Cardinals-Chiefs preseason good/bad, position battles, roster moves

The Cardinals played their second preseason game, getting demolished by the Chiefs last weekend. Jess and Seth talk about the good and bad in the loss, they go over the position battle that has been decided and discuss the meaning of recent roster moves.

Episode Transcript

(00:13):
This is the Rise Up Sea Redpodcast, all about the Arizona Cardinals and
the NFL, featuring insider and outsiderperspectives. Enjoy the best hour of Cardinals
talk on the web. Now Hereare your hosts, Jess Root and Seth
Cox. Hellows on A Cardinals fans, and welcome to the latest edition of

(00:34):
the Rise Up Sea Red Podcast.I mean, your hosts Jess Root from
cardswire dot com, the USA TodayNFL wire site covering of coursers on A
Cardinals with my co host, asis usually case special on a Tuesday night
when we're recording, Seth Cox fromRevenge of the Birds dot com, the
Espionation Arizona Cardinals site and also oneof the hosts of the original Draft Breakdown
podcast. Good time, Seth.We are reaching we honestly, we are

(01:00):
actually one week away from final cutsand it's it's about to happen. Yeah,
we're almost there, and you know, we had some clarification cuts already,
but outside of that, it's been, you know, kind of held
close to the vest I think we'restarting to get an idea of some position

(01:25):
groups where others is still kind ofa complete unknown. And I think,
you know, when you're going intoa season that doesn't look ultimately promising in
terms of wins and losses, whichyou know most of us expected even coming
in the season. You know,you and I were on the positive side,

(01:45):
I think in five maybe six wins, you know, and that's that's
being very positive. You You youmanufacturer. You allow things like like this,
right, like, oh, unknown, how how is this team going
to be built? In year oneof the Monty and Gannon era? And

(02:07):
to me, it's been kind offun to watch how they've gone about it
because, you know, you talkeda little bit about it last week.
There are the key guys and thenthere's everybody else. And it's not that
they've made it like oh these guysare more important or you know this or
that, but like there are theguys that they're like, we have to

(02:29):
have you for the regular season orwhat could be a long season is going
to be a lost season. Yeah. And you know, while we while
we saw hopes and glimmers of positivesin the first preseason game, there wasn't
a lot of that. And againstthe Chiefs, as they got jackhammered into

(02:52):
the ground, dismantled to call itwhat you want but it was a thirty
eight to ten loss to the KansasCity Chiefs where they were not very competitive
at all. And and my oneof my favorite things was to see Blaine
Gabbert for two drives just absolutely carveup the Cardinals defense. And to be

(03:13):
able to turn to my turn tomy fellow online credential people, Tyler Drake
over at Everson with Sports and Donnydrew It over at Sports Illustrated and telling
them this reminds me of the summerBlake Gabert in twenty seventeen with the Cards.
We were like and who's then,are like Blink Gabbert should be carving
up players could carve it up defensivelike this. He's a former first round
pick. He's as talent as youget as in terms of quarterback skill.

(03:37):
He's been in the league for adecade. He totally carved up that third
team defense. Oh my gosh.Yeah, it was ugly and and you
know, it was one of thethings I wrote about, and I know
we'll talk about it, but thereality becomes that the talent at the top
end, or their ability to playwell within the system them hasn't looked too

(04:01):
bad. I know, we'll talkabout that, but the depth, the
difference in the depth of a championshipcontending team and a team that could be
competing for the first overall pick isvast, and to be fair, that's
what makes the difference in the NFL. Obviously, having elite players like Patrick

(04:25):
Mahomes and Travis Kelsey is huge,but having guys that can win games if
those two are you know, downin any way, shape or form,
is is such a big deal.And you know, that's the reality of
the differences because you've got You've gotthe Cardinals who are just trying to find

(04:48):
guys to make it in the NFLversus the Chiefs, going is this guy
good enough to you know, befitted for a Super Bowl ring at the
end of this season. Like that'sjust kind of where the two teams are
right now. Yeah, let's sowhat we want to talk about in this
show is basically the good the bad. There was there is one position battle

(05:15):
probably like weep were paying attention to. I don't know how many other people
were playing attention to. It hasbeen decided and the Cardinals have made a
few roster moves. We'll kind ofdiscuss what they mean specifically, because they
aren't necessarily significant. So let's getstarted. So thirty eight to ten loss
to the Kansas City Chiefs. Itwas pretty bad, as as bad as

(05:38):
a sound founded. They allowed fivehundred and four yards of offense. The
Chiefs quarterbacks combined for thirty one ofthirty eight passing for three hundred ninety three
yards and three touchdowns. The defensedid not get a takeaway, they did
not sack the quarterback, and theybasically moved up and down the field as

(05:59):
they wanted. But we don't wantto deal on the what rent wrong,
and we wouldn't even necessarily talk aboutlike as a team, we're gonna what
I want, what was good?That's when we want to focus right now
what was good collectively and what wasgood individually. I can point to one
thing that was good collectively, andit is It is honestly just a small

(06:21):
sample size. But between the twoweeks when the Cardinals starting defense was in
the game, they've been effective.They they started all their starters and so
you had Buddha Baker in there,he had Kaiser White in there, you

