Arizona Cardinals score on opening drive against Cincinnati Bengals

The Arizona Cardinals got off to a hot start in the first quarter against the Cincinnati Bengals.

When the Arizona Cardinals announced that both Kyler Murray and Colt McCoy were going to be out for the first week of the preseason, the thoughts of what newly acquired Trace McSorley could do.

With this being his first true start in an Arizona Cardinals uniform, McSorley hadn’t seen action since the 2020 season when he appeared in two games and played in the infamous “Tuesday Afternoon Bowl” with the Baltimore Ravens.

McSorley got the drive going until a 3rd and long when he attempted a pass deep to Andy Isabella. A pass interference call on the Bengals extended the drive in, which ultimately led to McSorley doing this:

Trace McSorley looked on fire in his first drive with the Arizona Cardinals

Well, there is no better way to have confidence in your third-string quarterback than to have an opening drive end in a touchdown. Of course, the run game helped a bit too, but that drive was cool, calm, and collected from McSorley in a way that many probably didn’t expect.

Yes, it’s preseason, and it’s backups time. But this is exactly what you want to see- positive momentum. Jarrett Guaratano is scheduled to go in the second half, and we’ll see what he can do.

But for now, McSorley did very well, and if he continues that hot streak, the QB3 job could be his. It would be a much more appealing QB3 than, say, the Chris Streveler’s (bless his heart) or Matt Barkley’s of yesteryear.

McSorley would lead the Cardinals to the red zone on his second drive, but they had to settle for a field goal after a near-interception from the Bengals.