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Arizona Cardinals Lay a Goose Egg, Lose to the Broncos 19-0

Arizona Cardinals tackle Mike Gandy looks on as time runs out in the fourth quarter of the Denver Broncos' 19-0 victory over the Cardinals in a preseason NFL football game in Denver on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

More photos » David Zalubowski - AP

5 months ago: Arizona Cardinals tackle Mike Gandy looks on as time runs out in the fourth quarter of the Denver Broncos' 19-0 victory over the Cardinals in a preseason NFL football game in Denver on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

The Arizona Cardinals finished the preseason 0 - 4.

Should there be a cause for concern? Sure. Does the preseason really reflect upon the regular season? No. Tonight the Cardinals dropped their fourth straight loss of the preseason and I'm glad it has "pre" at the beginning of it. We expected nothing more then a drive or two from the first team offense and defense, and that's virtually was how long they played. The defense was first off the field after stopping the Broncosearly. The offense stayed longer, with Whisenhunt possibly wanting them to muster any sort of offense before the season opener. After half of the first quarter, the remainder of the game and the possibility of salvaging any kind of respect was left in the hands of the reserves. As you can tell by the score, that didn't happen. And that's where we pick up, with the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Star-divide

The Good.

Michael Adams - Here's the most impressive part of the game; Adam'sstat line tonight - 6 tackles, 4 passes defended, 1 interception. Not bad for the possible fourth string cornerback. Adams looked solid tonight, making key tackles and shadowing the receivers he lined up across from. He was in perfect position for the pick, staying out of the quarterback's sight, then closing in the ball. Adams has a significant shot at competing with Ralph Brown after tonight's game and Brown's poor preseason.

Greg Toler - Opposite of Adams, Toler also looked solid overall tonight, leading the team with 7 tackles. Toler seemed to be roaming around the field tonight, and nearly picked off the ball twice. Toler has shown sings of his upside through most of the preseason, and has also slightly improved over the last 4 weeks like we had hoped.

Victor Hobson - After tonight, Hobson may have secured his job as a back up linebacker on this team, recording the only two sacks for the Cardinal's defense. After rookie Cody Brown was lost for the season, many of us weren't particular in who would serve has his replacement, and for the last two weeks, Hobson has gradually moved his way up the depth chart.

That's it. Seriously. This was an incredibly slow preseason game, and nothing special or amazing seemed to form for the entire four quarters. If you could name any honorable mentions, you can toss how how good the offensive line looked or the special teams play.

 

The Bad.

Tyler Palko - Can we stop and jump off the Tyler Palko bandwagon now? He proved that his game against the Steelers in preseason week one was a fluke. Palko showed no reason that he should start ahead of Brian St. Pierre. He played for the majority of the game, completing 13 of 30 passes, throwing for 141 yards and 1 interception, for a whopping 43.9 quarterback rating. He seemed to be more concerned with running the ball, rather then throwing it away. I think it's safe to say the Palko won't be on the roster after Saturday.

Kurt Warner - There's got to be some cause for concern after number 13's preseason. Warner has yet to make us remember what was the magical season of last year. He came out today over throwing, or not even coming close to his receivers. He only completing three passes tonight, one being a 36 reception by Fitzgerald, who did all the work. Another was actually a completion to the Broncos. I rewound that play and couldn't understand what made Warner throw that pass, except for the possibility that he didn't see the defender.

The Ugly.

Penalties - Ken Whisenhunt cannot be happy with the lack of discipline by this team so far. Over the years, avoiding penalties has never been a strong suit for the Cardinals, and up until halfway last year, it was a problem. Something Whisenhunt did last year seemed to really get the team's attention and vastly lowered the penalties. So far in the preseason though, the Cardinals have averaged 9.5 penalties a game for a total of 281 yards. Today they committed 11 penalties for 79 yards alone. The Cardinals need to focus and get their heads on straight if they want to remain competitive in the NFC West this year.

The offense - Forget the first team offense...the offense as a whole failed to put together any sort of respectable drive, resulting in 244 total yards and zero points. The first team offense looked stale and out of chemistry for the time they were on the field, and for the time Palko was in..well you can forget about that. All I know is something's got to give. The Cardinals were one of the best offensive teams in the league last year and they'll eventually find their groove again.