(06:43):
had the whole you had the wholelineup in and in two drives they held
the Chiefs to seventeen yards. Grantedthere was an explosive play that got called
back by a penalty. Nonetheless,it was a penalty they do. And
so the Cardinals left like they hadtwo drives where it was a starting defense
against their starting offense, and theyforced the Chiefs both times off the field

(07:08):
after just a few yards. Andonce once Buddha Baker and guys you're white
came out and it's even Collins cameout. That's when Patrick Mahomes started just
just being surgical. But I thinklike if this defense, now, I
don't know what's going to look likeover a course of a whole game,
but because that, you know,you've got fatigues. But if that defense

(07:31):
can small sample size four drives,but if in the regular season they can
hang with basically any offense early ingames, it'll make these games feel interesting
at least. Yeah, And Ithink that's a great way to put it

(07:54):
right interesting because you look at whatthey did, you know, and I'm
pulling it up right now just sowe have, you know, hard facts
on our side, so to speak. And Buddha Kaizier they played ten snaps.
Lecky Gardeck like he played eleven,Guardek played thirteen, Collier played fifteen,

(08:20):
Wilson and Collins played seventeen. JayleenThompson played the most from us like
a true starter at twenty outside ofIsaiah Simmons and then Josh Woods and Keetrel
Clark, who are kind of inpositional battles. Right, Like Simmons,

(08:43):
they asked him to do a lotlast game. We'll get to his performance,
but you know, outside of that, you know, when you look
at Jayden Thompson twenty snaps and theneverybody else less than twenty, and like
you said, like they were competitive, and that's something we talked about last
week, right, be competitive,compete with good teams. They did that

(09:05):
against the Broncos, they did thatagainst the Chiefs. I don't think you
can expect a lot more because,like I said, the drop off and
obviously the Broncos aren't a very goodteam right now either, but the drop
off from you know, Buddha,Kaizier, Zaven, you know, those
guys to the next group is justso steep right now, which is slightly

(09:31):
disappointing, right, I mean that'skind of slightly disappointing, But at the
end of the day, you know, there were some key guys that were
missing, and and when you lookat it, you know you didn't have
you didn't have either of Cam Thomasor bj Audillary and they're still and either

(09:58):
yeah, my j so you had. So you're basically down your number two
starting edge guy or became you becamejes Look at the Victor Debkagi became the
new and Luketta was okay and DimickCagi took a huge step back this week.

(10:20):
You know what, it's ironic,Maybe ironic's not the right word.
It's interesting that Richard Lawrence is nownot a good player all of a sudden,
after after looking like a guy thatwas like, oh if he could
just stay healthy under vance, andnow he's you know, he's in that

(10:41):
I don't want to say doghouse,that makes it sound too strong, but
you know he's a guy at theback end of the roster, right and
and so like those guys getting somany reps and not competing, and that's
just what it was. I mean, it just changes how things go.
And you know, we know thatthere's going to be question marks that have
to be answered about the coverage,you know, situation outside of Marco Wilson,

(11:07):
who you know played well, butafter him, you know, is
it going to be Key Troll Clark. And they gave Key Trill a ton
of a ton of work this weekagainst the best passing offense in the NFL.
I mean this, hands down,no question. And you know,
those are I think that's what youdo in these situations. That's how you

(11:31):
look at preseason. And like yousaid, for those seventeen snaps and we'll
just call it seventeen, they lookedcompetitive. They weren't going I mean,
you're never nobody shutting down the Chiefsthe offense, right like nobody. But
they were competitive and that's the Thatto me is what I'm looking at.

(11:52):
And then I you know, obviouslyfrom there there was much disappointment in the
way of the guys that have opportunitiesto make, you know, make a
name for themselves that didn't take thatthis week. Yeah. Yeah, But
let's let's talk about the good individuals. You mentioned Marco looking good in coverage

(12:15):
early in the game, even makinga nice They even had a really nice
pass breakup in there one of thesefor me, and I think he probably
cemented his spot in the starting lineup. Wouldn't you say that Josh Woods
just kind of crushed it. Yeah, and that's what I was gonna say.
Isn't it really crazy that Kaisier White, Chris Barnes, and Josh Woods

(12:39):
all played well and none of theseguys are like high traffics. You know,
it does make it interesting to askit, I mean because even Sole
played pretty well, you know,but it does make the question. And
we've talked about this with White andwho was the other guy there? I
can't remember of top Mike Edwards Ithink it was or in Philly, Yeah,

(13:03):
t J. Edwards? Thank you? How good they were, right,
and neither of them were high draftpicks. And you're like, oh,
you know what, Jonathan Gannon andNick Ralis are really good at getting
linebackers in a position to make plays. And you're seeing that with with what
we've seen from Woods. I mean, Kaiser only played ten snaps when he

(13:24):
looked, oh my goodness, likehe was not like the dog, like
he wasn't the guy in Philly.He's carrying himself like like the Jordan Hicks
of this defense, right right,physical, imposing, but but honest,
like Josh Woods made a bunch ofplays. He's hitting guys, and because

(13:46):
of the type of player he's beenin his career, like like think Antonio
Hamilton last year in camp been basicallya special teams back of the roster guy.
Josh Wood has been a special teamsguy, just special teams ace for
his career, and I wondered ifit was just like because he was.

(14:07):
He was on a podcast with withPHNX there Cardinals podcast months ago, and
he talked about how he was hopingto be able to bust the door down
and become a defensive player. Imean, that's a normal thing to say,
but he's giving me Lorenzo Alexander vibesthe way he's taking advantage of this.

