Harry
ASFN Consultant and Senior Writer
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.
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.
Clutch kick.
