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The Cardinals were unable to put up much of a fight against Vince Young and the Titans. The Tennessee defense looked stout and shut down the once-formidable Arizona offense.
See below for a recap of the important stuff. The second half was mostly what you’d expect from preseason football: scrubs giving it their best shot.
John Skelton didn’t see the field, as quarterback Max Hall received plenty of looks from the coaching staff. Hall went 7-for-15 with one touchdown and one interception for 101 yards.
Neither Beanie Wells nor Tim Hightower impressed tonight, but LaRod Stephens-Howling ran for 30 yards on five carries.
Telling statistic of the night: Arizona's Ben Graham punted the ball eight times. That’s right, eight.
For more coverage of this game, check out Revenge Of The Birds.
Before I begin discussing the offensive output from the first half of tonight’s game between the Arizona Cardinals and the Tennessee Titans, let's get all of the usual disclaimers out of the way.
Hey, it’s only a preseason game. Just a tune-up for the real deal.
This gives us a chance to evaluate all of our talent and put together the pieces for our season opener.
What did you expect? We’re adjusting to a new quarterback, offensive line, and Larry Fitzgerald is hurt.
Okay, back to reality.
Matt Leinart, our undisputed quarterback going into the 2010 season, went 4/6 for 28 yards and failed to get a first down. Any positive momentum on the first two drives was stalled by the lack of running game.
Tim Hightower got out of the backfield twice in five carries, managing only three total yards.
Stephen Williams, the undrafted rookie wide receiver out of Toledo, has impressed so far, making three catches for 59 yards.
Derek Anderson connected with Williams down the left side of the field for a 37-yard gain, marking the only exciting play for the offense in the entire first half.
What is to blame for this moribund offensive output? One can only quote the great Greg Esposito when he said, “the offensive line is awful.” But it can’t be that simple.
It is a natural shift for an offense, trading away Anquan Boldin and losing Larry Fitzgerald to injury. Kurt Warner is gone. The Cardinals are incapable of sustaining a drive.
Every down, Leinart and Anderson are being forced to throw the ball away before being sacked by the Titans defensive line.
But hey, don’t worry guys. It’s only the preseason. Without blocking or a rushing game, this argument will wear thin quickly once Week 1 rolls around.
(Sports Network) – The Tennessee Titans and Arizona Cardinals will reprise their classic 2009 battle, albeit in lower-stakes fashion, when the clubs resume their preseason schedule at LP Field on Monday night.
The teams met in meaningful play in Week 12 of last season in Nashville, a game won by the Titans, 20-17, on a last-second touchdown pass from Vince Young to wide receiver Kenny Britt. Young, who threw for a career-high 387 yards in the win, led Tennessee on a momentous 18-play, 99-yard game-winning drive to lift the Titans.
Young’s heroics overshadowed a strong effort from his 2006 draft-class mate Matt Leinart, who while starting in place of an injured Kurt Warner, completed 21-of-31 passes for 220 yards to get the Cardinals in position for the win.
Less than nine months later, following the retirement of Warner, Leinart has become the Cardinals’ starter.
The former USC star played to mixed reviews in the preseason opener last week, completing 6-of-7 passes for 49 yards but also suffering two sacks and coughing up a fumble in the team’s 19-16 win over the Houston Texans.
Would-be backup Derek Anderson wasn’t much better, completing 13-of-22 passes for 88 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.
Elsewhere in the bad news category for the Cardinals was the knee sprain suffered by star receiver Larry Fitzgerald, an injury that is expected to knock the Pro Bowler out for the remainder of the preseason.
Tennessee came up empty in its first preseason effort last week, dropping a 20-18 decision at the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday night.
Young completed 5-of-6 passes for 78 yards in the loss and also led a first- quarter touchdown drive, but was intercepted once during his brief action as well.
Young should play into the second quarter on Monday before yielding to backup Kerry Collins, who did not play against the Seahawks last week. Chris Simms relieved Young against the Hawks, but threw for just 24 yards on 7-of-13 passing with an interception, and did little to indicate he is capable of threatening Collins’ backup status.
On the injury front for Tennessee, defensive end Derrick Morgan (calf), defensive tackle Tony Brown (knee) and linebacker David Thornton (shoulder) are all expected to miss Monday’s contest.
The preseason series between the Cardinals and Titans is knotted, 2-2, with Arizona evening the series by virtue of a 27-17 home win in the last such meeting, prior to the 1999 campaign.
As mentioned, the teams last met in meaningful play in Week 12 of last season in Nashville, a game won by the Titans in 20-17 fashion.
After eking out a reserve-led 19-16 victory over the Houston Texans in preseason game one, the Arizona Cardinals will be looking for more this time out against the Tennessee Titans.
In particular, offensive consistency will be key. Matt Leinart, Derek Anderson, and the first-team offense didn't do much to move the chain or score, and the expectation in game two will be avoiding an anemic repeat performance.
Although Matt Leinart wasn't terrible (6-for-7 for 49 yards and a 95.8 quarterback rating), he also didn't excel, and excellence is the unfortunate expectation when you're a team's starting QB. Back-up Anderson also faltered, going 13-for-22 with two interceptions and a 45.3 QB rating.
The two will be expected to produce more in game two, and Head Coach Ken Whisenhunt placed added emphasis on quarterback play in this week's practices.
While Whisenhunt was pleased with rookie QB John Skelton's play last week, he was quick to temper expectations going forward, saying, "Well, it's one game. It's one game and it's in the fourth quarter of a preseason game. Now, if he has a repeat performance this week then it's something you have to look at."
