Q&A with Cardinals Fans: Kyler Murray, Jimmy G, Nick Bosa, and... Dan Arnold? + Observations from Texans v. Chiefs

Ahead of Week 1, discussing with Cardinals fans about their team, our team, and the NFC West as a whole. Looking at the beatdown the Chiefs put on the Texans, and your daily links.

Sep 11, 2020

San Francisco 49ers/YouTube

With Sunday fast approaching, I wanted to properly evaluate the Cardinals, not from a 49ers perspective, but from a Cardinals fan perspective. Thankfully, an amazing community at the AZ Cardinals Reddit helped me out with this - introducing our Q&A series - starting with the Cardinals! Special shoutout to everyone who answered in this Q&A, amazing responses! Check the original post out here, with all the replies, not just these!

How have your rookies/new additions fared in training camp? Any surprises, bad or good?

u/WeCameAsBears

I'll try to answer the questions as best I can, from what info I've personally seen. Apparently most guys have been pretty good.
Bad: we did end up cutting our LB we drafted and signed him to our PS (Evan Weaver). He apparently just didn't look that great in camp.
Good: Devon Kennard (LB) has looked great, along with another great defensive player in Jordan Phillips (also LB). Hopkins looks great in Cardinal red and he's really liking the team, teammates, and coaches.

u/ThecoachTC

Rookies to watch on the dline: Rashard Lawrence and Leki Fotu. I would even toss in Zach Allen because he was hurt most of last year. Expect our defensive line to make a huge jump this year. We got some dawgs.

The front seven getting some impact players - DL is a weakness for ARI so if their younglings are stepping up, big news.

Who’s one player flying under the radar that’s posed for a breakout season? Similarly, who is the most overrated player on Arizona?

u/WeCameAsBears

Flying under the radar: I think for most Cardinals fans it's gotta be Andy Isabella. He looked okay last year (he did have an 89 yd TD against y'all on Halloween ;) )
Most Overrated: This is tough, because we don't get much hype at all from a national perspective. If I had to pick one single player that's "overrated", I think it's gonna be Hopkins. That's gonna be controversial, but let me explain. I think with the addition of Hopkins, we have a totally new dynamic. He's going to be great, no doubt. But with him likely going to be 1 on 1 coverage or even double teamed, it's going to open the door for Fitz, Kirk, and probably Isabella to do their thing. It's going to be interesting to see how it unfolds.

u/ThecoachTC

Christian Kirk. He is our third WR and can run every route in the route tree and also has pure speed. He will for sure go for 1000+ yards if he stays healthy all year. Chase Edmonds is the other, if let’s say Drake is hurt.
Overrated: I think some people are going to be upset with DeAndre Campbell because they want to see Simmons play there.

u/jtgouchi

Under the radar is Kirk, he could have a huge season (behind Hop) with 1k+ yards/ 5-6 TDs or he could go for 600; just depends on multiple variables. Also Byron Murphy listed as our 3rd CB, don't let that fool you - he is nasty.
Overrated is dare I say PP. Some games he shuts down the best receivers in the league but other games he isn't all there. Also our offensive line in general. Yes we will be better than last year but our o-line still has to give Kyler enough time and give Drake lanes.

WRs are the focal point - I too think Kirk will be a monster this season, a premier slot receiver in the NFL and Isabella is good too. Interesting to see Pat Pete, one of the GOAT CBs on here.

If you could pick one player from the 49ers to “steal”, who would it be and why? Factor in team needs.

u/WeCameAsBears

I think I would probably steal Bosa. Him, opposite of Chandler Jones would be freaking terrifying for opposing offenses and would no doubt conceal our less than stellar secondary.

u/Gratitude15

I may steal Kittle. But we are a “Fan” Arnold Town, so maybe not.

A whopping 5 out of 6 replies picked Bosa - strange, with their OL concerns I though Trent Williams would get a look. Dan Arnold is getting a lot of love in PHX, surprise player?

How would you rank the 4 NFC West QBs? Thoughts on Jimmy G?

u/WeCameAsBears

I would rank them:
1.) Wilson
2.) Kyler
3.) Jimmy "Feels Good, Baby" G
4.) Goff
2 and 3 could honestly be interchangeable, and it's obviously a homer bias putting Kyler above Jimmy. Kyler only has 1 year under his belt, so we'll see what he looks like this year and we can have another discussion next year.

All of the answers were in this rank and most had the same take, it is too early to tell - fair.

