Arizona Cardinals: Quarterback grades vs Chiefs
By Scott Allen
The Arizona Cardinals dropped their first preseason game to the Kansas City Chiefs 34-19
The Arizona Cardinals lost their first preseason game to the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday night but the game saw all four of their quarterbacks see action. There were positives and negatives that were seen in the loss.
From Carson Palmer’s return to Phillip Sims first NFL action it was an interesting night for the quarterbacks to say the least. Here are the grades for each of the quarterbacks from Saturday night.
Carson Palmer
By the way he played, you almost forgot he ended his season early in November in 2014 with a torn ACL. He rehabbed hard core and made it back by the time minicamp was held in June. Palmer has been dealt with carefully in the first two weeks of training camp and was even given a day off just to play it safe.
However on Saturday night he was as sharp as ever. He went 4-4 for 77 yards, which included a 57-yard strike to running back Andre Ellington. That set up Ellington’s two-yard run for the only series that Palmer and the rest of the first team saw.
That’s all we needed to see from Palmer though. Being the first preseason game and having him on the field was great in its own right much less the performance. It was great to not only see him ready to play but also perform the way he did. His grade is easy. He gets an “A” for Saturday night.
Drew Stanton
Stanton only played in two series on Saturday night, both in the first quarter. He went 0-3 and didn’t look good in any of the throws. While it was nice to see him also return from his injuries last season that kept him out of the playoffs, he clearly looked like a guy who still needed to work off some rust.
One pass went straight into the ground on a play in which he had no pressure. You had to wonder what happened there? His grade is a “D”. He wasn’t able to move the ball after a Tyrann Mathieu interception put the Cardinals in scoring position. I hope to see a better performance from him next time out.