Bertrand Berry is headed back to Phoenix after learning that he had a tear in his groin. We feared that his injury may be worse than a strain but this is certainly bad news for a guy who has had season ending injuries the past three seasons. Berry was off to a great start with three sacks in the first three games. Coach Whisenhunt said that there is no time table yet for his return. We thought that the return of Chris Harrington might have something to do with Berry's injury and if he's out for an extended amount of time, Harrington should get pulled up to the 53 man roster pretty quickly.

As for this Sunday, Clark Haggans has been working behind Travis LaBoy during practice this week and he'll be the primary backup to LaBoy and Chike Okeafor. While it may not seem to be a big loss, it's worth remembering that Berry was lining up all over the field (OLB, DE and even nose tackle) so far and was consistenty generating a decent pass rush.

We took our first look at the injuries heading into Sunday's game yesterday, and while there is some good news, there's also some bad news for the Arizona Cardinals. The good news is that Gabe Watson participated in a full practice for the second day in a row and there's a real possibility that he could make his debut this week. While I'm sure he's not ready to start or play most of the game, having him for even 10 or 15 plays will be a big boost to the front seven and more importantly the defensive line rotation. Alan Branch isn't even listed on the injury report and having both of those guys back will put an anchor back in the middle of the defense. The bad news though is that Travis LaBoy didn't practice at all, after being limited in practice yesterday. It's not clear whether he regressed and his ankle got worse or if they were just holding him out to make sure that he didn't put any extra work on a bad leg. We'll see what he's able to do today and update tomorrow. Others on the injury list who were limited: Levi Brown (knee) and Steve Breaston (hamstring). Jerame Tuman (hamstring) was again held out of practice and he will not play this Sunday.

As for the Redskins, HB Blades (knee), Malcolm Kelly (ankle), Fred Smoot (hip), James Thrash (ankle) all returned to practice on a limited basis yesterday after not practicing at all on Wednesday. Khary Campbell (thigh) was again limited and London Fletcher didn't practice at all after being limited on Wednesday (although they listed it as 'coaches decision'). Kareem Moore (hamstring), Carlos Rogers (groin), Jason Taylor (knee) and Marcus Washington (hamstring) all returned to full practice after being limited on Wednesday.

Considering all of the major injuries that some teams have faced, the Cardinals and Redskins should consider themselves quite lucky. The Cardinals are getting more able bodies back by the day and it's possible that the defensive line could be at full strength this Sunday for the first time since April. Here's a complete rundown for both teams.

Arizona Cardinals: The best news is that Gabe Watson participated in a full practice for the first time since fracturing his knee cap in April. It's still unknown if he'll play this week but regardless, it's encouraging to see the big man back in action. Other minor injuries includes Levi Brown (knee), Travis LaBoy (ankle) and Steve Breaston (hamstring) who were limited but are all expected to play on Sunday. Jerame Tuman is still out of practice and isn't expected to make his first appearance of the season this Sunday.

Washington Redskins: The Skins have a few more players dinged up with London Fletcher (rib) and Marcus Washington (hamstring), Carlos Rogers (groin) and Jason Taylor (knee) limited in practice. Malcolm Kelly (ankle) and James Thrash (ankle), H.B. Blades (knee) and Fred Smoot (hip), did not practice but most are still expected to play this Sunday. 

We took a look at the prolific offense yesterday but today we swith gears and look at how the stingy Arizona Cardinals defense did against the Dolphins. They only allowed 10 points (lowest since 11/19/06) and all of the points came well after the game was decided. The defense wasn't as disruptive as it was in week one but once they jumped ahead by three scores the blitzes were dialed down and the plan become more about not allowing a big play or a cheap score.

Defensive Line: The DL got a boost with Alan Branch returning to the rotation and the front line played a big role in shutting down Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams. The Dolphins running game totaled just 72 yards and had three rushes that resulted in negative yardage. Darnell Dockett and Antonio Smith spent much of the day trying to cover backs out of the backfield instead of rushing the passer and they did a good job of limiting Brown and Williams to just 3 receptions for 20 yards. Calais Campbell continues to impress (led the DL with 3 tackles) and he should continue to see an increased role as the season progresses. Bryan Robinson continues to prove why he was a great free agent signing as he logged one of two sacks on the day. Grade: A

Line Backers: Karlos Dansby showed again why he's a man that deserves to be paid as he led the defense in tackles, with eight, for the second consecutive game. Hayes, Haggans and Okeafor were each solid with multiple tackles and played a big role in limiting Chad Pennington's favorite targets (tight ends and RBs). Travis LaBoy didn't follow up his two sack performance from last week but he missed 10-15 plays after his face mask broke. Bertrand Berry chipped in with four tackles and his second sack in as many games. Grade: B+

