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Arizona Cardinals, Week 6: Bobby Massie not bothered by criticism of offensive line

Arizona Cardinals rookie tackle Bobby Massie has not been affected by the outside chatter following Thursday's painful 17-3 loss to the St. Louis Rams.

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Christian Petersen - Getty Images

The Arizona Cardinals offensive line came under a considerable amount scrutiny after allowing Kevin Kolb to be sacked nine times in their first loss of the season this past Thursday. But according to Paola Boivin of the Arizona Republic, right tackle Bobby Massie isn't affected by any criticism from the members of the media who may have been watching this team's first showing in the national spotlight:

"It doesn't bother me none," he said. "They're just regular people. They couldn't go out and do what we do. It doesn't affect me none."

Massie has had an up-and-down season through the first five games of his rookie campaign. Sometimes the 2012 fourth-round pick has flashed the dominating presence that made Mel Kiper Jr. give him a second round grade. Other times, his inexperience has won out with the 6'6, 316-pound tackle missing delayed blitzes and showing shoddy footwork.

Then again, that's just part of the growing pains that come with being thrust into the starting lineup in your rookie year and Massie realizes that:

"It is what it is," he said. "Everybody knows I'm a rookie and it's my first year so it comes with the territory."

Over the next three weeks, Massie and his fellow offensive linemen will continued to be challenged with Arizona set to square off against a trio of intimidating pass rushes. The Bills come into town next week featuring an defensive line stacked with two former all-pros (Mario Williams and Kyle Williams) and the third overall selection from the 2011 draft (Marcell Dareus). After that, they'll head to Minnesota to take on a Vikings team that is top 10 in the NFL in sacks (14) before their pivotal NFC West battle against a San Francisco 49ers defense that happens to be second in the NFL in total defense (262.6 yards allowed per game).

At least Cardinals fans can sleep at night knowing that Massie took it personally after seeing Kolb get nearly decapitated in Week 5, though:

"It wasn't good to see our quarterback getting blasted like that," he said. "We've got to make sure that doesn't happen anymore.