Initial Take From SIRIIUS/Internet
Kolb (though a bit slow off themark, during the first possession) looked very much in control of things, with good pocket presence and scrambling ability. Once the rust was shaken off, they looked more in synch than any of last year's starting candidates (DA, Skelton or Hall). We still can't run the ball well enough to reliably pick up short yardage. The defense looked a bit geeked up executing Horton's new schemes, a little out of synch and sometimes out of position. I only listened to the first hour of Wolf's and Dave's radio call on SIRIUS, so there aren't a lot of specifics,. But I did come up with some:

• After a missed sight-read with Fitz, Kolb and Fitzgerald connected on a couple of receptions, including a sick, one-handed jump ball catch down the left sideline for 43 yards.

• Graham's first punt was a line-drive down the middle of the field. (Do that vs. a Sproles or Hester and it can be "six" the other way in a flash).

• AJ Jefferson was by no means perfect, but he showed he has the physical chops to bring a DRC presence to the position - plus more physicality

• Rashad Johnson (admittedly a backup FS being asked to step up and replace a Pro Bowl SS) consistently looked lost, slow and late. I don't know yet whether Ware got to see action, but it looks like we've got a problem at SS (i.e. injured starter and poor depth).

• Four straight unsuccessful short-yardage goal line runs by Beanie clearly illustrates the continued ineptness of the Cardinal offensive line in the run game. We can (as we're inclined to do every preseason since I can remember) rationalize that "they're new together"; "rusty" and "need time to gel", but, as far as I'm concerned, until I see improvent, "it is what it is" - an O-line that can't open up inside holes for its runners.

• Darnell got his hands up in the QB's face early in the game and came up with a bat-down. This is a pattern seen consistently during practices that has apparently carried over into games - a very hopeful sign.

After Watching on TV
For those of you who've heeded my perennial warning about "rechecking the NFL Network schedule right up to air time", "viewing/recording the previous and subsequent scheduled programming" (to make sure you get the entire game) - you got to watch the entire Cardinal - Oakland game. Those of you who didn't may have missed the last 10 minutes of the game, because (a) the prior game spilled over into our game and (b) our game spilled into the Rich Eisen podcast that was supposed to follow our game.

But that wasn't the only problem. Usually, NFL Network will air one-half featuring the local Oakland feed and the other half featuring the local Arizona feed. They opened the game with Jim Plunkett and the Oakland announcers. ("Cool", I figured. This means we'll have Cardinal announcers covering the second half when all the backups and rookies we want to see are on the field instead of having most of the second half dominated by the Oakland guys interviewing their players on the sidelines instead of letting us know who executed the key block or made the tackle). Unfortunately we got Oakland announcers (and the boring second half sideline Raider interviews) for the entire game. Bummer.

l will give kudos to NFL Network for showing some first-half footage "Red Zone": style during their Thursday night "Around the League" programming.

Tell you one thing; watching the actual action tells you a lot more than merely examining a play-by-play log or the following morning's write-up. But the actual TV footage did confirm my initial impressions that Kolb looked pretty cool and confident, the offensive line continues its pattern of dysfunctionality , you can see what Beanie can do when he gets loose and AJ Jefferson (who was the biggest pleasant surprise of the contest - more about him later) reminds me of  a more physical version of the rookie DRC. One bothersome thing that stood out after watching the video was the continued tendency of the Cardinal defense to let the other team off the hook when in 3rd and long deep in the other team's territory. I also thought our backup defenders  looked a tad "squishy" vs. the run.

One final observation: The Oakland RT (Khaleed Barnes) represented the "gift that keeps on giving", with 3 false-start penalties by early in the 2Q

Game Recap

• 1st Quarter

  • Cards looked a bit rusty and discombobulated during their first series. Only bright spot was a third-down scramble by Kolb for +15 and a first down. But Cards eventually had to punt.

  • A 40-yard interference call on Rashad Johnson on the first Oakland series helped set up a Janikowski 39 yard FG. D Docket was instrumental in limiting the damage. Oakland 3 - Cardinals 0.

  • Starting from their own 14 and off two pretty Kolb-to-Fitzgerald completions (including the highlight-reel one-handed grab for +47) and a nifty run around left end for +15, the Cards moved to the Raider 8, but Beanie (with no holes to run thru) was unsuccesful on four more carries.

  • Starting from their own 1-yard line, Oakland picked up +2, +6, +7, +13 and +7 yards on their first five plays. Their possession carried over to the next quarter.

• 2nd Quarter

  • A couple of penalties stalled the Oakland drive at the Cardinal 39 and forced the Raiders to punt.

  • Skelton in. He seemed absolutely, positively lost. A strong possible reason was the inability of his blockers to give him any time to do anything. Cards punted to Raider 34.

  • Second Cardinal unit in there. First six Oakland plays went for +11, +10, +3, +8, +2 and +9 (the last one expanded to +20 due to a roughing the passer flag on Sam Acho). But the Card defense stiffened at the 12-yard line and Janikowski booted his second FG; this one for 25 yards. Oakland 6 - Cardinals 0.

  • Skelton still in. Cards mounted a long drive for a score. High (& low) lights were a defensive pass interference call that was wiped out by a Lutui holding call (which also negated a 21-yard run by LSH) on the very next play. On the 9th play of the drive, with 0:35 on the clock, Skelton hit Steve Williams on a short post-route for an 18-yard touchdown. Cardinals 7 - Raiders 6.

  • On the third play of the ensuing series, our new FA pickup at ILB, Stewart Bradley sacked Kyle Boller for minus-7 to end the half.

