Lots of serious faces this week as the Dark Horse Brews Brothers group gathered to talk about the Arizona Cardinals. Like last week, there was a lot of concern about the Arizona defense that has given up a lot of yardage in its first two games.
"Look, we have two rookie cornerbacks and some of this is to be expected," group regular Larry Niemi pointed out. "If Greg Toler doesn't get hurt, then Patrick Peterson gets eased into the games. But, having him on the field right away means there's a lot of learning to do."
Bill Tybur agrees. "You have to have some patience. They are rookies after all."
The Cardinals defense currently ranks 29th in the NFL, giving up an average of 466 yards through two games. While that DOES rank ahead of Super Bowl favorites Green Bay and New England (ranked 30 and 31 respectively), the Cardinals offense isn't scoring a lot of points to make up the difference.
"We only had 48 offensive plays against the Redskins," Niemi points out. "It's tough to win when your highly-paid offensive superstars are standing on the sidelines. The defense isn't getting off the field."
In Week 1, the Cardinals had trouble stopping the pass. In Week 2, they weren't effective against the run. This is a big area for concern the group universally agreed.
Ken Owens re-affirmed his dislike of Redskins quarterback Rex Grossman, making a bold pronouncement.
"If you make Grossman look good (like the Cardinals did Sunday), then your defense must be pretty bad."
He wasn't too complimentary of the Cardinals performance through two games. "The blitz scheme is a joke - lots of confusion. Arizona is more screwed up than bad. If they give the offense a chance to score, the team will do just fine."
Unfortunately, the Cardinals only scored 21 points in Washington. Jim Kretch said the Cardinals offense is doing well, but not getting enough snaps. He added, "Of course, I'm not the coach. There's a lot of things I would do differently, but being a 'bench coach' at home is pretty easy. When you factor that in, I'm undefeated - a million and zero."
The Dark Horse Brews Brothers club meets weekly at the Dark Horse Sports Bar in Chandler.
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