. I know he is coming off of injury but you gotta back it up when you talk.

Originally Posted by: DarkaneRules 

Why, why, why didn't we sign Chris Canty??? Ugh!!!! He looked insanely good for BAL. we could have used a guy like that, as insurance, in case our 1st round pick wen... Ah, nevermind.

Originally Posted by: play2win 

This game doesn't look as bad as people are thinking it was. I mean it wasn't good, but it isn't the end of the world.

First of all, I laughed when I heard someone say that "oh even our first string offense couldn't score on our first possession". It was very very close on that replay that Starks could've scored. And that whole drive, the offense went down field in a jiffy. Rodgers looked great. He wasn't touched. Starks had a couple good runs. Great downfield catch by Jones. Succes.

The first team defense faired well against the Cardinals. House imo was the only guy who played unimpressively. But did you guys notice he had no help on those long passes? I hear Hyde is getting more snaps with the first team now because Hayward and Williams are still out.

If our defense was so bad, why did we only give up 17 points? Our offense did us no favors. Actually, the defense had a couple good stops down the stretch of the game. The offense just couldn't do anything with it. The Cardinals could only make 1/3 field goals.

Imo Vince Young looked better than Graham Harrell did, with his limited snaps. I might be going on a limb here, but Young didn't look to bad. My prediction is if Young can learn the offense well enough to be a solid backup in 3 weeks, I say give him a shot. Put Coleman back on the shelf, ala, practice squad.


I thought the offensive line didn't look half bad, except for Newhouse's one play. Newhouse had a couple good plays, but the guy can be inconsistent. The backups looked better than I thought they would. GVR, Lewis, Lane Taylor. Lane Taylor especially, I think this guy has potential to make the team. Along with GVR. Lewis could make the PS. Bakhtiari gave me more confidence in our line. Lang sure played great out there than I've seen in a long time. Sitton looked like Sitton.

Only wide receivers I thought played great was Walker and Ross. Walker is an active player, very active. I think he's making this roster. Ross only had what 1 catch? But I thought he looked pretty good blocking out there, also his returns were decent enough. I don't think anyone else except him an Cobb fit the bill for that job.

Running backs looked ok, could've done better. I thought Starks looked pretty good actually, even though a couple runs nothing was there. Franklin looked decent too. I'd like to see the quarterbacks get him open in the middle of the field, on a check down or something. He looked great on that screen play. Green didn't get anything going, and Pease only ran one play for a decent gain

The tightends definitely look pretty good blocking out there. Finley looks like he never missed a block except one. That one catch and run was nice. That drop in the endzone, that safety did really make a good play on the ball. He needs to hold on, but it's not like he was wide open. Williams looked ok, he caught one diving catch with was a great play by Harrell and him imo. The rest he just couldn't hang onto it. His blocking looked decent enough. Mulligan. Wow I can see why we got him. He can sure anchor defenders, man i'm glad we got him, he'll definitely improve our running game.

D-line looked as good as it gets. Raji and Pickett didn't play much but they looked good enough. Pickett made a nice run stop. Wilson had an ok game, made a couple plays. Daniels looked a lot of improvement out there. The guy's quick. Jolly looked like 09' Jolly, glad they gave him a second chance. Boyd is another one of those players that played better in the game than in practice. Sometimes you'll get those guys that just surprise you once game time rolls around, he sure did. Can't wait to see what Neal can do this week.

LBs looked mmkay. Matthews looks like himself, flying around. I think Hawk and Jones are pretty good. They look faster out there. Perry, now I liked what he did this game.. He got a couple pressures. Made a nice play on Fitzgerald, he set up the edge well, looked decent dropping in coverage. Glad he's back. Moses actually didn't look half bad. Like some said he didn't look good. He looks fast out there. He's our backup OLB for now don't deny it. Francois looked decent enough to be serviceable imo. Wasn't impressed at all with Lattimore. Manning also looks fast out there, made a couple nice plays. Palmer and Mulumba definitely have a learning curve in the pass rushing department. But I don't think they look lost out there. Which is why I have hope. Barrington also looked up to snuff, made a play or 2. He can improve but again like Palmer and Mulumba he doesn't look lost.

The secondary had an off night. Only bright side was Shields and maybe Hyde. We need our starting corners back, I still think Nixon and Smith have shots at the PS, but no one really stood out. Burnett did look solid though. McMillian didn't look as good as I thought he would. Jennings didn't do anything good or bad out there. SS still up in the air.

Originally Posted by: Gaycandybacon 

I think that's a really nice review Gaycandybacon. Glad you covered more of the starters and the O than I did. I only half watched the starters 2nd time around, as I was more interested in how the new players fared, especially on D.

The secondary, for the most part, was playing with Safeties that could well struggle to make the team.

steveishere, you made your point. But in general terms, with their first 3 QBs having a passer rating of over 104, and our O not scoring, in a game that should have been 23-0, we looked like dog shit. No pressure or sacks from our starters, and Arizona took it to us in our own house.

Really had to search for those bright spots.

Originally Posted by: play2win