Cardinal Of The Week: Week Eight

Obviously, like with the rest of the losses I am not in much of a mood to talk about who played well. But that is part of my job here so lets do this. At least if you look at the first half of this crushing loss to the Ravens you can find plenty of things to be happy about.

In last weeks poll, LaRod Stephens-Howling won with 48% of the 180 votes, Daryl Washington was the next closest with 41%.

Everyone who questions Beanies toughness, it is probably best to stop that now. He had a knee injury that was once thought to be bad enough to keep him out for the season, he wasn't expected to play this week but he fought through the pain and got out there. Even though it looked like he clearly wasn't 100% on some of the plays where he tried to break a run to the outside, he ran hard and scored a touchdown against one of the best defenses in the NFL.

I hope Beanie gets healthy soon, he did say after the game that the injury could be something he deals with for the rest of the season, but at least we know that he can play through it for now.

Sam Acho and O'Brien Schofield - Combined for 8 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles

A lot of us wanted to see these young guys get more play time, and with Joey Porter out yesterday with an injury they got their chance (Acho started) and played pretty well. Acho had six tackles, Schofield had two, and both of them had a sack on Flacco where they forced a fumble. Good to see them produce, and hopefully they will get more chances to rush the passer as the season goes on.

Also, even though I listed them together here, they will be separate in the poll just so I can get a easier look at who you guys thought played better.

Patrick Peterson - 2 pass deflections, 82 yard punt return Touchdown

It is amazing how fast and how strong this guy is and how explosive he is when he gets the ball into his hands. Peterson scored on a punt return for the second time in his NFL career, and both times they were highlight reel runs where people just bounced off of him. It looks like Peterson is starting to get into a groove as a Cornerback as well, he did get flagged for a couple of penalties in coverage on Boldin but overall he held his own and I can't really thing of any passes that were completed against him. It was Jefferson and Marshall who were giving up the big plays this time.

Two solid weeks in coverage in a row for Peterson. Keep it up rookie.

I also thought about adding Larry Fitzgerald to this list for having some nice catches, but the ball wasn't thrown his way enough to get on here.