Saturday night did not go as planned for Jonathan Gannon and his Arizona Cardinals. Or maybe it did, but we didn’t expect it to be this bad.
Regardless of the outcome, Arizona Cardinals fans witnessed both the good and the bad from the team last night. So let’s not waste any more time and dive right into the disappointing, quasi-foreshadowing game that the Arizona Cardinals lost last night:
Winner #1: Keaontay Ingram
As the battle for the second running back spot continues, Keaontay Ingram made his best statement of the preseason so far. A first-down scamper the first time Ingram got the ball was a sign of things to come. Ingram also broke what would have been a TFL (tackle for a loss) and got some positive yards out of it in what could arguably be his biggest highlight play of the game. Finally, Ingram got the Arizona Cardinals on the board just before halftime after a myopic referee crew overturned an obvious Greg Dortch touchdown. Ingram would finish with seven carries for 28 yards and one touchdown, being out-rushed by quarterback Clayton Tune (35 total rushing yards).
absolutely not to be denied 😤@keaontay_ingram x #BirdGang pic.twitter.com/HGa40GO6wA
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) August 20, 2023
Loser #1: Isaiah Simmons
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: a first-round defensive player for the Arizona Cardinals playing out of position. That’s right- if you didn’t get your kicks with Deone Bucannon years ago, then deja vu has got you covered.
Simmons was not good at all last night, looking lethargic and unmotivated as he let up at least two (maybe three depending on how you place the blame) of Kansas City’s biggest plays. The Chiefs’ first touchdown was allowed by Simmons, and then another long bomb down the field in the second quarter.
Simmons also had a chance to stop a touchdown later in the game but came up with a pathetic effort that you can see here. The Arizona Cardinals need to stop being foolish and move Simmons back to linebacker, as he could end up being more of a liability at the position than Ryan Gosling in the movie Remember The Titans.
Winner #2: Greg Dortch
Greg Dortch continues to torch defenses when given the chance, and his performances as a whole have made him a fan favorite. Dortch only had one catch last night, but we all know that was a surefire touchdown. On top of that, Dortch has been making quite a rapport with Tune this preseason. The Arizona Cardinals haven’t had continuity at the wide receiver position, so this could go a long way if both stay on the roster.
Loser #2: Nick Rallis and his lack of defensive depth
Don’t get me wrong here, the first-stringers did a decent job of keeping Patrick Mahomes out of the endzone until late in the first quarter. This is also Andy Reid calling a super vanilla playbook, minus the TE shovel pass that was dropped on the Chief’s very first play. Once the starters began to get pulled out, that’s when the ugly side of this game came through. There simply wasn’t any depth and the Chiefs took advantage of that.
The secondary was just god-awful, but that’s not surprising given its preseason and the matchup the Cardinals had last night. However, a little more competition or “making them work for it” would have been nice to see. This is what passing on Asante Samuel Jr. and Greg Newsome II will do to you. You can even say that the departure of Byron Murphy also contributed to the sad state of affairs for the Redbirds’ secondary.
Winner #3: Starting Linebacker corps
Part of the newcomers on defense, Kyzir White and Krys Barnes looked to be solid additions. Barnes, the former Green Bay Packer, had four solo tackles and one for a loss. White only had two tackles, but had a pretty big hit on a Chiefs ball carrier that was awesome to see as it did not draw a flag either. It’s worth noting that White did not play last week against the Denver Broncos, so for this to be his first action, it left this writer with a positive impression.
Loser #3: Referees and self-inflicted penalties
Usually, the refs don’t get talked about in a preseason game, but good lord. What happened from Week 1 to Week 2 with all of the penalties by the Arizona Cardinals? Both teams had eight penalties in the game, so at least it was on both sides. Heck, the Cardinals’ first scoring drive was kept alive by Chiefs penalties, as they received four extra first downs as a result. But how could no one see the obvious false start during the Chiefs’ first drive? Dortch’s reversed touchdown is also a big head-scratcher.
When Gannon was asked in the post-game presser if he contributed the penalties to a lack of discipline or something else, he responded with it’s “more bad technique than discipline”. That’s definitely something to chew on, as I’m not sure how bad technique can cause so many of these. The site NFLPenalties.com is a great tool to see each exact call, but the site does not cover preseason games (understandably so).
With one more preseason game to go, the Arizona Cardinals have to play as many non-starters as possible against the Minnesota Vikings. We’ll see what adjustments JG and the staff make with their final tune-up. Who were your winners and losers from last night? Drop them in the comments below.
