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MEET THE CARDINAL COMEBACK HEROS (aka "THE WHO")
How could a team who looked downright depressing during thee-quarters
- down 16 -0 - find itself on the winning end of a 19-16 "W?" Short answer:
A couple of rookies from TCU and Fordham, a 2nd year man from St. Pauls
(where?) and this guy named John Fletcher who came in off the street 2 days
ago.
The TCU guy and our 2nd round draft pick (#58 Daryl
Washington) was arguably the star of the game (flying to the ball like a
magnet, delivering key hits) One of the questions concerning the
fast-flying Washington was whether or not he could tackle. He wound up
leading the team with 13 unassisted and assisted tackles, so I guess he
answered that question.
The Fordham dude (our #3 QB John Skelton) arrived with
6:45 left in the fourth quarter to lead the team to 2 TD's and the win. OK.
Sure. We get it. It's only a preseason game, and he's only a talented raw
youngster who was playing against the other team's #2's, 3's and 4's. But
some of the things you look for when checking out a young QB are: Is he calm
or jittery? Can he make the right throws? Can he move the offense? Is he
capable of lighting it up? Does he make big plays when he needs to?
With some QB's (including, incidently, both our #1 and
#2), some of those questions remain unanswered, and you walk away shaking
your head. Shelton answered everyone of those questions with big fat
exclamation-point. Does this mean he isn't rough around the edges? No. Does
it mean he won't make more than a few rookie mistakes in the future? Again,
no. Does it mean opposing DC's watching tape won't find one or more
weaknesses to exploit? Of course not. It's all part of being a rookie. But
what the kid showed out there was that, in real games, he is capable of
going out there and doing it. (Now the key for coaches will be to get him to
the point where everyone feels they can trust him to get the job done
consistently. How fast his learning curve will be getting to that point
remains to be seen. But Cardinal fans have now seen Skelton's upside, and
it's pretty darned exciting.
Greg Toler (from St. Pauls College in Virginia) looks
like a DRC clone who has the inside track toward starting oppositie the
Cardinal All Pro, but must prove he has the consistency to make the leap
from rookiedom to starter. He didn't start the game all that swimmingly
(missing a tackle) but then got his game together and looked like Mr.
Shutdown for the rest of his stint in the contest.
Two or three days ago, the "Transactions" section of
most daily papers announced that the Cardinals had cut backup DL Keileen
Dykes and replaced him with an unknown DE John Fletcher, a tall dude but, at
272, a bit light to play DE in a 3-4. All Fletcher did - on the final
play of the game (with the ball a few yards and a sideline completion away
from a time-out game-tying FG) - was to bullrush his man on inside rush and
steamroll the Houston QB for a game-ending sack.
Game Recap
Since the main reason for
playing preseason games is to see how well each unit plays together and how
the players (especially rookies and newcomers) look, I'll skip the
play-by-play, keep the stat-analysis to a minimum and, instead, list my
observations player by player on the chart that follows:
Houston took the opening kickoff and Schaub and Foster
shredded the Cardinal defense in 5 plays all the way down to the Cardinal
23. On the next play, it looked as though Paris Lenon stripped the
ball from the Texan receiverwhere it was picked up by A-Dub and lateralled
to DRC for a turnover, but one of our least favorite zebras (Hoculea) ruled
that the receiver was down by contact. But the Cardinal defense stiffened
and held Houston to a 31 yd FG. Houston 3 - Cards 0.
Leinart's first possession was not inspiring - after a
2-yard run to darknesss by Hightower, he was stepped on and aborted the
handoff on the next play and fumbled (Cards recovered) on the next one to
force the Cards to go 3 & out.
On the second play of the next Houston possession, their
superstar, Andre Johnson faked backup CB Justin Miller out of his proverbial
jock and trotted into the end zone for a 44-yard score. Houston 10 -
Cards 0.
Leinart was then able to spearhead a 10-play drive (7
passes, 2 runs by Hightower and a FG attempt) which featured Fitz being
up-ended and taking a hit to the knee by EJ Wilson - fortunately the
ice-pack came off Fitz's knee before halfime. FG attempt by Feely was wide
left.
The Cardinal defense stiffened, and 2 Houston runs and a
passing attempt led to a 3 & out early in the 2Q.