How do you like Kliff Kingsbury so far?

u/WeCameAsBears

I love Kliff. He fills the swagger void that Uncle Bruce left when he retired and I really enjoy how he carries himself. Last year, week 1 against the Lions, our offense was a cluster****. We couldn't get rolling at all. He switched his play calling and even his scheme up slightly so we had a chance, and we almost won that game. It was good to see Kliff take responsibility and not pass the blame off on players or their gap integrity. #Stiff4Kliff

u/jtgouchi

Shanahan in my opinion is the best play caller in the league. Genius play design as well.
KK learned and got better at play calling and just running the offense in general every game. I really enjoy him and his connection with Kyler and the offense he runs is smart and progressive. The play calling in the red zone was BAD the first 4 games but he continuously got better every week until his machine was running as we all saw at the end of the year. All super biased opinions but I mean I also watched all the games so there’s that lol.

u/FlashSpider-man

#StiffForKliff
The big thing that gives me hope for him is that he came in with the intent to run an air raid but that failed so he adapted. Near the end of the year he ran a lot more 12 personnel along with more running and it worked better. He is learning as a coach and so I have a lot of trust in him for the future.

A lot of hope for Kliff Kingsbury, who many of us doubted coming out of college - the air-raid extraordinaire seems to have lessened but KK is a young, swaggy coach, with a brilliant offensive mind - sound familiar?

Strongest and weakest position group on the team?

u/WeCameAsBears

Strongest: Easily WR. Our WR room is made of freaking gold, I tell you. There are just so many good things going on there with Hopkins, Fitz, Kirk, Isabella, and the rest of the gang. We are stacked at WR.
Weakest: Absolutely our secondary is less than stellar. You could honestly say our defense as a whole, but it's mostly the secondary. Vance Joseph has yet to win the fan base over (at least from what I've seen) but hopefully this year has more positivity around it.

Everyone who replied had the same view: WR room is the strongest, the defense, mainly the secondary, is the weakest.

What should we expect from Arizona this year?

u/WeCameAsBears

I would expect a fierce competitiveness from us. We may go 8-8, we may go 5-11, we may go 10-6. But regardless of what our record is, were not going down without a fight. This new leaf the organization turned last year has shown a lot of potential, and the ferocity of this team has me all sorts of excited. Kyler by himself literally only cares about winning. Whatever it takes to get the notch in the W column, he wants that. I love that out of him.

u/FlashSpider-man

Anything. Every game we have we can compete. Every game I can see going either way. I honestly have no clue what will happen. I feel talent wise we are only a 6-10 or 7-9 team and that is what we will do but we overperformed last year so who knows. We could go anywhere from 2-14 to 12-4 and I wouldn't be very surprised.

And finally, do you hate the Seahawks?

u/WeCameAsBears

F. The. Steelers.
That's all.

u/ssracer

I’m not going to put it here but: see for yourself.

DeShaun Watson faced off against his 2017 draft counterpart in Patrick Mahomes - problem is, the Texans aren’t exactly defending Super Bowl Champions. Don’t let the final score of 34-20 fool you, the Chiefs dominated this game, especially their rookie RB, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, the short, shifty RB out of LSU. Couple of observations:

A lot of drops by both teams early - Watson could have done something early but Fuller and more dropped easy completions, and a couple deep ones. Expected with no game experience coming into this game, and don’t be surprised to see the same in the 49ers Cards game.
Missouri allowed limited attendance, and the Chiefs crowd was loud enough that it sounded like a real game. We will see if the 70 decibel level that the 49ers get for Sunday affects things.
Protests: The Texans opted to stay in the locker room for the anthem, and after the anthem, the Texans and Chiefs locked arms at midfield in a show of unity with “equality” being repeated. Somehow, this was booed - equality, regardless of belief or political affiliation, should not be booed, especially in a peaceful protest like this.
Texans OL - even with Laremy Tunsil, Watson ran for his life all day, throwing an interception under pressure while being hit. Was tough to watch Watson battle so hard for no reason.
Yet another weapon for Andy Reid: the rookie RB out of LSU, CEH as many call him, played really well - he had 25 carries for 138 yards and a TD. Really good debut for the 32nd overall pick, and just another weapon in that offense with Damien Williams opting out.
Speaking of RBs, David Johnson, the centerpiece of the package that the Texans got for DeAndre Hopkins, played like his 2016 self - 11 carries, 77 yards, 1 TD, plus 3 catches for 32 yards. He looked explosive and healthy again.

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