--------------------------------------------

I don't want to take too much in from the preseason, as it is meaningless for the most part, but I am somewhat worried for the lack of offense. The loss of Todd Haley may be affecting the offense worst then we thought it would, and most importantly Kurt Warner. Maybe he and Ken Whisenhunt should starting hanging out and texting each other until Brenda accuses Warner of cheating on her with coach Whisenhunt. One thing's for sure, and that's that the Cardinals need to get on track before the 49ers come here on September 13th.

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Shut-out? Really?

My main concern is that we won’t be ready for the 49ers.

I disagree some with the Palko assessment. The Broncos were getting pressure on him every play without blitzing. Our “depth” failed horribly, so with their vanilla 3-4 man rushes, Palko kept getting chased out of the pocket. Further, with all the pressure they were able to bring without help, the LBs and secondary were all free to drop back in coverage. Those are some tough conditions. Palko felt the pressure tremendously well, even on his blindside, and did a great job keeping the play alive, there just wasn’t anything out there with the likes of Long, Gant and Sanders in max coverage. He wasn’t great through the air, but if you’re going to say that St. Pierre didn’t get a lot of help, you’ve got to say it was Palko alone against 3-4 rushers every down.

I’m also more in the middle of Toler’s performance. He had a lot of tackles, which is good because it means he was sticking with his receivers, but he drew a fair share of penalties and could have played the ball a little better. Overall I’m not disappointed, though. Mostly rookie errors.

The commentary about Warner’s pick said that it’s difficult to identify a lineman dropping back into coverage, and that it was disguised well. If anyone has earned the benefit of the doubt, I’d say Warner has.

+’s
Walker had a great tackle for loss late.
Hobson. I’m convinced.
Adams! Adams!
Highsmith was around the ball a lot.
Long’s special teams play leveled out tonight. Nothing too flashy, but he wasn’t making me nervous. He seemed more comfortable, and avoided stupid plays.
Ed Gant. This is probably totally irrelevant, but he was present on special teams (KR and PR tackler; was first into the pile a couple times) and did his job at WR.
-‘s
After week 3’s catching spree, Morey hurt himself tonight.
Francisco blew a tackle in man coverage that would have prevented a first down. As a player who is up and down for us, this was decidedly a down week.
Again, everyone who didn’t start on the offensive line. It was like a sieve, and it’s not like any of those Broncos guys have done anything whatsoever the rest of the preseason.
Long as a wide receiver. Appeared to under-run a route from Warner, was blatantly accused of alligator arms by the commentators, and again only came up with 1 catch in a game that he played most of.

by tw3kr on Sep 4, 2009 2:55 AM MDT reply actions   0 recs

I'd have put Long in the -'s

That dude’s basically played the entire game the past two games and all he’s done is spare us to death.

Be careful....to a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

by Bezekira on Sep 4, 2009 8:51 AM MDT up reply actions   0 recs

+ 1

I think he is just a training camp guy not a football player.

by CardsIrish on Sep 4, 2009 9:02 AM MDT up reply actions   0 recs

yep, if this were baseball I'd be ready to slap the AAAA label on him

Be careful....to a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

by Bezekira on Sep 4, 2009 9:05 AM MDT up reply actions   0 recs

I agree, as a receiver

But I stand by his ST performance this week. He had a better KR average than Garvin in week 1, and again, he looked comfortable going back for all those punts. Granted, they were all deep and unreturnable, but he handled them properly.

by tw3kr on Sep 4, 2009 2:21 PM MDT up reply actions   0 recs

Tivo'd the game last night so I could watch after work today

Now not sure if I really want to now. (I know I will…probably twice)

Didn’t think anything could bring me down on a 1/2 work day heading into a holiday weekend, but I’m feeling pretty bummed right now.

Section 135, Row 35

by AJ BirdWatcher on Sep 4, 2009 6:51 AM MDT reply actions   0 recs

I had to DVR it also and when I got home I only had time to watch half of the first quarter. That was all I needed to see some of the same stuff that happened in the GB game carry over to last nights.
Hopefully this doesn’t carry over to the regular season.

by Pyromnc on Sep 4, 2009 8:24 AM MDT up reply actions   0 recs

Just Preseason.