(14:28):
He's looked legitimately going to Alexander playeda different position, was more of
a pass rusher and really developed intoan impact player as his career advanced.
But it felt like, you know, and we thought. I thought that
Chris Barnes would probably be the guyto win it when that starting job,
and Chris Barnes didn't play badly,but Woods was noticeably impactful with well with

(14:54):
the starters, and then he poppedeven more when you had the second teamers
on the on the on the field, his hustle. You know, when
Rashi White got past guys and wasmaking a big play, he White Rice
was really really, really fortunate becauseWoods came from behind, punched the football

(15:18):
out like got the got his handleof the football and it came loose and
he just fell right back into hishands. But that was one of those
don't give up plays. That wasawesome to see. And and I think
when you get if, if hegets significant playing time this year, you're
gonna see a lot of that.Well, and that's just it. You
know again, I when he theysigned him, you and I talked quite

(15:39):
a bit about how obviously it's alittle bit he's a little bit behind the
TJ. Edwards track, but itwould be kind of similar, right,
Like Edwards was played eleven percent ofsnaps his rookie year on defense, but
was like in the seventies and specialteams and then he played a lot more

(16:02):
in twenty twenty. But you know, it really took until Gannon and company
got there, and then he becamethe guy and really took off. And
you know he's not an All Proor Pro Bowl guy or anything like that,
but he was. I mean,he got paid what by Chicago,
like he got like fourteen million ayear or something. Then he's something crazy

(16:23):
like that. Actually thought it wasa little bit. I thought it was
less than expected. I think itwas around seven million, but even still,
yeah, and so you just lookat it and you know, that's
what that's just what this defense cando. And I think Woods is the
guy that's kind of pouncing on that. We also saw that, you know

(16:47):
again, Buddha Baker's I think gonnathrive in this defense. He played,
you know again, ten snaps,nine in coverage, but he played really
well. It was a really friendlycontract. It's good for him. But
three years almost twenty million. Yeah. Yeah. And then Kaiser, you
know, like you said, likehe's just and it's tough against this team.
I mean you look at it likeit's crazy to look at the numbers.

(17:11):
Like Buddha and Kaisier played ten snaps. They played nine in coverage because
it's Kansas City, right, Imean Jayleen Thompson. Jay Thompson played twenty
stamps, so he played double.He played seventeen in coverage. He only
had three against the run. Solike they were they were basically like when

(17:32):
those guys are in that's those arethe guys that can make plays downhill,
Like we're gonna try to get playsover them, because I mean even Woods
only saw in thirty two snaps,only saw six rushing attempts, Like,
that's just it's it's a hard teamto gear up for, and when your
pass rush is probably probably your weakestpoint, it's gonna look even worse,

(17:57):
right for sure. Yeah, andthen I think offensively, there were a
couple of guys that I think wecan shout out. I thought I thought
both Hernandez and fro Holt look good, kind of the complete opposite of what
Kansas City does, you know,kind of balanced they only played fifteen snaps,

(18:18):
kind of balanced, right, butthey're they're just showing that they're really
really good and run blocking like they'regonna be able to run block. Josh
Jones continues to play well, somethingto watch, right, because you know,
and he played fifty three snaps.He played a ton of snaps.
It's gonna be something to watch,Like, Is that is that a move

(18:44):
you make, especially with Monty Austinfort stacking draft picks? Is that a
move you'd be willing to make withhow well he's playing like can you take
that chance, especially with DJ Humphrey'sinjury history, right, but you know,
the again limited limited, limited action. But I you know, I

(19:06):
didn't. I thought the starting offensiveline was fine, and I thought,
you know, as a whole,that was okay. And that's kind of
what you're again looking for against.Yes, they're missing Chris Jones, but
that's on Chris Jones. It's notlike they held him out for any reason,
right, they were if their starterswere there, they were gonna play,
you know, So I mean thatcould be a situation where the first

(19:30):
eight games the Chiefs are missing ChrisJones. So you know, it's it's
just one of those things to watch. But you know, Hernanda's Hernanda's is
a guy we both wanted to seeplay well and maybe get extended, you
know, to more of a longterm deal. But man fro Holt,
and it's been too preseason games andlike what twenty five snaps, But they've

(19:55):
been encouraging. I think that's thebest way to put it. Well,
yeah, that's because we're really likethey were talking the way they're talking,
they want to build this offense andwine protect Kyler Murray and then they're bringing
yelled to yield to Froholten is tobe the center, you're like, really
for NFL. And he's he's beengood, he's been pretty solid. He

(20:17):
hasn't been a problem. And Ithink there's something to be said as well,
is what kind of where he isin within the locker room and with
the coaching staff. Since he wasthe guy that was sent out to do
the coin toss as the single captainfor the Cardinals on Saturday, I don't
know what that meant. That youhave to figure that there is something there

(20:41):
to that. And like we saidlast week, this like one of their
first moves in free agency might havebeen kind of like the steel of the
off season. Funny by the guywho's been like, who's like a legitimate
NFL center, But injuries have beena problem. What happened? He's he's

(21:02):
heard, he's heard again already.Yeah, And I mean we talked about
alf Line and like could you trusthim for that long? The obvious answers
no. And that's unfortunate. It'sjust I mean it's tough, Like we're
not trying to crap on a guy. We're not trying to take, you
know, shots at a guy.But the reality is is, you know,