Corner Backs: The corners were solid once again allowing Dolphin receivers just 10 receptions for 122 yards total and half of those stats (5 for 60) came on the Phins final touchdown drive, long after the game had been decided. Roderick Hood made plays all over the field, finishing second on the team with six tackles and his first pass defended on a deep pass to Ernest Wilford. Eric Green had a good game and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie saw some extended playing time later in the game and finished with two tackles and his first pass defended. Ralph Brown got on the field and his was tackle was a one yard loss on Ricky Williams. Grade: B+

Safeties: Adrian Wilson is still stud of the secondary and he proved it again on Sunday as he finished with four tackles, including stopping Ronnie Brown for a four yard loss in the on the Phins opening drive to force a three and out. Wilson played a big role is shutting down the running game as three of his tackles were on running plays (two were one yard gains and the four yard loss). Antrel Rolle played his part as well and his two tackles were also on running plays, including one for no gain. Aaron Francisco made his mark on the game stopping Ricky Williams for a seven yard loss and causing a fumble. He finished with three tackles and a pass defended. Grade: A

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Overall it's hard not to love a defensive performance where they only allowed ten points and 4.1 yards per play. The defense wasn't as oportunistic as they were against the Niners but they were still dominant. There stats are likely inflated by playing against the offensively challenged Dolphins but if the defense can continue to stiffle opposing offenses and limit the big play, this team will be in every game. Thoughts? Agree/Disagree? What would your grades have been?

Now that we've broken down each of the Arizona Cardinals units from Sunday's victory over the Niners (offense, defense, special teams), it's time give out the game ball. The rules are simple; you can only pick one guy and if you've got a right in candidate, then state your case in the comments section. So the question is simple, who ya got? 

Travis LaBoy: He's got to be the favorite considering he finished with four tackles, two sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Not only does his stat sheet look impressive his trifecta (sack, FF, FR) was the nail in the coffin for the Niners.

Edgerrin James: His overall stats aren't overly impressive but he was the workhorse that the offense needed to bleed the clock in the second half. His sixth 100 yard game as a Cardinal was just what the doctor ordered for a team that seemed committed to moving the ball on the ground.

Kurt Warner: Warner played a different role than his normal 'gun-slinger' style and he more closely resembled a 'bus driver.' The good news for the Cardinals though was that he didn't turn the ball over once and that's quite an accomplishment for a guy who's averaged almost a turnover and a half a game throughout his career.

Anquan Boldin: He was shut out in the first half but turned into "Mr. First Down" in the second half. His clutch receptions helped the Cardinals offense eat up the clock and sustain a couple of long drives.

The Arizona Cardinals defense wasn't legendary on Sunday but they did enough to ensure the Niner offense couldn't settle into a rhythm or establish themselves on the ground or through the air. The defensive front seven was did their part to create havoc and the secondary nearly shut out the Niners wide outs. 

Defensive Line: Considering that the defensive line was down to their third string nose tackle, they did a decent job of limiting Frank Gore. Bryan Robinson certainly looked like he got worn down towards the end of the first half and with Robinson being handled on the inside, the rest of the line was able to key on Darnell Dockett and Antonio Smith. That didn't stop Dockett from doing his part though and he made plays all over the field finishing with five tackles and a forced fumble. Smith had a less productive game but did recover a fumble and finished with a tackle. Rookies Calais Campbell and Kenny Iwebema both saw some playing time but didn't do too terribly much to stand out. Given the injury situation at the nose, it's hard not to be somewhat impressed with what they were able to accomplish. Grade: B

Linebackers: You don't have to do much more than look at a boxscore to understand the impact that the linebacking corps had on this game. Travis LaBoy wreaked all kinds of havoc during the game and finished with four tackles, two sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. LaBoy wasn't the only guy who made plays though as Karlos Dansby led the teams in tackles (7) and Gerald Hayes chipped in with 6 tackles and a sack. Chike Okeafor lived in the Niner backfield and even though he had some issues with missed tackles, he finished with two tackles and at least a couple of quarterback pressures. Bertrand Berry was 'Mr Versatile' lining up at OLB, DE and even NT in passing situations. He finished a sack and a forced fumble. Clark Haggans biggest contribution was on special teams but he also chipped in with a tackle. Grade: A+

Corners: The trio of corners, Roderick Hood, Eric Green, and DRC, only finished with four tackles combined but a lot of that had to do with the offenses inability to get the ball to their wide receivers. The Niners' wide outs finished the game with just four catches so the corners certainly did their jobs. DRC also made an appearance on defense and it wasn't how we expected. It looked like he lined up on the outside receiver and Green slid down into the nickel role at times. Grade: A

