Not that it has received a lot of attention and rightfully so, but it’s also a short week for those who call the games on radio. We left Wednesday afternoon for Phoenix, just a couple of days clear of Sunday’s loss to Cincinnati with all of those players still fresh on the mind.
With that in mind, this week’s preview column will be more of a snack grab bag, and a lagniappe of things rolling around in my head from the prep work for the Cardinals.
THE WALKING INJURED
Where else to start but the weekly, lengthy, seemingly always growing list of injured players. The first injury report released this week had the Saints and Cardinals combine for 27 injured players. The Saints listed 14 and the Cardinals 13. Prior to the flight out to Phoenix we learned that 10 players would definitely be out for Thursday Night Football. The Saints (2-4) had five out, four on offense, one on defense. The Cardinals (2-4) followed suit, holding out five of their own, also four on offense and one on defense.
This list will grow, of course, tomorrow afternoon when the inactives are announced. Dear NFL, do you want just a little hint as to the growing displeasure of fans and franchises alike about the quality of Thursday Night Football? Read this paragraph again.
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THE WIDE RECEIVER SHUFFLE
For a short week, Arizona has been busy in the wide receiver room. And that hasn’t always been by choice. Saints fans can probably relate. This week Arizona lost star receiver Marquise ‘Hollywood’ Brown to a foot injury. At the same time they activated star wide receiver De’Andre Hopkins, who missed the first 6 weeks of the season due to suspension. And because they lost Hollywood Brown and because, well, they are Arizona, they traded for former Carolina Panthers receiver Robbie Anderson, who had 24 hours earlier been excused from the sideline after getting in the face of and arguing with his own coaches.
That’s a pretty eventful short week.
But by doing all of that, they become a wide receiver room with more career touchdowns than seems possible. Throw A.J Green into the mix and Arizona’s wideouts have 167 career touchdowns. Green and Hopkins both have 68 each. Anderson has 29 himself. The Saints get Chris Olave back and his 25 rookie receptions this season but from a career TD standpoint the Saints have some room to grow. The Saints wideouts expected to play tomorrow have 29 career touchdowns. Now, having Michael Thomas and Jarvis Landry would change this paragraph, just as it would having them in the lineup, but that is not the case.
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ARIZONA FOUR DOWN TERRITORY
This is pretty much anywhere all the time. Last Sunday in Seattle head coach Kliff Kingsbury had so little confidence in backup kicker Matt Amendola that Arizona went for it on 4th down five times, when clearly a field goal would have been the smart call. As in, 4th and 4 at the Seattle 27-yard line. The Cardinals skipped the chance at a 44-yarder in a 3-3 game. They went for it. They missed. TOD. And it continued. The Cardinals converted just one of their five 4th down attempts. By the way, Arizona scored a special team touchdown in the fourth quarter and it didn’t make mathematical sense to go for 2, so in came Matt Amendola for the extra point. You can probably guess … he missed it. Does the 4th down bravery make a bit more sense now?
But it’s more than just this past week’s game. Arizona is 12 of 22 on 4th down attempts this season. In comparison the Saints are 1 of 3, and they’ve been behind a lot, too. Twenty-two 4th down attempts through six games. That’s an average of nearly four per game and that’s significant in anybody’s book.
Not to mention there’s heat on Kingsbury with a 2-4 record and eight straight losses at home. The Cardinals may try anything.
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WERNER CLIMBING THE LADDER
Pete Werner continues to impress and excel in Year 2. He has 41 solo tackles, which has him tied for first in the NFL. Should he continue on this pace he would finish the season with 116 solo tackles, not terribly close to Ray Lewis’s 156 solo tackles in 1997 but it would tie for the most solo tackles since 2015. So, keep it up Pete and if you can force the Cardinals into a 4th and long situation, they would be forced to punt. Or maybe not.