(21:22):
it stinks. It stinks for theseguys who are talented players that can't
stay healthy. It's yeah, that'srough. Yeah, And then you know,
I think we should mention to JamesConner only only a couple plays,
but looked looked noticeably quicker. Well, well, I think I think the

(21:45):
biggest thing is that the running gamelooks so much better against against Kansas City
than than Denver because they had JamesConner. It wasn't just Damon's Connor County.
Ingram looked really good too. That'sand you know, there again,
we're not there, and even thestuff we are therefore we're not allowed to
talk about. And then even thenthey kind of tend to sometimes wait until

(22:12):
we're not there to you know,show some stuff. And I'm gonna tell
you, like, everybody I've talkedto is very excited about Keyante Ingram.
So I don't know if they're bubblewrapping him. I don't know if this
has been planned. I don't,you know, obviously this is the first
year regime and all of that,but they seem genuinely excited about Ingram,

(22:36):
and it was easy to see why. On On Saturday, Oh my gosh.
Ye. Well, and it's veryinteresting is that if there's one thing
I've been able to take away fromwhat they've done offensively is that, at
least when Colt McCoy's going to beplaying, we are going to see a
lot of the tight end of therunning back even in the passing game.
Yeah, short stuff, get itout quick, get rid of the ball.

(23:00):
Let let playmakers make plays. Andthat I mean that makes sense,
right, Yeah, And so likehaving if they consuming that they both can
be healthy, that a duo ofJames Connor count Ingram might not, I
mean that that's not bad. Andand you know what, if the Cardinals
can be a consistent moving the ball, you know what. Both of those

(23:22):
guys are big. They are goingto wear down opponents. Connor's a big,
physical runner. Kyante he's not asphysical a runner like run over you
run through year, but he's abig dude as well. Yeah, and
he's a he's a fun guy towatch run like a real fun guy.

(23:47):
And that's you know, for me, this is gonna be kind of a
boring offense until Kyler gets back.They're gonna put a lot on their defense
for better or worse. But it'sgood to see that they look like they
can they can run the ball alittle bit and they can play a little
defense. And I know the endscore did not show that, but I

(24:18):
thought the starters showed that. Youknow that that's a game and I know
people are gonna be like, well, that's not good. That's a game
that the Cardinals probably lose, liketwenty four to fourteen or twenty four to
ten, right, and if Kyler'sin there, maybe it's you know,
twenty four seventeen or something like that. But and you might be saying,

(24:38):
well, that's not good. ButI mean that's literally the best team in
the NFL, and like, ifthat's if that's what you're able to do
and where you're at, you know, obviously health and things like that all
matter, but like that's an encouragingthing for a team that's in you know
what is kind of a total rebuildcoming next to the right of Seret podcast

(24:59):
its start Cardinals talking the bit let'stalk about them not so good? That's
gotten the next and the risips heread We're back on the Rise of Seret
podcast, The best of Cardinals talkon the web. I think well and
aside from and we'll kind of talkabout that Nolan Nolan Cooney the punter.
Wow, but we'll save that forthe next part. But that's because that
spoiler alert the Cardinals have a newpunter. But there were a lot of

(25:22):
things that were disappointing in that game. I mean, aside from like the
team performance players that that showed promise, they just didn't do much. And
I'm not saying that that's they're gonnabe bad or they took a step back,
but you know, all the thepraise that we've seen from Michael Wilson

(25:45):
about Michael Wilson didn't do anything andand actually had a negative because he had
the holding penalty. He saw alittle bit in the in run blocking,
but he picked up a penalty.He didn't get target, I don't think,
but he wasn't impactful. There wasa lot of guys who had looked
solid against Denver who just felt none. They felt like they were none.

(26:08):
They basically non contributed. They werejust there. Nothing happened with them.
Yeah, and it's one of thosesituations when you look at it that this
is a you know, the Wilsonsituation. In his fourteen Snapsy yeah,
he didn't look good, But youalso have to be realistic in the sense

(26:33):
that this is an offense that youneed to be able to block well.
He typically does that, and thenwhen you get past plays, you know,
you only may get to a game. So like it's not going to
be a volume offense, right wherelike we see with Casey or sense Where

(26:56):
or even Buffalo, where they mightget, you know, twelve targets a
game, like especially early, itmight be where you run. You know,
if they if they run sixty plays, you might run, they're only
thirty five routes, and if youknow, you may only get three targets
on those thirty five routes, youknow, like it's just one of those
situations. And so yeah, heI mean, you're absolutely right, he

(27:19):
did not look like we had hoped. But I also think that at the
time, like you know, someof the time, we over we overestimate,
or you know, we expected.I tried, I tried pumping the

(27:40):
brakes along on all offseason on MichaelWilson. But but I am also not
just talking to you and I butlike you know, because especially now it's
one of the things I've really found, you know now that everybody's kind of
at camp, right, and everybody'stalking about camp up the what's the word

(28:04):
I'm looking for? Like the hypeis kind of out of control, you
know. And I'm not saying usor anybody specific, but like we just
see all the time. It's likewe see these one on one highlights of
Michael Wilson winning a rap and it'slike, Oh, he's he's gonna be
a dog. Oh he's gonna dothis or that or the other, and

