AZRams
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CARDINALS 2022/23 Arizona Cardinals Thread
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2022 Opponent Breakdown: Arizona Cardinals
Our offseason opponent breakdown series continues with a look at the Rams' Week 3 road opponent and Week 10 home opponent, the Arizona Cardinals.
www.therams.com
2022 Opponent Breakdown: Arizona Cardinals
Continuing our series of offseason opponent breakdowns following the 2021 schedule release, theRams.com examines Los Angeles' Week 3 road opponent and Week 10 home opponent, the Arizona Cardinals (Week 3 – Sept. 25, 1:25 p.m. PT on FOX; Week 10 – Nov. 13, 1:25 p.m. PT on FOX).2021
The Cardinals got off to a red-hot start last season, winning their first seven games before suffering their first loss. During that stretch, quarterback Kyler Murray played like an MVP candidate, with multi-touchdown games in five of those first seven contests.
However, in that lone loss – a dramatic 24-21 one to the Packers on Thursday Night Football – Murray limped off the field late in the game with an ankle injury that would cause him to miss the next three games.
Meanwhile, top receiver DeAndre Hopkins exited that same game in Green Bay with a hamstring injury that caused him to miss the next three games. A week earlier, defensive lineman and marquee free agent signing J.J. Watt suffered what was initially thought to be a season-ending shoulder injury.
While Arizona's reserves filled in admirably to help them reach 9-2 by their Week 12 bye, everything would unravel over the final six games – Hopkins suffered a season-ending torn MCL in Week 14 – as the Cardinals finished 2-4 in that span and limped into the playoffs with an 11-6 record.
The Cardinals still earned the No. 5 seed and rematch with the Rams in the Wild Card round, and Watt returned in time for the playoffs, but they would get knocked out in the first round with a 34-11 loss to the Rams at SoFi Stadium.
Changes
After making splashy moves like acquiring Watt, plus running back James Conner, center Rodney Hudson and wide receiver A.J. Green last offseason, this offseason was less eventful for Arizona.
Outside linebacker Chandler Jones, who finished second on the Cardinals defense with 10.5 sacks, signed a 3-year deal with the Raiders as an unrestricted free agent. Leading receiver Christian Kirk signed a four-year deal with the Jaguars as an unrestricted free agent.
Conner was scheduled to become a free agent this offseason, but Arizona avoided that by signing him to a 3-year contract extension.
The biggest transaction so far came on Day 1 of the 2022 NFL Draft, when the Cardinals traded the No. 23 overall pick to the Ravens for wide receiver Marquise Brown and a third-round pick, reuniting Murray with his college wide receiver.
Head coach
Kliff Kingsbury enters his fourth season as head coach of the Cardinals, compiling a 24-24-1 regular season record (0-1 playoffs) through his first three seasons. His contract was extended through the 2027 season in early March.
What to watch for
Cardinals passing attack without Hopkins in Week 3, the Murray-Brown connection, Cardinals pass rush
Hopkins was suspended for the first six games of the season for violating the NFL's performance-enhancing drugs policy, which means he will miss the first matchup between the two teams. Although tight end Zach Ertz and wide receivers A.J. Green and Rondale Moore return, no Hopkins and no Kirk means Murray's passing targets will look a little bit different.
The addition of Brown continued the trend of teams reuniting starting quarterbacks with their college wide receivers. Historically, this approach has produced mixed results, but the potential impact of that chemistry between Brown and Murray can't be ignored.
Meanwhile, the Rams offensive line will be preparing for a Cardinals defensive front looking to replace Jones and his production.
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This should be entertaining for Rams fans. 2023 will be the beginning of another rebuild in Arizona.
RamsOfCastamere
I drink things, and know nothing
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oldnotdead
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How does one start to rebuild when there really was nothing built to begin with? This team was exposed as a fraud in the playoffs. The best you can say is that the rebuild is on pause. It really appears that the Cards have shown a net loss in talent this year.