Last year the Lions went 4-0 and you know how that went for them in the regular season.
So, following that logic, since we went 0-4 that means we are going to go 16-0.

by Pyromnc on Sep 4, 2009 8:23 AM MDT reply actions   0 recs

Didn't the Patriots go 0-4 when they went 16-0?

Hey, hey, hey hey hey, watch the language, ok? I have a family.
Revenge of the Birds

by Andrew602 on Sep 4, 2009 9:55 AM MDT up reply actions   0 recs

No, they were 2-2. They could of easily been 4-0 also as the 2 losses were only lost by a field goal.

Would have been cool if they had, than my prediction wouldn’t be so far outlandish…

by Pyromnc on Sep 4, 2009 10:07 AM MDT up reply actions   0 recs

Freaking grammar mistakes...

Would have been cool if they had, than my prediction wouldn’t be so far outlandish…

by Pyromnc on Sep 4, 2009 10:08 AM MDT up reply actions   0 recs

Watched first half only

I’m finding it hard to come up with positives.

This only thing I am positive about is that pre-season sucks.

by CardsIrish on Sep 4, 2009 9:00 AM MDT reply actions   0 recs

That was a simply awful game

I’m not writing this off a just a preseason game any more. If it were one preseason game, I’d be ok with it but we’re talking about four putrid games in a row and the team seems to just shrug it off like “oh it’s just preseason, we’ll be ok.” That’s total BS in my book. Remember that one of the biggest hurdles that a team must clear is complacency and right now I think we’re full of it. Something drastic has to change or the 9ers are going to come in here in a week and a half and cram Frank Gore right down a throats and make us like it.

I’d have been perfectly fine listing no one in the GOOD category, just a big fat question mark. Because that’s what was over my head as I watched that game. I thought that getting our teeth kicked in last December and then learning how to handle success in January was going to help us this season but obviously we need another lesson.

Ok, rant over. Sorry, I need a big glass of Kool-Aid.

Be careful....to a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

by Bezekira on Sep 4, 2009 9:04 AM MDT reply actions   0 recs

+1

The more I see of this football team, the more Im starting to believe Football Outsiders’ dire predictions for our season are correct

by Irishcardinal on Sep 4, 2009 10:57 AM MDT up reply actions   0 recs

Follow me for a moment

Let’s us assume that Whiz and co had decided to spend their practice time on plays and schemes (on both sides of the ball) that they are saving for the regular season. Let uis also assume that they have been so busy preparing for the regular season opener that they spent zero time preparing for these preseason games.

This would not only give them a chance to evaluate there team based on raw talent but could also explain the lack of cohesion with our first team.

Homer out!

by badmatty53 on Sep 4, 2009 11:46 AM MDT up reply actions   0 recs

God I hope so

I’ve thought about that a few times. I know Whiz has already said he has done zero game planning. Even Fitz said they’re saving a lot for the regular season. After all, do teams get anything for having a good preseason? Haven’t some of the Cardinal teams in the past gone 4-0 and blown during the regular season? I guess we’ll find out.

Hey, hey, hey hey hey, watch the language, ok? I have a family.
Revenge of the Birds

by Andrew602 on Sep 4, 2009 12:07 PM MDT up reply actions   0 recs

Praying

Their bad showings are really making me nervous now.

The 13th just cant get here soon enough

"Yeah I could have been king, but maybe I already am king. Hail to the king baby." Ash from Army of Darkness

by Turambar on Sep 4, 2009 12:26 PM MDT up reply actions   0 recs

I can buy the lack of game planning, but . . .

I don’t buy the total lack of execution of plays even without a game plan. Are you saying Warner is intentionally throwing the ball everywhere but to his receivers?