(28:25):
it's like, all right, Imean he might and he looks really good.
But like also, and I thinkthere's something to be said about the
fact that it looks like he isone of the heat, Like he's wide
receiver two basically right now is whatit looked like because it was Hollywood and
Wilson and then they added Rondale inthis slot. Pascal Pascal also came in

(28:47):
some but but basically Wilson is oneof their top two guys, which is
I don't know how, I don'tknow if I'm a little well that's not
great yeah or great? Right,that's a fair question, right, Like
is it a good thing or isit a bad thing? And uh,

(29:10):
you know those are things we'll see, uh and see how how they go.
But you know, right now,I think overall you've seen that this
is a this is a work inprogress more than anything, right Like,

(29:30):
it's definitely a working progress. Andto your point, like Tray McBride didn't
look great, you know, offensively. You know, we're just going over
the offensive guys right now. Youknow, Tray McBride didn't look great.
The backup interior guys didn't look great. You know, you look at you

(29:52):
look at the quarterbacks, I meandidn't exactly look great. Right like,
you've at the real highs and lowsof the Rookie and Clayton tune, but
then you've got the really boring,I guess the best way to put it,
performance of Colt McCoy thiss far right, like it's it hasn't been bad

(30:15):
by any means, but it's kindof just been there, like right,
and and them not saying that thathe's in any danger of losing the starting
job while Kyler's out to Clayton tunebecause I think that I think that's a
bad idea, because I think thevariance in tunes play would be too great,

(30:41):
too great right now, and whileCoult. We're gonna sec but yeah,
it's and maybe it is simply becausehe hasn't had time to get into
rhythm there, there has been nothing. There really hasn't been a whole lot
off and it would be like,yeah, but you'll be like, they're

(31:03):
going to survive. I guess thisis basically it feels like that is treading
water at best. Even it's evenmore so. Could remember how they were
trying to, you know, handleDeAndre Hopkins being out. This is even
more so where they're just like wejust we just just keep us together,
don't mess up, don't mess up, like literally game managing. Yeah,

(31:26):
on a bend team, you know. I think that's what their goal is.
And we'll see how it works outfor them. But you know,
it's gonna be interesting because it's beenyou know, like I said, it's
just been very very boring less far, and so we'll see, you know,
what the what the expectation, whatthe growth of that looks like over
the next couple of weeks, youknow. But the offense, I don't
think you and I have very highexpectations for the offense until Kyler gets back.

(31:49):
Like that's not being rude that's justlooking at we know what we haven't
called McCoy. We've seen it forthe last several years, and a fifth
round rookie. Like for every Brockparty, there's twenty seven. And I'm
gonna keep saying about brock Purty,if he were dropped into any other team,
any other system, Nope, nope, nope, he was. Like

(32:14):
what made brock Purty so successful isthe fact that he was He was he
had just enough physical talent and wasnot making mistakes Like yeah, and so
we we can't expect that from froman offense where the receivers aren't consistently three
are separated from their defenders, likeit seems like San Francisco's is. But

(32:36):
can we talk about Isaiah Simmons becauseyeah, and people very down in Isaiah
right now, and and I don'tknow what to think. I will say
this the one the touchdown play whenwhen you know Shane Bouchell grand for the
touchdown, like Isaiah literally could havekilled him, but he had already got

(33:00):
so I don't and he'd already gottenflag. Bey, do we want to
kill him for that because it's apreseason game? Like Simmons, like if
he goes if he flies in there, I think Chaine Michelle's head comes off.
Yeah, And it's tough. Imean, I get it. There's
a lot of questions and people.You know, he's got a lot of

(33:22):
he's got a lot of trust andability to earn back. Let's start there.
Can we both agree with that,Like neither nobody right now is is
really going to Defendiza sim and soany mistakes he makes or or questionable things
are going to get magnified. Anda lot of people didn't like his hit

(33:44):
on was it against Rice? Idon't remember who it was, but you
know they hit on the wide receiverthere. Thought it was dumb. That's
hard, and it just felt likeit didn't know what it's really hard.
It's really hard for Simmons because ofhis size, and Vince Joseph talked about
that. It's like one of thethings that he's gonna run into, like

(34:05):
if he's going to be a hitter, because he's six foot four, two
hundred and forty pounds, you can'thit a like it's just very hard for
him to hit a guy in theright spot, especially smaller players. Buddha
is able to do it because he'salready smaller, so the game for the

(34:27):
thigh pad, that's it. Hegoes for the thigh pad. Simmons can't
get that low. So if aguy is going down and he's gonna make
contact, like his shoulder pads aregonna go against are gonna hit pretty much
everybody's helmet. So that's that's reallyunfortunate for him. But yeah, it's
it's it's the thing he has tojut too well. And as a coach,
and this is I mean, obviouslyI don't ever compare anything that I

(34:50):
do with the NFL, but Idon't know if if this is true.
You know, I obviously never coachedI said Simmons, but sim seems like
the type of guy that plays reallywell when things are going well, and
once he makes a mistake, hetends to compound those mistakes by by maybe

(35:20):
you know, getting down on himself, maybe you know, like I don't
want to say he feel sorry for, but like maybe playing a little more
scared than he should. And andall of that is something that I think
and we we heard and we listenedto Jonathan Gannon after the game talk about
Isaiah Simmons, and you know,we always talked about how Cliff never threw

