3 Winners and 3 Losers in Cardinals’ preseason loss to Chiefs

After promising performances in the Arizona Cardinals’ victory over the Denver Broncos in game one of the preseason, they followed that up with an uninspiring 38-10 blowout loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Despite the ugly score, there were a few Cardinals’ standouts that played well and others that struggled mightily in the loss.

Here are three winners and losers from the Chiefs-Cardinals preseason game:

Winners

Keaontay Ingram

Ingram was dealing with an undisclosed injury that forced him to miss the Cardinals’ first preseason game against the Broncos. Fortunately he was healthy enough to play last night against the Chiefs and he did not disappoint. The second-year running back out of USC finished the game with nine total touches for 48 scrimmage yards and a touchdown. Ingram is currently listed as the No. 2 running back on the depth chart behind James Conner and you can see why. The physicality and patience he played with is the type of smash-mouth style of football that should fit in Drew Petzing’s offense perfectly. Corey Clement, Ty’Son Williams, and Emari Demercado remain in the mix for the top backup job.

Nolan Cooney

The battle for the Cardinals’ punter job between Nolan Cooney and Matt Haack should be coming to a rapid close. Haack had the first crack at staking claim to the job last week against the Broncos. He punted four times for an average of 42.3 yards. The Cardinals’ second game of the preseason was Cooney’s turn and he did not disappoint as one of the few bright spots in last night’s blowout loss to the Chiefs. He punted four times, averaged 54.3 yards, had a long 65-yard punt, and had two of his punts downed within the return team’s 20-yard line. With this considered and Cooney being the only one of the two that can handle kickoffs, there is a clear winner in this punter position battle.

Kyzir White

Kyzir White was the Cardinals’ top free agent acquisition this offseason. He reunited with Jonathan Gannon and Nick Rallis in Arizona after spending the last two seasons in Philadelphia. He made his preseason debut as a Cardinal last night with two tackles and had two big hits to set the tone on the defense. White is the Cardinals’ defensive signal caller as the defense allowed no points against the Patrick Mahomes-led Chiefs’ offense in their first two drives.

Losers

Isaiah Simmons

To say Isaiah Simmons had a bad game against the Kansas City Chiefs is an understatement. Whether it was that 18-yard touchdown catch by Justin Watson or the Shane Buechele’s 15-yard touchdown scramble, Simmons was the common denominator with his struggles in coverage and nonchalant tackling in both of those scores allowed. It is the preseason so maybe Simmons was not giving his all but for a player that had his fifth-year option declined as a former No. 8 overall pick, he still has so much to prove.

Colt McCoy

Colt McCoy has drawn the start at quarterback for the Cardinals’ first two preseason games. In that time, he completed 9-of-12 passes for 42 passing yards, and had 11 rushing yards. He is averaging a measly 3.5 yards per pass and McCoy has not score in any of his four offensive drives. His leadership is evident as the most experienced quarterback on roster but what has McCoy accomplished in the preseason that has convinced the Cardinals’ coaching staff that he should be the starter until Kyler Murray returns?

Kei’Trel Clark

There is no clear-cut leader for the starting cornerback job opposite Marco Wilson. Rookie sixth-round pick Kei’Trel Clark has impressed during camp and even had a solid preseason debut last week but struggled to cover Chiefs’ Justyn Ross yesterday. To Clark’s defense as with the rest of the Cardinals’ defense, any defense would struggle to contain the high-octane Chiefs’ offense. Clark did not deliver but neither did his competition in seven-year veteran Antonio Hamilton and second-year cornerback Christian Matthew.