The Cardinals Have Much to Work on in Preparation for the Raiders

It was one of the least watchable preseason games in awhile and when it comes to the Arizona Cardinals, that says a lot.  It says it all really when you look ahead to the next preseason game on Friday against the Oakland Raiders.  The Cards have a lot to work on.  They are light years away ready from competing on the field in a regular season game.  The quarterback play has been shaky, at best.  The pass protection has been awful.  Run blocking has been worse.  The defensive secondary has been getting torched by backup quarterbacks.  This is an important week.

These next two preseason games are important really.  With the added game this preseason, it does give the Cards more time to evaluate.  However at this point, after two games, you’d expect the Cards to be further along as a team.  Right now, they look like a team that hasn’t had a practice together much less a game.

The quarterback situation continues to be up in the air.  John Skelton was ok to start out with against the Kansas City Chiefs, however he did throw one pick.  It was a throw he definitely forced, had no business throwing.  Kevin Kolb only completed one pass, but it was a nice 21-yard throw to DeMarco Sampson.  Sampson had dropped a nice behind the back pass a couple plays earlier.  Kolb hasn’t played well at all, but when he makes throws, his receivers need to come up big for him.  Both ends of the transaction need to be focused, not just the quarterback.

Now, you cant go out and blame the quarterback for every woe either.  Skelton, Kolb, Ryan Lindley, and Richard Bartel all experienced offensive line breakdowns.  The pass protection was a joke for all of them.  The offensive line is playing like they always do. Horrible.  The reason?  They went out and re-signed the same guys that pass as NFL players.  Their run blocking was awful in Kansas City.  They couldn’t convert third and one’s.

The defensive backfield?  Horrible.  They got torched throw after throw.  Michael Adams looks awful, as always.  He’s a special teams player at best.  Problem is you can’t keep a player in his position just at special teams.  Depth has been an issue at safety and the corners.  Keeping Adams on the roster means you’ll continue to see him back there in the defensive backfield.  When they aren’t getting torched, they are playing too soft keeping guys in front of them.  I expect better from a Ray Horton defense.  A lot of work to do in order to show any improvement against the Raiders on Friday.  It’s not a lot of preparation time, so I won’t go in expecting much improvement.  We’ll see.