Official Game Day Thread - ARI @ TEN, August 27, 2022
Aug 25, 2022 20:06:52 GMT -7
End Zone and thomas cat like this
Post by FLCardinalFan on Aug 25, 2022 20:06:52 GMT -7
The Official Game Day Thread
Arizona Cardinals @ Tennessee Titans August 27 2022
Hi Forum members and guests. Welcome to the Game Day Thread.
The Arizona Cardinals and Tennessee Titans complete their 3-game pre-season schedules on Saturday night. Game kickoff is 7pm ET at Nissan Stadium, Knoxville, TN. The Cardinals pre-season record is 1 win and 1 loss. Keep in mind that the purpose of pre-season is to evaluate plays and players. Otherwise, pre-season games are meaningless.
At the Cardinals first game, the offense and defense hit on all cylinders. The Cardinals 2nd and 3rd stringers dominated the Cincinnati Bengals wannabe players--except for at garbage time in the 4th quarter when almost all the players relaxed and were happy just to call it a good night of hard-hitting practice.
At the Cardinals second game and broadcast on national TV on a Sunday night, the Cardinals 2nd and 3rd stringers switched off their brains. The team fell flat against the Baltimore Ravens. At one time, the Cardinals trailed by 21 points. However, no one truly was concerned about the score or the loss at the end of the day.
Finishing the pre-season on a positive note is a good lead-in to the regular season for fans. Most important for the players at this final game is that no one suffers an injury affecting their ability to make the 53-man roster. Final cuts occur on August 30th. The 16-man Practice Squad will be set the following day. Some more players will be added and released from active and practice roster throughout the season.
The Cardinals and Titans last met during the first week of the regular season in September 2021. Arizona easily won that game by a score of 38-13. The Cardinals win stunned many Cardinals and Titans players, their fans, and sports pundits. Practically no one gave the Cardinals a chance to win versus the legendary Titans offense and defense and in their house!
The Cardinals defense truly shined at that first game of the 2021 season. DC Vance Joseph’s squad held RB Derrick Henry to 58 yards on 17 rushes. QB Ryan Tannehill was constantly harassed, tossed an INT, and had difficulty finding open receivers. DE Chandler Jones roared to life, gaining 5 sacks. His effort set the tone for the Cardinals season. The shocking Cardinals win over the Titans began a 7-game win streak that eventually propelled the team into the playoffs by January 2022.
This past week, the Cardinals traveled to TN early in the week and held several joint practices with the Titans at their training facilities at Knoxville. The joint practices provided all players excellent opportunities to test themselves against real opponents in controlled plays. Coaches had extended opportunities to evaluate players and some parts of the playbook against non-Cardinals players that are unaware of what is coming at them. HC Mike Vrabel and HC Kliff Kingsbury coordinated to bring the teams together and work on player development prior to the pre-season game. Vrabel has comments on the HC relationship. See this link. www.tennesseetitans.com/video/help-them-define-a-role-for-themselves-mike-vrabel-media-availability .
Titans HC Mike Vrabel reportedly was not happy with his team’s inconsistency at the last pre-season game. See this local sports news release: www.tennesseetitans.com/news/observations-from-wednesday-s-titans-cardinals-practice . Expect the Titans to demonstrate increased intensity and set the tone on Saturday night. Vrabel is renowned for discipline and hard work. The players greatly respect their HC.
The Titans recently acquired DB Ugo Amadi from Seattle Seahawks. He is expected to bolster the Titans secondary. Amadi originally is from Nashville. In a way, this next game will be his homecoming debut.
The Cardinals also made a key addition to the roster. GM Steve Keim is a savvy horse trader. He convinced the Buffalo Bills to part with OL Cody Ford for a Cardinals future 5th round draft pick. The Cardinals long for a stable and productive OL. Ford should help right away. He was noted practicing with the Cardinals starting lineup at numerous open practices this past week. He should be fully ready and contribute to the Offense at game 1 in early September. Incidentally, Ford is a former teammate of QB Kyler Murray. The two footballers played together at Oklahoma University for a few years.
Titans News. In other news, HC Vrabel addressed Titans rookie QB Malik Willis’s development progress during a recent Titans press conference. Willis will see action at the final pre-season game on Saturday. Willis is a small-school QB. He played at Auburn University before transferring transferred to Liberty University. At Liberty, Willis won the 2020 Dudley Award. The Dudley award is awarded by sports writers to the top football player in Virginia. Willis is 23yo, 6’1”, and about 220 lbs. He was selected in the 3rd round of the 2022 NFL draft. Former Cardinals QB Kurt Warner discusses Willis potential. He said Willis has all the right tools. Watch that discussion at this link. titanswire.usatoday.com/2022/08/24/titans-malik-willis-preseason-week-2-kurt-warner/ .
