Arizona Cardinals: Monday’s positives and negatives

facebooktwitterreddit

The Arizona Cardinals showed some positives and negatives in Monday’s practice

I went to practice on Monday expecting to see a great showing from the defense after the offense got the upper hand over the weekend in the first couple of practices.  The defense definitely had their moments but the offense also continued to shine for the most part.

Not everything went off without a hitch.  There were a number of takeaways from the practice on Monday from University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale.

The good:  From an offensive standpoint the standouts were quarterback Carson Palmer, receiver Jaron Brown, tight end Darren Fells, running back Paul Lasike, and receiver John Brown.  Palmer again looked like he had zing on the ball.  Even the ones not completed looked almost on the money.  As I stated in an earlier piece, Jaron Brown had a day catching the ball.  He made three really great grabs and seemed to hold everything that came his way.

Fells was solid catching ball.  Lasike, who got a huge number of reps in practice today because running backs Andre Ellington and David Johnson both sat out because of hamstring issues, looked solid running the ball as well and found some holes. John Brown, who had been rather quiet over the weekend, also made a couple of great grabs.

As far as the defense goes I was really impressed with cornerback Patrick Peterson. He came close to picking off several passes.  I also liked what I saw from cornerback Jimmy Legree who was in on almost everything that came his way.  The defensive line seemed to get the offensive line to collapse around Palmer a number of times and that is a little concerning.

Which brings me to the negatives from the day.  The offensive line allowed Palmer to take a hit, albeit not hard, he still went down in a pile and everyone held their breath.  He was fine.  He got up and kept on.  Let’s just say coach Bruce Arians wasn’t too happy after that.

Another negative was the quarterback play of Logan Thomas.  I predicted every overthrown ball he had, which was on a great number of passes.  There were a couple of passes that just didn’t appear to have a target either.  He looks like he hasn’t improved much.  Arians did say over the weekend that because they have five quarterbacks in camp that we should look to that position to be amongst the earliest cuts.  I don’t know if they want to give up on Thomas that quickly but he isn’t helping his cause at all.

More from Raising Zona