(35:45):
a guy under the bus right likehe was always it was always Cliff's's fault.
He didn't throw his coaches under theboy, didn't throw anybody like he
was always cliffs fault. Gannon doesa really good job of saying like,
hey, you know he did thiswell, or he was he was doing

(36:05):
this well, or or you knowthis, and like praising him knowing that
there were several mistakes that can becleaned up in that situation. And that's
what I've been impressed with with again, and it's not just his teaching,
but how he deals with the negativityor or the negative plays. And that's

(36:30):
what we saw with Simmons. Iwould say is that, you know,
I think he had handled it well. He did not do a great job
in that game. He did notplay as well as he did the first
game, but I think overall thathe's accepting the coaching. And it seems

(36:54):
like Gannon has an idea of howto coach Simmons now. And what Gannon
said, it wasn't and he saidhe a couple of times covers he may
have lost leverage, but we'll goback and try to flick it up.
And and there's one thing that we'veseen about Simmons, like over the last
couple of years is that he canlike that's one thing that happens against the

(37:16):
chief. Specifically last year he gotin trouble because he was playing bad technique
and lost leverage several times to Kelseylast year. And I think that's just
a common thing, is like hesometimes just gets a little outside of himself

(37:36):
for what he's supposed to do.Maybe I don't he's such a smart guy
from what we saw at Clemson,and then he's always been praised for how
smart he is. But maybe it'sthe he gets caught into the I can
do this, so I can takea chance and then makes a mistake because
of it. And it seems likethat's where he is. Either he's just

(38:00):
a step slow or step behind thedecision. So where he loses leverage on
a route and he ends up gettingit makes him look terrible, and that
things his mistakes make him look bad. That that is that's the problem.
That's that's a fantastic way to putit, you know. And then but
he wasn't the only bad one,so let's you know, let's not act

(38:21):
like he was Christian, Matthew ketraw Clark both struggled. Well, it's
one thing to get beat like hehe was like againnon wants his corners to
tackle. He did not do agood job at that, right, And
so you know, you look atyou look at both Clark and Matthew not

(38:45):
great this weekend. That's that wasdisappointing. I thought that, you know
again Rochard Lawrence, man, I'vebeen I just don't what's going on with
him? Like he was always consistent. Yeah, that's what you and I

(39:05):
would always say, and now allof a sudden, it's just it just
looks bad. It just doesn't lookgood. So very all, you know,
maybe maybe you know, you thinkrather than cutting him, maybe we
could, you know, send himto Denver and dance Joseph for seventh rounder,

(39:27):
right, just get something for him, because honestly, like I think
the last two weeks, I've I'vehad him out outside of the fifty three
because you look at the you lookat the guys who are gonna make the
team, Collier, Lucky Foe two. Like and I mentioned this on the
Solo Show last week. I'm like, look at him, he's quietly and
I think we talked about it too. It was like quietly become a starting

(39:51):
most tackle, which is what hewas in college. Like it's I wanted
to talk to him after the gamelast week and I should have. You
know, no one was over thestake. I wanted to ask him if
you know, has he been likeis the focus been narrowed as opposed to
what they was doing before? Becausehe if you look at Philly, like,

(40:14):
if you look at Philly, thoseinterior guys are giant athletes. Lecky
is that and he has Like Ithink the hope was that he could develop
into something more. But if youjust have him do what he's good at,
which I think that's that's been Gannisthing. He's like, you know,

(40:35):
especially guys that have been in theleague a little bit, don't try
to ask them to do more,ask him to do what they can do
well and have him do it welland make them and have them prove later
that they can do add to thatrole and that that's a good way to
go. But yeah, because rightnow, the guys that feel like locks
for the roster on the defensive lineor Collier foe to Jonathan Ledberd. Nice

(40:57):
story kind of honestly, I kindof like that, Carlos Watkins, Kevin
Strong. And then if they keepa sixth defensive lineman, which I think
they will, then it's about,well, is it Richard, is it
Dante Stills their draft pick? Isit Eric Banks? Is it Ben Stilly
who's made some plays? I thinkthat last spot is really up for grabs.

(41:20):
Even Jacob's laid look good. Imean, so yeah, it's it's
it's interesting because I feel like,yeah, we went in kind of I
don't want to say assuming, butassuming that Lawrence was you know, well,
like of the of the returners,like Foe to Lawrence and Ledbetter,
we always felt that Lawrence was thebetter player. Yeah, and so it's

(41:47):
just it's interesting. And like Isaid, it might just be one of
those situations that he is just nota fit in what Gannon wants to do.
And and quite frankly, you knowthat's okay, Yeah, yeah,
totally. Any anyone else of notethat kind of stuck out as disappointing or
or or not doing well. Imean it was for me, it was

(42:10):
it was mostly just a bad overallperformance. I didn't that was that,
and it was once they got behindthem, they couldn't catch up. It
was really it was honestly, wasreally disappointing because they had chance to get
that touchdown. They scored the touchdown, but had called back off Kayden Davis's

(42:34):
crackback block, which I didn't seeit in from what people told me that
it was a crappy call. Oncethey didn't get the touchdown, basically was
lights out because you know, ifthey score that touchdown, you feel a
little bit of juice and maybe canmake it interesting. But the second half
of that ball game was like alot of preseason games, which is unwatchable.