D'Hop's suspension is going to hurt. Kyler will have to lean on his other support blanket, i.e. Marquise Brown which is why AZ was forced to overpay in a trade for him. Take Brown away, which will be easier than D'Hop and Kyler will fold. The problem is, that Brown's game is as a deep threat using his speed. Murray's game is short quick passes. Brown struggled with that last year and he also fumbled 3 times, all of which points to why the Ravens were happy to take AZ's first round pick. The Ravens drafted Brown with the 25th pick and received a 23rd pick and a 3rd round pick in the trade. This reeks of AZ's desperation because of the D'Hop suspension.
AZ is struggling to tread water and IMO will be fighting Seattle for the #3 spot in the division.
D'Hop's suspension is going to hurt. Kyler will have to lean on his other support blanket, i.e. Marquise Brown which is why AZ was forced to overpay in a trade for him. Take Brown away, which will be easier than D'Hop and Kyler will fold. The problem is, that Brown's game is as a deep threat using his speed. Murray's game is short quick passes. Brown struggled with that last year and he also fumbled 3 times, all of which points to why the Ravens were happy to take AZ's first round pick. The Ravens drafted Brown with the 25th pick and received a 23rd pick and a 3rd round pick in the trade. This reeks of AZ's desperation because of the D'Hop suspension.
AZ is struggling to tread water and IMO will be fighting Seattle for the #3 spot in the division.
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The same way most every body does. Trade away vets with value especially a QB who gets more/better picks and stock up and rebuild the roster.
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In a thread, responding to HARD KNOCKS. the Card forum gems are as follows.....
"Will feature the Cardinals last year was the Colts. Will be cool I think." ~ Shane
----------------------------------------
"Hard Knocks: Second Half Collapse Edition. Forwarded by Kliff Kingsbury" ~ TJ
----------------------------------------
"Watching the Cardinals fall apart each week at the midway point in the year on the field and then a few days later on HBO will be compelling stuff.
Should make for a great hate watch in the Jones household." ~ Dr. Jones
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"I can easily see Watt being cringe to the max in this." ~ DVontel
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"...our Cringe King will be on full display." ~ Zeem_Freeze
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"Great. We get to see the team melt in live time." ~ BullheadCardFan
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"I'm definitely watching this. I love a good train wreck. lol" ~ blindseyed
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"HBO subscriptions must be down in the Phoenix market.
Does Hard Knocks only last for 3 weeks? The first month of HBO a 30-day free trial? Asking for my cheap assed friend." ~ speedy
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"Oh, Hard Knocks in season doesn't start until November? Guess J.J. Watt won't be in it. then" ~Cheesebeef
--------------------------------------------
"Savage," ~ Kerouac9
--------------------------------------------
"The clips of him working out to try and rejoin the team down the stretch will be epic." ~ Dr. Jones
---------------------------------------------
www.arizonasportsfans.com
"Will feature the Cardinals last year was the Colts. Will be cool I think." ~ Shane
----------------------------------------
"Hard Knocks: Second Half Collapse Edition. Forwarded by Kliff Kingsbury" ~ TJ
----------------------------------------
"Watching the Cardinals fall apart each week at the midway point in the year on the field and then a few days later on HBO will be compelling stuff.
Should make for a great hate watch in the Jones household." ~ Dr. Jones
-------------------------------------
"I can easily see Watt being cringe to the max in this." ~ DVontel
---------------------------------------
"...our Cringe King will be on full display." ~ Zeem_Freeze
----------------------------------------
"Great. We get to see the team melt in live time." ~ BullheadCardFan
-----------------------------------------
"I'm definitely watching this. I love a good train wreck. lol" ~ blindseyed
-------------------------------------------
"HBO subscriptions must be down in the Phoenix market.
