The Arizona Cardinals suit up for their first football game since last January on Thursday night as they travel to California to play the Oakland Raiders. It is expected that quarterback Kevin Kolb will get some playing time. How much will be determined most like by how the game is moving and how the offense performs while he is out there. I would expect him to play no more than a couple of series, but I’ve been known to be surprised in the past.
The Cardinals are a little banged up on defense. They lost safety Adrian Wilson to injury for an undisclosed amount of time. They also lost the services of cornerback Michael Adams for an unspecified amount of time as well, although he is expected to be back sooner than Wilson.
The Cards need to start off on the right foot, preseason or not. They need to come out and show they can run a proficient offense. They are still missing a number two receiver though. My best guess is that there will be little movement on that front until other teams release players. Some think the Cards might already have a number two on the roster. I say they are crazy. Early Doucet could be that guy, but you can’t count on him to stay healthy enough to work his way in as a number two. Andre Roberts still needs a little time. I think he would fill in as a nice three or four right now. If they don’t find someone else though, either Roberts or Doucet becomes that number two. Doucet has all the tools. He needs to show them consistently though.
So, don’t expect a lot from the Cards, or the Raiders, in game number one. The Raiders are also searching for cornerback help after losing the services of Nnamdi Asomugha to free agency. ESPN has them ranked number 23 right now. So it is turning out to be the great unexpected this week. Typically you find out in preseason game one that there is more to work on than not. You find out which rookies have a knack for the speed of the NFL game and which ones are just pretenders and biding their time.