(42:59):
That's a alrighty might to put it. Because it was there. There
was a lot of going back tothe OC fights for certain people on the
podcast. All right, coming onnext on the Rise up here at podcast
Bester of Cardinal Stock in the Web. Hey, we've we've got a position
battle locked up and it's a bitof a surprise that's coming next to the
Rise ups she read, We're backon the Rise ups here at podcast the

(43:21):
Best at Cardinal Stock on the web. We have a winner of a position
battle. And I'll say this,I am shocked the Cardinals released Matt Hawk,
a guy that's for the last sixyears, never not been an NFL
punter. It's not like he hasn'tbeen to sit out at all. He
was signed by a team he's beentheir punter all year and felt when like

(43:44):
when he was signed in May,that was that was it that we knew,
oh Andy Lee's done, We're notbringing back Andy Lee. But guess
what, it was a we andit we We didn't know if it was
really a position battle, but weknew at least they weren't just giving it
lip service that there was a battlebetween him and Nolan Cooeing. Guess what,

(44:04):
Nolan Cooney, the punter that youknow, has been you know,
kind of just right there, likehe was on the off season roster last
year. Basically with the Cardinals alwaysdo this, they bring in, especially
when you have old specialists, you'llbring in a younger specialist to lessen the
load. But Cooney went out andwon that job and in two preseason games.

(44:30):
I will say this that his puntinghas was fantastic, and he adds
the fact that he helped like he'snow that's two off seasons of holding field
goals, so there's got to bea comfort level for Prater, And I
don't know if he will replace Prateron kickoffs, but he gives the Cardinals

(44:52):
another option for kickoffs, especially ifthere's any concern about his hip, which
with Prader's hip which kept him whichwas an issue. He missed four games
with the hip injury and led totheir kicking problems. And you know,
and if he if he didn't haveto do kickoffs, he probably would have

(45:15):
been okay for a couple of thosegames. Yeah, And so that's just
you know, again, new regime. We don't know how they do things.
But this was a bit of ashock. But Cooney's punted his butt
off all all well in his inhis preseason performance and it was you know,

(45:42):
and during camp he's done well,and so to see him get the
win from the performance isn't surprising,but just based on how coaches, especially
defensive coaches typically like to do things, it was a bit surprising. But
you know, again, I thinkit's good to see this kind of change,

(46:06):
you know, instead of going withthe expensive kind of veteran because it's
the safer play, go with theguy that that earned it. And and
and I think it'll talk to theguys more, right, like they'll be
able to say, like they'll beable to say like, oh, this
is a guy that this is aguy that you know, or these are

(46:30):
coaches that will one hundred percent giveit to the guy that works the hardest,
that that puts the performance out onthe field. And it's not just
about what you know, what yourname is, or what you've done in
the NFL already. Yeah, andyou know, Jeff Rogers, this is
this is one of those cool thingswhere you know that Rogers has a lot

(46:53):
of pool into type of special teamsguys that he gets. Kuhney was a
guy that Rogers probably scouted, decidedhe wanted him on the team as a
as a possibility for Andy Lee orat least a guy to develop and to
have him then develop. That's that'skind of cool that that, honestly is
one of the cooler things to see, especially considering Cooney's background, the fact

(47:15):
that you know he picked up puntingwhen he was covering for cancer and all
that, and but like his numbersare eye popping, not like he had
that sixty five yard punt on thefly. In five punts in the preseason,
he's averaged over fifty yards over fortyseven in net and three of his
five punts have been inside the twenty. Those like, you can't do much

(47:37):
better than that, And and honestly, Hawk wasn't bad. He wasn't.
He's a pretty good NFL punter.He's not a great NFL punter. He's
a pretty good NFL punter, andhe's probably gonna end somewhere real quick.
But Cooney, Cooney flat out onethat job. Well, I'd be one
of those situations that ends up beinghe ends up being at you know,

(48:02):
getting signed after either after the preseason'sover and or he gets signed when the
first veteran injured gets injured, orthe first time a guy uh ends up
not punting well in a game andthey're like, bringing a veteran. I'm

(48:22):
not dealing with this, you know, kind of like the Cardinals. Cardinals
did with that long snapper that oneyear and the Bruce arians era right who
actually turned out to be a prettygood long snapper. Yeah Steelers guy right
now. Yeah, Yeah, butthat's remember, that's exactly what happens.
It's like, go get me aveteran like they have they have one bad

(48:45):
game and they're like, Nope,can't do this, but yeah, so
well, it'll be interesting to seethroughout, like and if because of the
consistency there, hopefully what we seenow is Prater that we don't have this
sho with Prater kicking because the holdingis consistent, you can use Cooney on
kickoffs, and apparently you can becauseI felt kind of the one thing that

(49:09):
we started to see from Andy Leelast year. He's had a big leg
his old entire career. He startedevery once in a while, like maybe
once a game, just you're like, oh, that was bad. It
was he was a little less consistentand he's still picked up anywhere. But
granted maybe he he was ready toretire. But having Cooney, that's that's

(49:34):
cool. That's cool on the wattlelevels. I will say this from the
local level, it's it's going tobe disappointing for the McNamara family here in
Gilbert because they were hoping that AndyLee would pin punt one more year so
that Austin could get drafted by theCardinals out of Texas Tech this next year
and so they could he could playfor his home team. So but that's
that's a that's a completely separate thing, has nothing to do with this other