The team will likely give fellow rookie QB Max Hall some playing time in Monday's game, as well. He did not play at all in the Houston game.
Hall and Skelton are using the preseason to battle for the third-string QB spot. The coaching staff is not expected to make a decision regarding the position until after the preseason is over, but they have expressed interest in keeping both QBs on the team, regardless of the final depth chart.
Also on the rookie front, linebacker Daryl Washington will hope to string together two good performances after his stand-out, disruptive defense against the Texans. The Cardinals are weak at the inside linebacker position and they will be depending on Washington to contribute heavily throughout the season. So far, he has not disappointed, going for 13 tackles and getting in the mix on nearly every Houston offensive possession.
With first-option wideout Larry Fitzgerald sidelined with a sprained MCL and third-string receiver Early Doucet sitting out with an abdominal strain, undrafted rookie Stephen Williams will likely get more playing time to solidify a roster spot after an already impressive training camp.
Additional positions to watch will be cornerback, where Greg Toler continues to try and secure a starting spot, and offensive tackle, where RT Brandon Keith will be expected to improve upon his game one performance, in which he allowed Texans DE Mario Williams to break through to sack Leinart for a costly 12-yard loss.
Notes:
Catch the game at 5 p.m. AZT on Channel 15 or Sports 620 KTAR for radio coverage.
Cardinals Post-Game Reaction: Leinart On The Hot Seat
Here's what the rest of the world is saying about the Cardinals dismal preseason performance. Needless to say, Matt Leinart hasn't won over many skeptics despite playing with no Larry Fitzgerald and a limited running game.
If you are looking for good news, though, don't forget Ben Graham's eight punts for 343 yards. Go punting!
You know, I remember last year when we were going through these same preseason blues. Trying to remain faithful was trying, to say the least. Well, here we go again. I was only able to watch a little bit of the game, I woke up local time shortly after 3am, turned the game on and watched Matt's last possession and about 15 minutes more of the game before switching it off to get a couple more hours of sleep. Yeah, the gameplan is basic and, yeah, we don't like to show much of our hand, but .... damn it! IT"S HARD TO KEEP THE FAITH SOMETIMES!!!
KTAR.com - Green: I trust Ken Whisenhunt and you should too
The haters, as they're known in the desert, may ultimately be right; Leinart may stink, the offensive line may be giant turnstiles and the defense may be a total sieve. But I believe the Cardinals will be fine, and my reasoning can be summed up with two words, one name: Ken Whisenhunt.
I will say this, I feel a lot better after the first two preseason games this year than I did last year. I know the preseason means nothing, but this team looks a lot more focused than the one did last year that was supposed to be a Super Bowl contender. Here are some quick observations from tonight's game.
On the other side, Vince Young had a respectable evening, going 9-for-13 for 128 yards. Young was forced to recover his own fumble on one play, but threw the ball effectively enough early to make the defense back off the line against Chris Johnson. As a result, Johnson was able to cap a touchdown drive with an 8-yard run.
It doesn't appear the Cardinals have found answers to their two biggest questions on defense: at one inside linebacker spot and left corner. I would be surprised if rookie Daryl Washington wasn't starting at inside linebacker by Sept. 12. I think Greg Toler will move into the starting left corner's job at some point, but that contest appears tighter.
So while coach Ken Whisenhunt could be tempted to bend a knee in the hopes of bringing Warner back, it likely would take a lot more money than the Cardinals ever would spend even to get Warner's attention. Instead, the Cardinals should have offered up a much smaller chunk of money to Marc Bulger. Better still, they should have traded for Donovan McNabb.
Obviously, the storyline coming out of Monday night’s game is the quarterbacks. It’s always the quarterbacks. There’s nothing I can write to convince people who already believe Leinart is an epic fail that’s it could be otherwise.
Individually, Calais Campbell and Joey Porter both looked pretty sharp. Porter stuck his nose in there a few times and Campbell made a nice stop on 3-1 to force a Titans punt. If Campbell starts playing the way I think he will, he should have a monster season this year. Rookie LB Daryl Washington made a nice tackle for a loss, but he appears to have some trouble getting off blocks at times.
Whisenhunt had expected that his offense would click, and it didn't. As for his defense, Whisenhunt was hoping that Arizona wouldn't give up any big plays, that they'd make the Titans earn any points they'd get. That part worked out well enough. The Titans roughed up the Cardinals for TDs, but none of them came for more than 8 yards out.
The only juices that were flowing while watching the Cardinals get dismantled 24-10 by the Tennessee Titans were the ones in my mouth. You know how your mouth starts watering a lot right before you vomit? Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. Here’s six things that stood out to me while watching the Monday Night Football broadcast from Nashville.
KTAR.com - E: More questions, not answers for Cardinals
So here we are entering the all-important third pre-season game with no substantial quarterback answers, simply more questions. Larry Fitzgerald told ESPN's Michelle Tafoya during a sideline interview Monday, "You can't replace a Hall of Fame quarterback." Certainly not from what we've seen so far, Fitz.
Word From the Birds Blog
In terms of Matt Leinart specifically, “It’s not just the quarterback,” Whisenhunt said. “I wish Matt had thrown the ball better on the post, I wish he would have thrown the ball better to Stephen. But once again, the blame is not all on the quarterbacks. A lot has to do how the line played, the way we didn’t do some things that we should have done that would have made his job easier. That’s the thing you have to be careful about, making a quick judgment on the quarterback when we haven’t been as successful as we would have liked to have been.”
Aug 24 8:15a by Seth Pollack - 0 comments