Does Hard Knocks only last for 3 weeks? The first month of HBO a 30-day free trial? Asking for my cheap assed friend." ~ speedy
-------------------------------------------
"Oh, Hard Knocks in season doesn't start until November? Guess J.J. Watt won't be in it. then" ~Cheesebeef
--------------------------------------------
"Savage," ~ Kerouac9
--------------------------------------------
"The clips of him working out to try and rejoin the team down the stretch will be epic." ~ Dr. Jones
---------------------------------------------
Hard Knocks (in season)
https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nfl/cardinals/2022/05/23/arizona-cardinals-hbo-hard-knocks-season-nfl-2022/9862991002/ Will feature the Cardinals last year was the Colts. Will be cool I think.
www.arizonasportsfans.com
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"Vernon McDaniel
@mcdaniel_v
·
May 20
Replying to
@Kyle_Odegard
Sometimes having a more solid pass rush(if only just more pressure) can make a pedestrian CB look more like a shutdown."
Dear Vernon,
Sometimes having a moped on a freeway can make 55 MPH speed limit look real fast.
@mcdaniel_v
·
May 20
Replying to
@Kyle_Odegard
Sometimes having a more solid pass rush(if only just more pressure) can make a pedestrian CB look more like a shutdown."
Dear Vernon,
Sometimes having a moped on a freeway can make 55 MPH speed limit look real fast.
Who cares, we are World Champs.
He is still a little scared midget and will never win anything.
He is still a little scared midget and will never win anything.
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It’s only June, but the Cardinals don’t seem like a playoff team
The NFL season is still months away, but this RotB writer is having a hard time seeing a return to the playoffs after a lackluster at best offseason.
www.revengeofthebirds.com
It’s only June, but the Cardinals don’t seem like a playoff team
Last season, the Arizona Cardinals got their first taste of playoff football since the 2015 season. Of course, the season ended in ugly fashion, but it was still good to get back to the postseason. After the initial feelings of shock and anger wore off, Cardinals fans started to look ahead to another potential playoff run next season.But in the months since then, the team has made a number of questionable decisions—and has shown clear indecision on several important issues as well. Concerning for a team that has been telling its fans that it’s in “win-now” mode.
It’s almost impossible to argue that this team has improved from last season. In fact, Bill Barnwell recently ranked the Cardinals’ offseason as the third-worst in the NFL (Insider required). At least Cardinals fans can take solace in the fact that the rival Seahawks ranked dead last on that list.
But, if anything, this team seems to have gotten worse in the past few months. I hate to rain on people’s parades (although rain is always appreciated at this time of year in the Valley), but this sure doesn’t seem like a playoff team to me. Granted, the season is still three months away, but there are just too many questions surrounding this team to give me any confidence the 2022 team will be better than the (ultimately disappointing) 2021 squad. The upcoming season has an unfortunate whiff of disappointment already.
Read on to see what I mean.
Questions About the Front Office
I wrote about this at more length in the RotB article linked above, but the questions about this team start at the top. Handing out 5-year(!) extensions to GM Steve Keim and HC Kliff Kingsbury almost immediately after the playoff beatdown in L.A. was questionable at best, especially after the history of second-half collapses by this team. But then to follow it up by not extending QB Kyler Murray just makes fans wonder what this team’s plan is. Or if there even is one. This seeming indecision (or whatever else it is) likely cost the team millions of dollars since the QB market was reset this offseason. This, of course, assumes a Murray extension is in the pipeline. It pretty clearly seems to be, but if not… yikes. Even more questions would start to swirl around the front office.
And then there’s the strangely quiet offseason led by Keim. I’ll get more into this below, but the team has several roster holes that he seemingly decided to just… not address? In a “win-now” offseason? I doubt he is, but Michael Bidwill should already be regretting that extension. Ditto the one for Kingsbury, who hasn’t done enough to deserve such a rich extension in the estimation of most Cardinals fans (and many in the local and national media as well).
Questions About the Offense
I’m actually fairly confident in this group, and like most of the moves Keim made on this side of the ball. I’m a big fan of the Marquise Brown trade, and Darrel Williams should be a more than adequate replacement for Chase Edmonds. I’m glad we brought James Conner and Zach Ertz back, and I like his eventual replacement, Trey McBride. And the O-line should be solid once again.