• 3rd Quarter

  • Cards received (note - Oakland had won the opening toss but opted to kick off). Ryan Williams in. Skelton still in. Cardinal offense started the 2H in stellar fashion. R. Williams off right tackle for +11. Skelton to Steve Williams for +21. R. Williams around right end for +3. Skelton deep pass to Ryan Williams for +23. Drive stalled, and Feely kicked one from 38. Cardinals 10 - Raiders 6.

  • Sherman forced a fumble on the  ensuing kickoff, but Oakland recovered. Oakland moved from its own 28 to the Cardinal 5 in 7 plays, but the Cardinal defense held on and forced Janikowski to kick his third FG; this one from 21. Key play of the drive was a 42-yard completion from Trent Edwards to Hagan (vs. H Abdullah). Cardinals 10 - Raiders 9.

  • Bartel in. Cards went 3 & out.

  • Raiders took over on their own 25, went nowhere and had to punt. The game log is fuzzy (with a couple of reviews, do-overs etc.) - apparently, a punt by Lechler was negated by a holding penalty on Maui'a and re-punted by Pakulak. Roberts then fumbled and a review favored a recovery by Oakland at the Cardinal 18. On the first play from scrimmage, Edwards hit Ausberry (who?) for a TD. 2-point conversion failed when Edwards was sacked (by unidentified Cardinal).  Raiders 15 - Cardinals 10.

  • Jefferson returned the ensuing KO 20 yards to the Cardinal 27. A roughness penalty on Steven Williams on the first play of the series could have derailed the possession, but on the very next play, Bartel hit Sampson for +41 to put the ball on the Raider 11. Three plays later, Bartel hit Housler for an 8-yard TD. Cardinals 17 - Raiders 15.

  • An Oakland penalty on the ensuing KO moved them back to their own 9-yard line and a 9-yard run by Bennett put Oakland on their own 18 as the quarter ended.

• 4th Quarter

  • A sack by Sharpe for minus-5 helped force Oakland to punt. A penalty on the return by Reggie Walker gave the Cards the ball on their own 31. Alfonso Smith at RB for the Cards and,during the possession, carried three times for +21 yards. Bartel had a couple of nice 10-yard completions to Isaiah Williams and Housler, but an illegal formation penalty and a sack for minus-7 forced the Cards to punt.

  • Oakland took over on their own ten with 8:28 left to play. They mounted a 13-play drive that chewed roughly 6-minutes off the clock and featuring a lot of short (5 - 10 yard) stuff. Drive finally fizzled at the Cardinal 39 with 2:37 left to play. Janikowski then attempted a 57-yard FG which turned out to be Good.  Raiders 18 - Cardinals 17.

  • Max Hall in. Once again, the nfl.com play-by-play log gets pretty murky. The video  shows Jefferson returning the KO to his own 32. Hall threw to I Williams for +12. He then threw to Stukey who broke a tackle and picked up  20-yards.  Theh Hall hit Sampson for +6-yards  to put the ball on the Raider 30 . Hall then scrambled for 2-yards to put the ball on the Oakland 28 with 0:50 remaining. He then threw a crossing pass to Isiaah Williams, who continued to cross the field untouched and then rambled down the sidelines for a 28-yard score. Oakland video seemed to show Williams' foot nicking the chalk on the sideline, but the official review ruled that the "play stood."   Cardinals 24 - Raiders 18.

  • Oakland started off from their own 16 with 0:35 left. They went 4 & out (one completion for +8 surrounded by 3 incompletions). Cards took over with 0:06 and Hall took a knee. Final Score: Cardinals 24 - Raiders 18.

The Bright Side

• Kolb appears to be giving the Cardinals exactly what they were looking for in a poised QB who can get things done.

• Kolb-to-Fitzgerald seem to be beginning to click.

• All three of our backups showed indications that they can develop into guys we can trust to get the job done (but right now, this is more a statement of "hoping" and "believing" than it is "knowing").

• The Williams Brigade (Steve, Isiaah and Ryan - we're still waiting on Dan) - both WR's appear to be keepers and Ryan looks like he can give us a different kind of lift  than Beanie and LSH typically give us.

• As a great believer in "hands up on defense", I really like the way Darnell Dockett is batting down passes.

• I see a lot of DRC in Jefferson (both are athletic; both need to hone techniques and become more consistent), but AJ is a more physical tackler.

The Dark Side

• I had hoped to see more offseason development from Skelton. He looked rattled during his first series. (Admittedly he settled down later, though)

• Beanie still has ball-control "issues." The first and second OL units aren't opening up holes.

• Deuce's holding penalty negated a 21-yard run and cost us 31 yards. The pattern continues.

• Our starting SS is hurt and his backup looked really disappointing. Oakland exploited the weakness, So, no doubt, will other NFL teams.

Last Word
Much to be hopeful about. It looks like we got our starting QB. Jefferson has come out of nowhere to look like a keeper at one corner. Ryan Williams showed flashes of great things to come. Peterson played with the solid consistency of a veteran. Housler looks like what was promised. On the gloomier side of the equation, we still haven't shown we can run block, our defense (especially the backups) looks soft vs. the run and lacks the killer instinct to put teams away when we've got 'em 3rd & long. The absence of A-Dub (& lack of depth behind him) seems critical. But on balance, this team - without Kolb - looks better than it did a year ago. Add in the impact of #4 and, within the context of the NFL West, there's no reason we shouldn't be in the playoffs.

80 Isaiah Williams

13 Aaron Nichols

17 Chansi Stuckey

16 D. Curry-Chapman