I hope your right, but I’m getting worried.

by Drullin'OverDaCards on Sep 4, 2009 4:34 PM MDT up reply actions   0 recs

That was just the fourth preseason game

Most of the time I agree with your comments (which are very well written even if I don’t agree with all of them), but this time, I think you are upset about the game and not being objective…. this games was as meaningless as a preseason game can be, there is no need to risk injury and there is no need to show your hand… Kurt may be off rythm but he will be ready next week, with all his weapong, including Beanie, Tima, Anquan, Larry and Steve Breaston… I am expecting the deffense to be more aggresive and the team to be more focused… what they need is a solid week of practices, and they will be a totally different team… if this was a regular season game, then I would be very concerned, but not with this veteran team, they know what it takes to get to the SB and I am sure Whisenhunt will keep them focused and hungry… GO CARDINALS

paco cabrera

by pacocab on Sep 4, 2009 12:32 PM MDT up reply actions   0 recs

I sure picked a good game to miss

this is unacceptable. We were shut out by DENVER.

Coach Whiz needs to light fires under some asses before week 1

by CardsDefense on Sep 4, 2009 9:25 AM MDT reply actions   0 recs

I know its only Preseason

But I’m starting to get worried. Nothing really looked good here.

by JoeCB1991 on Sep 4, 2009 9:31 AM MDT reply actions   0 recs

One thing I would like to add....

If you remember the past couple of years….the Cards always seem to be slow starters. Playing poorly in the 1st half and then working through it by the 2nd. Since its preseason the guys werent out there long enough to work through it. Honestly though, I am seriously worried about this team and how there can be such different sides to it. Is it certain players whos heads arent in it or is it the whole team? Do you ever notice any leaders other than Warner and Whiz making the players accountable? Shouldnt Dansby or someone be doing the same on defense?

by danceswithwalleye on Sep 4, 2009 10:45 AM MDT reply actions   0 recs

Good point about the first half slow starts

I will say that Dockett at least tries to lead at times. Not sure if everyone sees him as the crazy guy that most of us do but he’ll at least call out teammates and get vocal.

Be careful....to a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

by Bezekira on Sep 4, 2009 11:06 AM MDT up reply actions   0 recs

A-Dub

took Rolle or somebody to town at Green Bay.

by tw3kr on Sep 4, 2009 2:11 PM MDT up reply actions   0 recs

Is it complacency or Dr. Jekyll and Hyde

All along we have assumed that this team’s slumps come when they get full of themselves or complacent. I am starting to think that maybe that isn’t it. I am getting the impression that some players just lose focus and then don’t know how to right the ship in their own heads. Kind of like a streak shooter. When he is on he is lights out but when he is off nothing seems to go in and he just can’t figure out why. We saw both versions last year.

And it only takes one or two players on each side of the ball to send the whole thing off kilter. One player on the defense gives up a big play and others go into a funk. Warner has a bad read or a receiver drops the ball and others panic. I wonder if it is mental conditioning and endurance more than complacency. It is the lack of consistency and focus more than the lack of desire.

I am starting to get concerned that maybe it isn’t that they think they can turn the switch off and on at will, and more that they are unsure of how the switch got turned off or where to go to turn it on.

MBN

by mbn on Sep 4, 2009 12:17 PM MDT reply actions   0 recs

Last year and the year before as well

Lack of trust and cohesion seem to be a serious hurdle for this team.

by badmatty53 on Sep 4, 2009 12:25 PM MDT up reply actions   0 recs

Not worried

Sure, it’s awful to watch these games, but remember this is preseason, and we are not trying to prove anything here, other than the bubble players showing their worth, but we know that once the season star we won´t be talking about that.

The maing goal for this veteran team, had to be to avoid injuries, and other than Brown, I think we did a good job; the game planning was as vanilla as it can get, no long throws to Fitz, no fades in the red zone, no trickery…same with the deffense, this is preaseason and the games don’t count for anything… let the Seahawks enjoy their perfect record, just like the Lions did last year.
What I like the most is that we are giving the National Media reasons to turn this team down and start saying that we just got hot at the right time… and you know what, I couldn’t have it any other way… this team will be ready from week one and Whisenhunt will show that he is a top coach in this league… GO CARDINALS

paco cabrera

by pacocab on Sep 4, 2009 12:27 PM MDT reply actions   0 recs

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