Safeties: The combo of Adrian Wilson and Antrel Rolle didn't get challegned much in the passing game because the Niners had trouble getting receivers down the field. They did allow two passes over 30 yards but most of thier work was in support of the running game. Rolle missed a couple of tackles and at times didn't look completely comfortable at safety but he also flashed the ability that shows why so many think he can be a great safety. A-dub was his usual havoc wreaking self with four tackles and an interception. He did pick up a penalty though with an offsides call and he looked out of place on the deep pass to Vernon Davis, but overall he was solid. The deep-duo didn't get tested much and probably won't this week either but their time is coming. Aaron Francisco and Matt Ware both saw some playing time but didn't much to stand out either in a bad or good way, although Francisco did pick up a couple of tackles. Grade: B

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Overall it was a really solid opening performance for the defensive unit and even though there are areas that need to be shored up, they certainly look like a talented and deep group. It's too early to get excited about a good game against 'offensively challenged' San Fran but I didn't see any indications that this unit can't be as good as we all expected them to be this season. Thoughts? Agree/Disagree? What grades would you have given them and what area needs the most improvement?

Well it wasn't pretty but in the first week of the season, on the road against a division foe a 'W' is a 'W' for the Arizona Cardinals. In a week when every other team in the NFC West went down, the Cardinals stood up and just kept throwing punches. Here's my quick take on the game before some more detailed analysis later in the day:

The Good:

Ball Control - The Cardinals played an impressive game of 'keep away' in the second half and completely wore down the Niner defense. After a back and forth first half, the Cardinals stormed out of halftime and held the ball for almost the entire third quarter thanks to a perfectly executed pooch kickoff. The Cardinals held the ball for 10:57 in the third quarter and 11:41 in the fourth quarter. By the end of the game, 
the Cardinals had run 45 plays in the second half while the Niners were only able to manage 15.

Pressure on the Quarterback: JT O'Sullivan was sacked four times and the defense kept the pressure on all game long, especially Travis LaBoy. LaBoy's looking like a free agent gem after racking up two sacks and the forced fumble that sealed the Niners' fate. Gerald Hayes and Bertrand Berry also registered sacks and Berry jarred the ball loose as well. The pressure often caused O'Sullivan to shuffle in the pocket and one of his mini-scrambles led to the Adrian Wilson interception.

Turnover Differential: The Cardinals ended with game +5 in the turnover battle as their four fumble recoveries and an interception. They obviously won't be as fortunate every game but it was encouraging to see Kurt Warner protect the ball, especially when he was being sacked. There were a couple of times where it looked pretty clear that he was content with taking a sack instead of trying to force the ball into a tight spot. The defense was opportunistic to say the least forcing five fumbles and recovering four.

The Bad:

  Finishing Drives: If you're just looking at the boxscore, you'll probably wonder how a team can force five turnovers but only score 23 points. Well the Cardinals weren't very good at finishing drives yesterday. The Cardinals started three drives in Niners' territory during the first quarter and only came away with three points. They completely failed on two drives, one of which ended on a missed 35 yard field goal. On the second failed drive, a sack on third down pushed the Cardinals out of field goal range.

Defensive Dominance?: Normally a five turnover, 13 point game would be awful impressive and signify a dominant game by the defense but the Niners' offense was actually pretty efficient. JT O'Sullivan completed 70% of his passes for 9.8 yards per attempt in his first career start. Frank Gore almost broke 100 yards on just 14 carries and the running game as a whole averaged 5.4 yards per carry and didn't have a single rush for negative yards. One reason the Niners had problems putting points on the board is because they completely lost the battle of field position, starting three drives inside their own 10 and four other drives at or inside their own 20.

The Ugly:

Missed Field Goal: I can't totally bury Neil Rackers because he was nothing short of amazing on kickoffs but his inability to be reliable from a short distances is maddening. Granted the three points didn't come back to haunt the Cardinals but there will be games when they'll need him to be automatic from inside of 40 yards.

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That's what jumped out at me from yesterday. I'll be back later with a more detailed breakdown, but until then......Thoughts? Agree/Disagree? What else jumped at you?

We all know that the regular season is looming and that the Arizona Cardinals will travel to San Francisco to clash with a familiar foe this Sunday. In an effort to preview the game, I've worked with Fooch, the administrator at Niners Nation, to look at several key match-ups. We chose eight match-ups to break down and we'll be looking at half of them today and the other half tomorrow. Will be previewing the game over the course of the next four days and Fooch will be posting the same match-ups and also previewing the game from a Niners' perspective at Niners Nation. For now here's the first four to chew on:

Match-Up #1: Clements/Harris vs. Fitzgerald/Boldin

Fooch: Advantage: 49ers - Last season's two matchups were a tale of two extremes.  The 49ers shut down Fitzgerald and Boldin in week 1 and then were torched by them in Week 12.  The difference between the two games was Leinart started Week 1 and Warner started Week 12.  That would indicate the 2008 Cardinals would have the edge with Warner getting the nod.  However, the 49ers overall defense has improved and the secondary should be a strength this season.  I'd expect FS Mark Roman, backup safety Dashon Goldson and nickel back Shawntae Spencer to provide help in this matchup.  Clements is likely to get Fitzgerald by himself, but as Harris is getting up there in years, a little help is necessary.  The depth of the 49ers secondary should be the difference-maker.

