Greg Dortch was the Arizona Cardinals Player of Week 1
By Sion Fawkes
The Arizona Cardinals, without a doubt, had a horrendous showing in Week 1. But Greg Dortch at least gave us a bright spot.
There are a plethora of reasons the Arizona Cardinals lost to the Kansas City Chiefs. Yes, they played one of the league’s best teams and arguably the best quarterback. But you still can’t go down 37-7 at the end of three quarters to anyone in the NFL unless you’re an expansion team playing with a bunch of cast-offs.
Ironically enough, you can call the Cardinals Week 1 MVP, and I use that term lightly this week, a cast-off. Greg Dortch, an undrafted free agent in 2019 bounced around four different organizations before he finally found a home in the desert last season.
Before Sunday’s game against the Chiefs, he recorded exactly three receptions for 15 yards in his career. Following the debacle that was, Dortch already more than doubled his career reception total for seven on nine targets for 63 yards, with a long of 24.
Greg Dortch seemed to be the only bright spot for the Arizona Cardinals in their blowout loss to the Chiefs.
While Marquise Brown looked good later in the game and caught a touchdown pass, most of his production occurred in garbage time. Ditto for Zach Ertz, who caught quarterback Kyler Murray’s second touchdown pass.
Dortch, a camp revelation who saw playing time because of DeAndre Hopkins’ suspension, Rondale Moore’s and Antoine Wesley’s absences, made the most of his opportunities. And they are something you should see more of with Wesley on injured reserve and Hopkins serving a suspension.
Related Story. 3 Reasons the Cardinals Lost in Week 1. light
Despite all that went wrong in Week 1 of the 2022 season, Dortch at least gave the Cardinals one bright spot in the game’s first three quarters. If he puts together another solid outing or two, look for him to become a permanent fixture in the team’s pass-catching unit from here on out. He was on a mission to earn a spot on the roster before training camp, and now, it looks like Dortch has a new mission to undertake.
(Statistics provided by Pro-Football-Reference and ESPN.com)