6-27-12: Arizona Cardinals Bird Droppings - Offseason Stuff

Time for todays links, including a new sponsor for Big Red.

Hyundai Partners With Cardinals
Car company will sponsor training camp; Logo on practice jerseys

Mailbag: Worst to first a towering order - NFC West Blog - ESPN
Joe from Fort Worth suggests he'd rather have the Arizona Cardinals' receivers by a wide margin over those from other NFC West teams even though every team in the division expects improvement at the position. "Please agree or disagree (and comment, of course)," he writes.

Arizona Sports News:

Arizona Diamondbacks fall as Tim Hudson lifts Atlanta Braves
Tim Hudson answered manager Fredi Gonzalez's call for improved starts from Atlanta's rotation and the Braves opened their longest homestand of the season by beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-1 on Tuesday night. Hudson (6-3) allowed one run and seven hits in eight innings. He had seven strikeouts. Freddie Freeman had three hits and drove in two runs, Chipper Jones also had three hits and Michael Bourn cracked a first-inning homer for Atlanta, which piled up 17 hits. Arizona right-hander Daniel Hudson (3-2) left in the second inning with tightness in his right forearm. He gave up five runs and seven hits in 1 2-3 innings.

Manager Kirk Gibson says Trevor Bauer will start for Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday
The "Free Trevor Bauer" movement is almost over. Bauer, the Diamondbacks' highly touted pitching prospect, will make his major-league debut here on Thursday against the Atlanta Braves, manager Kirk Gibson said on his weekly radio segment with KTAR. Bauer, the third overall pick in last year's draft out of UCLA, posted a 2.23 ERA with 116 strikeouts in 93 innings between Double-A Mobile and Triple-A Reno.

NFL News:

Following up: Getting after the quarterback - NFC West Blog - ESPN
The San Francisco 49ers' Aldon Smith and the St. Louis Rams' James Hall scored two-point plays last season with sacks resulting in safeties. The sacks these and other players collected outside the end zone affected point totals in less direct ways. As Brian Burke explained in 2008, one sack could represent a two-point change in expected scoring (the difference was 1.7 points without resulting fumbles). A sack's value changed relative to field position and down-and-distance.

NFC West improved, but work to be done - NFC West Blog - ESPN
Mike Sando: The NFC West is making progress as a division, but this question opens the division to criticism. NFC West teams averaged 3.0 sacks per game against each other and 2.1 sacks per game against everyone else. The Eagles, Giants, Ravens and Bengals averaged 4.2 sacks per game against the NFC West and 2.6 per game against everyone else. From this standpoint, then, defenses did fatten up on the division's offenses in 2011. Some of those defenses belonged to NFC West teams. The bottom line: Every NFC West team needs to improve its pass protection significantly, especially with the division's defenses on the rise.

Drew Brees 'Confident' In Long-Term Deal With Saints - SBNation.com
It's tough to tell where the Drew Brees' contract situation falls on the long list of headaches the New Orleans Saints have had to deal with this offseason. Regardless of what's going on behind close doors, Brees at least seems to be confident publicly that a deal will get done. The quarterback spoke with Boomer and Carton on WFAN in New York recently, and indicated that negotiations were progressing with the Saints organization.

Detroit Lions CB Aaron Berry Arrested On Suspicion Of DUI - SBNation.com
Detroit Lions cornerback Aaron Berry was arrested over the weekend on suspicion of DUI.

Adrian Peterson Injury: Vikings RB Likely To Be Inactive For Training Camp - SBNation.com
Adrian Peterson ended last season on a pretty ugly note when he suffered a gruesome-looking knee injury late in the season as the Minnesota Vikings struggled to an ugly end of their season. There has been quite a bit of positive news coming out of the running back's camp, though, and most reports assume he's on a pretty good pace as far as his rehab is concerned.

Jets DL Muhammad Wilkerson Flips Car, Escapes Injury - SBNation.com
New York Jets defensive tackle Muhammad Wilkerson escaped serious injury after flipping his car on a New Jersey highway.

Jimmy Clausen no longer No. 2, but Cam Newton doesn’t want it | ProFootballTalk
A year ago, when Panthers fans were still trying to come to grips with whether quarterback Cam Newton had a fake smile or not, his jersey number was a huge topic of conversation. (At least among the very bored.) He was hoping to wear No. 2, which was held by quarterback Jimmy Clausen at the time. But Clausen wouldn’t give it up, so Newton decided to go with the No. 1, which the Panthers had never given out. Now, Clausen has decided he no longer wants 2, but neither does Newton.