But still… there are so many questions and this group could be closer to the ineffectiveness we saw toward the end of last season than we’d like. These questions also start at the top. Will Kingsbury be better about adjusting in-season around injuries and counter-adjustments by opposing coaches? Will there be any lingering locker room effects from the Kyler contract situation? Will we be able to effectively weather the DeAndre Hopkins suspension? Why A.J. Green, just why? Is Rondale Moore the next Andy Isabella? Will we regret overpaying for Conner and Ertz as soon as this season? Should we just have drafted a cheaper receiver instead of trading a 1st-rounder for Brown? Was making a luxury pick like McBride smart with so many holes elsewhere on the roster? Can Rodney Hudson recapture his previously elite form this season? Again: Why A.J. Green? So many questions.
Questions About the Defense
But not nearly as many as there are about the defense. When I look at the projected depth chart on ESPN, I see a shell of the unit that’s been borderline top-10 in each of the past two seasons. I’ve been a pretty vocal critic of DC Vance Joseph in the past, but he’s done a remarkable job of working magic with some fairly flawed units.
But I don’t think even Dick LeBeau or Wade Phillips could turn this group into an elite unit. We have absolutely no proven players at DT—that’s a problem in any defense, but especially a 3-4. Pass rush is a huge question mark behind J.J. “When He’s Healthy” Watt and, to a lesser extent, Markus Golden. It’s alarming that Keim has done next to nothing to address these huge holes in our front seven. And even recent 1st-round picks Isaiah Simmons and Zaven Collins still have a ton to prove at ILB. In the secondary, while the death of Jeff Gladney obviously transcends football, cornerback is the biggest question mark on the entire team. I can only imagine what Patrick Mahomes will do to this group in Week 1. At least we’re set at safety with Budda Baker and Jalen Thompson. But it’s easy to see this as the year when the bottom falls out and this group plummets toward the bottom of the league rankings.
Final Thoughts
Add it all up, and I have a hard time seeing this team reaching the playoffs. In fact, I’d probably take the under on the Cardinals Vegas win total of 9.5. I don’t like being so pessimistic about a team I’m a huge fan of, but the writing is on the wall after this offseason of frustration and complacency. I’ve been worried for years that the Michael Bidwill culture of minimal “progress” would come back to bite this franchise, and this season could very well be the one where that happens.
To quote a Phoenix sports legend, I may be wrong… but I doubt it.
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AZRams
What, we're all thinking it...
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In a thread, responding to HARD KNOCKS. the Card forum gems are as follows.....
"Will feature the Cardinals last year was the Colts. Will be cool I think." ~ Shane
----------------------------------------
"Hard Knocks: Second Half Collapse Edition. Forwarded by Kliff Kingsbury" ~ TJ
----------------------------------------
"Watching the Cardinals fall apart each week at the midway point in the year on the field and then a few days later on HBO will be compelling stuff.
Should make for a great hate watch in the Jones household." ~ Dr. Jones
-------------------------------------
"I can easily see Watt being cringe to the max in this." ~ DVontel
---------------------------------------
"...our Cringe King will be on full display." ~ Zeem_Freeze
----------------------------------------
"Great. We get to see the team melt in live time." ~ BullheadCardFan
-----------------------------------------
"I'm definitely watching this. I love a good train wreck. lol" ~ blindseyed
-------------------------------------------
"HBO subscriptions must be down in the Phoenix market.
Does Hard Knocks only last for 3 weeks? The first month of HBO a 30-day free trial? Asking for my cheap assed friend." ~ speedy
-------------------------------------------
"Oh, Hard Knocks in season doesn't start until November? Guess J.J. Watt won't be in it. then" ~Cheesebeef
--------------------------------------------
"Savage," ~ Kerouac9
--------------------------------------------
"The clips of him working out to try and rejoin the team down the stretch will be epic." ~ Dr. Jones
---------------------------------------------
Hard Knocks (in season)
https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nfl/cardinals/2022/05/23/arizona-cardinals-hbo-hard-knocks-season-nfl-2022/9862991002/ Will feature the Cardinals last year was the Colts. Will be cool I think.
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