Cardinals News. HC Kliff Kingsbury was busy this week evaluating players and discussing options with GM Steve Keim. Remember that the final roster cuts will be made no later than August 30th. Some familiar faces could see the axe, or at least be sent packing to the Practice Squad if they are not traded or picked off by other teams searching for 1-2 critical pieces to complete their final rosters. Kingsbury discussed OL Ford at a recent press conference. See this link. www.azcardinals.com/video/08-25-kingsbury-press-conference . Kingsbury also discussed the joint practices with the Titans. See this link. www.azcardinals.com/video/08-25-nashville-recap
What to look for: On offense, the Titans QBs Malik Willis and Logan Woodside (Toledo) will lead the Titans offense. Titans RB Hassan Haskins will be the featured back. Titans WR Reggie Roberson 4/47 yards vs. Buccaneers a week ago) will be the prime outside target. On defense DT Jeffrey Simmons (All Pro) may play a series. He is a top-ranked NFL player and #54 in a recent ranking. He excels at blocking, filling lanes, and knocking down passes (5 passes batted down in 2021). See his body of work at . This past week at joint practices, the Titans offense seemed to struggle against the Cardinals defense. Expect more of the same frustrating performances by Titans at Saturday’s game. The Titans are not yet prime time.
What to look for: On offense, the Cardinals will start QB Trace McSorley. He is expected to be the #3 QB on the 53-man roster. QB Jarrett Guarantano will see some playing time again but is not expected to make the final roster. McSorley had only one really bad pass last week resulting in INT. He tossed a 2nd INT into heavy traffic--had TE McBride turned his head around, maybe he could catch the ball. McSorley is quick afoot and mostly plays QB out of the shotgun. Overall last week, he was 18-34-229 yds. Guarantano was respectable considering his limited playing time last week. He was 3-6-37 yds and 1 TD.). Guarantano has a much bigger arm than McSorley but is more of a traditional pocket QB. RB Jonathan Ward had a good game last week. Then he injured his shoulder and was done for the night. His status for Saturday is unknown. RB Eno Benjamin will see action. He is working hard to elevate himself to the #2 RB spot. WR Victor Bolden (5-68 yds) had a good outing as did WR Andy Isabella. These two WRs are probably fighting for the #6 WR spot on the 53-man roster. Odd man out will be cut, sent to the Practice Squad, or traded. The WR creating all buzz around town is Greg Dortch. He continues to shine and surprise us on offense and special teams. At TE, Trey McBride is expected to get a lot of work at this game. His trend line is up and he is learning. He needs real game experience to get to the next level. On Defense, the secondary has big question marks. Some spots are open for competition. S Wiggins and S Thompson did not get the job done last week versus the Ravens. CB Hamilton is missing practice time and his absence is not explained. This mystery happened after he remarked the team did not need to trade for another CB. He (Hamilton) "has the corner covered." Oh, really you say, Sir? CB Marco Wilson is nursing an ‘injury’ and pulled back on his effort. His output dropped to the point that HC Kingsbury is questioning Wilson’s heart and stamina for the game. On Special Teams, there is zero drama. Punter, Place Kicker, and Long Snapper spots are sewn up for the final roster. I like the Cardinals 2nd and 3rd string players to do well against the Titans same guys at the pre-season game. The Cardinals players are just better athletes now.
Bottom Line: The bookies like the Titans to win in their house this weekend. The group taking the Titans is 60%. The group taking the Cardinals is just 40%. The betting line is Titans, giving -3 points. Final score over/under (O/U) is a mere 35 points. Few of the expected team’s starters for either side will play – risk of injury is the HC’s rationale for sitting ‘made players’. Given that the game is meaningless in the W/L column and that good starting players are very hard to find, it makes no good sense to run a starter onto the field except to hand out water bottles. Weather at Knoxville is expected to be humid and warm at kickoff, probably around 87F and partly cloudy skies.
Let’s bring everybody home Saturday night. No injuries. Only the best players will make the Cardinals final roster on Monday afternoon.
Last edited by PutMeIn at 12pm, August 26th.