News of the Falcons Game

Harry

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Sunday’s victory may either be merely a blip in a losing season or a new direction for the franchise. Of course it could also be the old saying, everything old is new again. In the case of Kyler Murray will this be more of what the Cards saw in previous seasons or is this a new, improved Murray.

I had posted last week that a surprising amount of financial support was being placed on the Cardinals in Vegas. This was certainly a leap of faith, as no one seriously knew what Murray was capable of achieving. The game started inauspiciously as once again the Cards lost the coin flip. When the Cards went 3 and out, there was reason for concern. Contained in that failure was a Murray throw reminiscent of the departed Dobbs; a pass high and uncatchable. Concern later grew when mostly ineffective CB Wilson dropped an easy interception. In fairness I’ll add he later had a good pass breakup. It would have been easy for Cards players to conclude this wasn’t their year. After a punt, the Cards drive quickly stalled. Gannon then made the call of the year. At his own 40, facing a 4th & 1, Gannon elects to go for it and isucceeds. The Cards are playing to win.

The Good News

Connor’s usage reflected caution, but he still managed 78 yards. Prater had a fine day with long field goals and a solid game winning kick. He likes to kick those game winners. Michael Wilson shows quality hands and good poise. Brown did a good job of getting open and would have had a big day if Murray was all the way back. I mostly covered Murray elsewhere. He ran great, passed as good as could be expected and played with poise. McBride had a great game and justified my pleading to give him more targets. I think he has a real chance to be the next great TE. Does Taylor Swift have a sister? Dortch had an excellent, hard contact return.

On defense Ojulari continued to show growth. Baker was everywhere and tackled great. He’s all the way back. Gardeck made seversl nice plays. Lots of outstanding plays, but none bigger than Hamilton keeping the receiver out of the end zone on the 2 point play.

The Bad News

The officials had a tough game. An NFL coach once told me you could call holding on every play if you wanted. These guys wanted. They also called a contact penalty where most officials would have kept the flag in their pocket. The roughing the passer call was so bad even the TV expert disowned it.

The Cards DL got pushed around again. They need an anchor badly. Froholdt had his weakest game. He may be wearing down. The worst is he got walked back again almost into Murray. Higgins had a chance to make a big play and failed. We may not see him again. It was a reasonably good bend, but not break day for the defense.

On the whole,it was the fun all the fans deserved after last week. I fear there will still be some rough sailing ahead, but a little joy was welcome. I could have written more but since I put up so much on Murray, I thought you deserved a break. Thanks for reading.
 

slanidrac16

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As a fan and what is really evident on the game day threads is we judge players sometime to quickly and harshly. Sometimes it feels that we need every play, every player and every result should be good. We forget that the guys on the other side of the line of scrimmage are trying to win too.

I feel we are developing a few players who many of us defined as JAG’s into pieces that will be a part of this team next year. That’s what I was hoping for as we headed into this season.

Murray was good but I think he needs ( and will) get better. Guys like Wilson need more opportunities. What I like about him is his hands. McBride hopefully opened the eyes of this staff.

On defense, I think Collins, White, Stills, Gardeck, Ledbetter, Ojulari, Baker, Thompson and others can be a solid foundation to build on for 2024.

Finally, this is the first time I can watch 2-8 team and not feel totally downtrodden. Between the coaching and the assembling of this roster I feel a sense of hope. There seems to be a vision and plan in place.
 

Stout

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I know some on here complained over the summer about the money Prater gets paid, but he has proven why it was money well spent in my opinion.
Not really. The complaint was that this year is a tank year, so who cares who the kicker is, and he isn't part of the long-term plan. Unless he is, and plays another 4-5 years.
 

BullheadCardFan

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Not really. The complaint was that this year is a tank year, so who cares who the kicker is, and he isn't part of the long-term plan. Unless he is, and plays another 4-5 years.
This, many were in favor of bringing in some young kickers to see if we could find someone that could be with us for awhile on a friendly contract

$4 mil is a lot to pay a kicker

He has been good, but our record is 2-8 and the money could have been used in other areas
 

DaHilg

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The rest of this season will be interesting. We face 3 very good defenses in Philly, SF, and Seattle. How productive the offense is in those games will be informative.
SF with the addition of Chase Young… that DLine might be the most talented in terms of starters and depth that I’ve ever seen. That game makes me cringe vs our Oline. I really hope 1 of our 1st rounders is an Oline next year and we also make a splash in FA. Need a minimum of 2 new starters if not 3 next year.
 

phillycard

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I know some on here complained over the summer about the money Prater gets paid, but he has proven why it was money well spent in my opinion.
I could care less about the money. It was the reliability I was concerned about. As kickers go, it's fair to say he earned what he's making, I just was tired at yelling at my tv over missed 33 yarders.
 

DaHilg

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I could care less about the money. It was the reliability I was concerned about. As kickers go, it's fair to say he earned what he's making, I just was tired at yelling at my tv over missed 33 yarders.
The way Prater is booming the ball, there’s no reason to think that he couldn’t be at this level for 3 more years.
 

Crimson Warrior

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The way Prater is booming the ball, there’s no reason to think that he couldn’t be at this level for 3 more years.

That's kind of how I look at it too DaHilg. This is solving a problem for 2024 too.

For a second I thought he pushed the game winner against ATL, but it had some crazy action on it and went through fine. :) Clutch kick.
 

Cheesebeef

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I know some on here complained over the summer about the money Prater gets paid, but he has proven why it was money well spent in my opinion.
I was one of them and admitted a while ago I was wrong. He’s been a part of keeping this team in games and staying competitive, which is all I was hoping for this season.
 

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