CG: Advantage: Cardinals - With Kurt Warner at the helm, I won't rank any two corners over Fitzgerald and Boldin. Even with two very good corners like Clements and Harris, not secondary is safe with this receiving duo. I would expect the rest of the Niner secondary to give the corners some help but it'll take a conglomerate effort to shut down both Fitz and Q. 

Match-Up #2: 49ers pass rush vs. Cardinals offensive line

Fooch: Advantage: Cardinals - The pass rush is the 49ers biggest question mark on the defensive side of the ball heading into 2008.  They added Justin Smith and get a returning Manny Lawson, but neither is a traditional pass rusher.  If the 49ers are going to generate a pass rush, second year defensive end Ray McDonald will need to be that guy.  If the 49ers pass rush resembles the 2007 pass rush, Kurt Warner will have all day to make things happen.  The pass rush is the major x-factor for whether this defense can step up from decent to very good.

CG: Advantage: Cardinals - There isn't much doubt that the Cardinals' pass game is explosive and should put points on the board. Whether or not the front line can keep Warner upright is another question though. Warner is about as immobile as they get but the offensive line is some what accomplished in keeping the quarterback clean. The offensive line is bringing back four of the same five from last season and they should be able to be pick up any kind of blitzes that the Niners throw at them.

The final two match-ups are after the jump.......

Continue reading this post »

After taking a look at how the offensive depth hart might look, here's a glance at the depth on the defensive side of the ball:

Left DE - Antonio Smith, Kenny Iwebema, Calais Campbell

Iwebema has been playing the left side but an extended absence by Smith could see Campbell move over.

NT - Bryan Robinson, Alan Branch, Gabe Watson (injured)

Robinson will most likely be the starter against the Niners but he might be the last guy that they want to start as well. Branch might be the best on any given play but you just never know whether you're going to get 100% or 50%. Watson will be the starter as soon he's healthy.

Right DE/UT - Darnell Dockett, Calais Campbell, Kenny Iwebema

Dockett is the stud and and Campbell is the young man in waiting.

Left OLB - Chike Okeafor, Clark Haggans

As long as Okeafor stays healthy he's the man. Haggans has performed well in preseason and he's an experienced veteran, but he's at his best with limited snaps.

Right OLB - Travis LaBoy, Bertrand Berry

LaBoy had a good preseason and won the starting job. He's younger and more explosive but Berry will still see his fair share of snaps when he's healthy.

MILB - Karlos Dansby, Gerald Hayes, Monty Beisel, Ali Highsmith

Beisel's probably the first guy to step in whether Dansby or Hayes goes down and Highsmith's role will likely be special teams unless a couple of injuries strike.

Left CB - Roderick Hood, DRC, Ralph Brown, Matt Ware

The top two spots are pretty set in stone but if somehow they both get injured, it would be a big mess. They would probably decide to move Rolle back down to corner depending on the depth left at safety. Brown is a good special teamer but he's not a starting corner. Ware can play both safety and corner but he's not a starting corner either. 

Right CB - Eric Green, DRC, Ralph Brown, Matt Ware

Pretty much the same as above.

SS - Adrian Wilson, Aaron Francisco, Oliver Celestin

Wilson is the obvious starter and there's a big drop off to #2. Francisco's got some experience but he lacks the playmaking ability of A-dub.

FS - Antrell Rolle, Aaron Francisco, Matt Ware, Oliver Celestin

Most depth charts list Ware as the primary backup to Rolle but I still think Francisco would be the first name called if Rolle went down. Ware's younger but still a good, developing player. Celestin is best on special teams but he's a big hitter who will look decent in limited snaps.

Thoughts? Agree/Disagree?

Ken Whisenhunt said today in his press conference that Kurt Warner will be the Arizona Cardinals' starting quarterback when the team travels to San Francisco on September 7th. He stated that at this point, Warner gave them the best chance to win, but that they would likely need both quarterbacks at some point this season. Whiz acknowledged that Matt has grown tremendously over the past year and half and he was impressed at how Lienart bounced back from a rough start last week.

Whisenhunt also said that Travis Laboy will start over Bertrand Berry but that Berry would see snaps each game as well. Deuce Lutui will retain his starting job over Elton Brown. Whiz did praise the versatility of Brown and said that he allowed the team to be flexible with the depth of the offensive line.