(49:57):
than I know the mcnamarrors, andI know Austin, and I know his
dad really really was his dream wasthat Austin could punt for the Cardinals,
and it doesn't look like that'll probablyhappen. If if Cooney's any good,
they will bring him back for yearsto come. Right coming on next on
the Rise of Sered Podcasts Bestar CardinalStalk on the Web, Let's talk about
final roster moves that have been made. What do they mean before the preseason

(50:21):
finale that's coming on next to Riseup read or back on the Rise of
se Red podcast wistar if Cardinals talkthe Web. The cardinalson made a few
roster moves, but I don't wantyou getting too crazy about them because to
me, the moves that were madeare simply to get them through their preseason
finale. What have we seen sofar? The well, they released Matt

(50:45):
Hawk, Okay, we know thatthey were released Waved injured Lachevia Sivens.
That's he wasn't gonna make the rosteranyway. They resigned running back Stevie Scott,
and then they added on Benett wasannounced on Tuesday. Zach McLeod,
pass rusher from the Titans, wouldyou say either Stevie Scott or is not

(51:07):
McLoud have any future with the teambeyond this week. No, And you
know we talked unless and we talkedabout it earlier. But you know,
Cam Thomas, b Jilari, myj Sanders all not playing in the game.
Obviously, if they all can't go, I mean, if they all

(51:31):
can't go the first week, thenone of them has gotta go on ir
right or pop or something like becausethey have to create a roster spot at
that point. Yeah. Yeah,So the way I thought looked at it
preseason finale, you're not going toplay guardic or Collins. Cam Thomas was
hurt, so we don't know ifhe's going to be available. My j

(51:52):
was hurt. Don't know if he'sgoing to be available. And then oh
Jilari, you don't know if he'savailable yet. So if you take out
Collins and Guardeck, you are leftwith only Jesse Looketta, Victor to McCage
David Anini to play outside. Infact, you know last last week at

(52:13):
the end of the game, theyI don't know if he's practiced there,
but they were using one of theirinterior guys, Eric Banks to play edge
towards the end of the game,right, so they you know, that's
what this guy is being brought infor. I don't know if I don't
know if McCloud will play, butI think at least at minimum, because
like when Stevie Scott, uh,like when Stevie Scott was signed before the

(52:36):
Denver game, didn't play in theDenver game and then was released, I
think he is there. And it'san emergency policy because if you could go
into that game with four, youcould go into that game with four guys,
and maybe Ojilari plays this week.I would think maybe. I think
he's moving in that direction in thewe hope I am and my jay I'm

(53:00):
I wonder if he's gonna make theteam personally with this this with this defense,
I don't know, but hopefully ojilaris back, and I mean get
Ojilari, lakettamkag and and then Anniniwho's been with the team for for a
few weeks. So yeah, andthen you don't need mclaud But I think

(53:22):
that's the case now Stevie Scott comingback. I think that's also, Oh,
James Connor's not going to play,right and I would guess Keyte is
not going to play. That's myguests as well, and so so you
get if you get an injury,well, and Tyson Williams was was a
hurt so he didn't play on Saturday. So if you if you keep Connor

(53:44):
out that and then if you decideto keep Ingram out, you've got Corey
Clement, you got Amarim Demarcado.And so it's either either they're not gonna
have played Keyante or Tye Williams isout another week and that you just want
to have a fourth running back availablejust in case, just in case,

(54:06):
to get them through the game inthat preseason. So I'm not saying the
set Scott's gonna play, I'm notsaying that that Mcloud's gonna play. But
I think that those are simply insuranceeditions. They are not They are the
definition of a at of a campbody emergency plan right now, I think,
just to make sure that they canget through the game. So that's

(54:27):
my analysis of the roster moves.There might be more coming, but yeah,
and at this rate there's not,though, And that's kind of where
we're going for this with you know, it's been it's been Uh, already
kind of what we expected right anup and down preseason. We're expecting the
same thing and and during the season. But hopefully we see you know,

(54:53):
more health and competence moving forward,as as this continues and as they get
closer to us, or as theygo through the season this year. All
right, anything else of note thatwe want to talk about. No,
I think it's exciting to see this. Uh, it's been it's been good

(55:15):
so far, and you know,we'll see how it ends up. But
you know, thus far it's beenyou know, I think for the starters
are positive and the issues are whatwe expected. They they're not very I
will do a solo show later thisweek, and maybe what I can get
from set that the one thing wehave not done because our next show is
going to come after roster cuts.Well we will, we will, we'll

(55:37):
react to the roster cuts. Butbut maybe what I can have Set through
is is to give me kind ofthe guys heat thinks instead of necessarily a
whole fifty three man roster prediction.I'll give you mine, and I'll give
you what I'm expecting to see inthe Vikings game. But I'll do a
solo show Thursday or Friday, andthen we'll be back next week to react

(55:59):
to Roster Cut. Yeah, sothat's of Cox. I'm Jess Rute.
This is Rise Preter See Red Podcast. This episode four hundred and fifty three.
Thank you for listening. As always, thanks for listening to the latest
edition of the Rise Up Sea RedPodcast. Listen to previous episodes and subscribe
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(56:21):
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web, Rise up Red, Seab Red, Sea Red, and of
course Rise up Sea Red, Risebro Peers Out, bro PERSU, Brock

(57:06):
Players Out.