Cards picked up a first down on their next possession on
4 straight runs by Hightower and Beanie. The drive then stalled on the
Cardinal 34 and we punted.
An observation about the THT - Beanie battle: If (I
repeat "If") our O-line is going to have problems opening up holes for
either RB, at least Beanie has the size and leg-strength to turn 2-yard
losses into 2-yard gains, whereas Timmy is more likely to be stopped in his
tracks. For this reason alone, we might be better off seeing more Beanie and
less Hightower unless the O-line proves us wrong.
Orlowski (in for Schaub) took the Texans down to
the Cardinal one-yard line in 15 plays (& nearly 9 minutes) but Pago Togafau
(who for the past 4 years has shown up and played tough for the Cards only
to be a perennial cut) stripped the ball from Slaton. as he tried to punch
it over from the one. It was recovered by none other than Daryl Washington.
Anderson in for Leinart. Bearing out the concerns of
some Cardinal observers at Flag. He threw every ball at 100 mph velocity
and, on the 3rd play from scrimmage, it went through the arms of Cardinal
3rd round pick, Andre Roberts for an interception. (Also bearing out fan
concerns was Roberts' inconsisent hands throughout the rest of the game).
Houston was able to tack on a 24-yard Rackers FG. Houston 13 - Cards
0. Anderson couldn't do much during the final minute of play, and
the half ended.
In the second half, Roberts was penalized for a false
start, and Anderson threw another rocket-ball pick on the 7th play of the
series (If you are a Cardinal fan, you could not be a happy camper at this
point in the game). After a 12-yard run by Tate, we held them to 3 & a punt.
Anderson couldn't get much done in 6 plays and we punted right back.
Orlovski then led his team on a 15-play drive that ended
up at the Cardinal 8, with Brown booting a 27-yarder to make it Houston 16 -
Cards 0. (To a Darksider: Our defense let them run off their second long
drive of the game - this one for nearly 8-minutes. To a Kool-Aider: Once
again, we held them to a FG). I guess there's some truth in both.
Houstonj 16 - Cards 0.
On the next possession, Anderson seemed to settle down,
leading the Cards to a 12-play, 70 yard scoring drive capped by a 2-yard TD
pass inside to Beanie. 2-pointer (fade to S Williams)
failed. Houston 16 - Cards 6.
8:30 left to play. We held Houston to 3 & out. Skelton
in for Anderson. Catch this: He hits Stephen Williams for 20-yards on his
first throw, picks up a 35-yard interference call on an attempt to Williams
on his second throw. And Alfonso Smith (another "who" person) rambles in
around right end from the 6. 2-point conversion attempt (another fade
to Williams) fails. Houston 16 - Cards 12.
Once again, the defense holds Houston to 3 & out.
Skelton gets the ball back on the Cardinal 33 with 5:03 left. He starts off
with a 36-yard completion to Max (Who Again?) Komar. After a couple of hits
and misses, he gets us to the Texan 15, where - after a key 4th & 7
completion to the shaky-handed Roberts (who partially redeemed himself) -
the threw an outside screen left to Wright who rambled in for the winning
score. Cardinals 19 - Houston 16.
Some might say we "scored too early." 1:53 left to
play.They got to our 34 with 0:10 to play and no time outs, before Fletcher
nailed down the win with his sack of Booty.
Looking at the entire Big Picture, I wasn't sure if I
should feel happy of frustrated (I guess a little bit of both).
Dark Spots
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Neither Leinart nor Anderson demonstrated that they
are able to consistently light it up (It doesn't mean that they both
suck; just that their effort to instill confidence remains unproven).
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The starting offensive line had trouble opening up
holes for THT and Beanie.
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Brandon Keith was taken to school by Super Mario.
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Our defense couldn't stop 2 long
time-consuming drives.
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Our (non-DRC) corners had trouble covering Houston's
starting receivers.
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Pass rush on Schaub (& for part of the game
Orlovski) was practically non-existent.
Bright Spots
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Our defenders continue to be tough in the red zone.
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Our rookie defenders (especially the corners) showed they were willing and
able to tackle.
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Daryl Washington reminds me of Patrick Willis.
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We're deep in young, athletic corners with good ball
skills. (Raw today but gangbusters tomorrow).
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The TE (Dray) showed surpisingly good hands.
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Cards were penalized only 3 times for 24 yards.
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