Winners and Losers in Cardinals Loss to Ravens
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The Arizona Cardinals first loss of the preseason came by way of a 24-17 defeat to the Baltimore Ravens.
In the loss, there were individual winners and losers ranging from players to coaches. Who raised their stock and who fell in the team's second preseason game?
Winner: Andy Isabella
It has been a difficult four years for Isabella in the NFL. Each year the receiver has seen his role decrease in the Cardinals offense and it seemed like his time in Arizona was coming to an end.
That may still be true, but Isabella gave himself a fighting chance with his performance on Sunday. Against the Ravens, Isabella played almost the entire game, earning five catches on eight targets for 54 yards.
Not the most impressive numbers, it wasn’t even the best receiving stats for a Cardinals receiver that night, but Isabella showed a niftiness that hasn’t been seen lately from him. Early in the game, quarterback Trace McSorley threw a pass that was low and outside of Isabella's range. It seemed uncatchable, except the receiver made a sliding catch to convert a third down.
Sunday's performance added to a positive preseason for Isabella. In the Cardinals' first game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Isabella led the team with four catches for 57 yards.
“Couldn’t be more impressed with how he has attacked this camp, we got a bunch of big-time names at wide receiver and he came in, hasn’t missed one day, runs every route as hard as he can go, takes as many reps as he can take and has really produced at a high level this camp,” head coach Kliff Kingsbury said. “I’m excited to see that hard work paying off for him.”
Loser: Running backs
The Cardinals running back group is deep with talent, but you wouldn’t know it by watching the game on Sunday.
With starting running back James Conner sitting out, Eno Benjamin, Keaontay Ingram, Darrel Williams, Jonathan Ward and T.J. Pledger rotated rushing duties, but didn’t see much production.
Combined, the running backs rushed for only 35 yards on 15 carries, averaging 2.3 yards per carry. The rushing leader for the night was quarterback Jarrett Guarantano, who earned all his yards on one carry for 15-yards.
The Cardinals are looking to find which running back will earn the role behind Conner, but through two preseason games a standout hasn’t showed up.
Benjamin seems to be an obvious candidate, but hasn’t made waves during preseason action. If anyone has made the greatest strides, it is Ingram who totaled only nine yards on Sunday but looked impressive with his power running style. During one rush, Ingram was swamped by defenders but earned an extra few yards by keeping his legs churning. The rookie led all the running backs against the Bengals with 27 yards and a touchdown.
Winner: Jonathan Ward
Wait, weren’t running backs just considered losers? Didn’t Ward leave the game with a shoulder injury? Yes and yes, but we’re talking about the return game here.
Ward began the game as the Cardinals' man on kickoff returns. The running back is in competition with Greg Dortch and Victor Bolden Jr. for a job as return man. On Sunday, he made a great case.
On his second return, Ward burst from the end zone past multiple blockers and defenders, totaling 48 yards on his return. After one more kickoff return, Ward wrapped up his night with 90 yards, averaging 30 yards per return.
Unfortunately, Ward's night was cut short when he exited the game with a shoulder injury. Luckily, Kingsbury said they don’t expect the injury to be serious.
Loser: Kliff Kingsbury
Unlike many of the players on the field, Kingsbury isn't competing for a job but quarterback Kyler Murray gave him a run for his money.
The Cardinals chugged through the first three quarters, earning only three points, but then Murray put on the headset and began to call plays. Suddenly, Arizona scored 14 points to set up a potential comeback. Unfortunately, they fell short, but by the end of the night, in a battle between play-callers, Murray led with 14 points to Kingsbury's three.
Kingsbury has had fun with lending play-calling duties to Murray the past two weeks, never failing to make a remark on his quarterback's performance.
“He did a nice job. He’s fired up. Way more excited than he gets when he throws one. I don’t know what that’s all about, but it was fun to watch,” Kingsbury said. “He was talking to those guys and doing a nice job leading.”
Winner: Chandler Wooten
Wooten, an undrafted free agent, hasn’t received a lot of attention this year. As a fourth-string linebacker, that is normal but that changed on Sunday.
Down 24-10, with just a tad over eight minutes left in the game, a comeback was unlikely until Wooten picked off Ravens quarterback Anthony Brown. A rally was now possible.
Beyond the interception, Wooten had a great night. The rookie was second on the team with five tackles and led the team with two tackles for loss.
Loser: Matt Prater
It has been a rough preseason for the 38-year-old kicker, who missed two extra points against the Bengals in the preseason opener.
The woes continued on Sunday for Prater. On the Cardinals first drive, Prater set up for a 54-yard field-goal attempt, but it drifted wide right and never had a chance.
On the bright side, Prater executed both of his extra-point attempts perfectly and di have a chip-shot 21-yard field goal.
Prater has shown a proficiency to kick the pigskin far. Last season, he nailed a 62-yard field goal against the Minnesota Vikings so the inaccuracy so far is concerning but to be fair it is the preseason.
Loser: Trey McBride
The rookie tight end was too banged up to make his NFL debut in the preseason opener, but his time finally came on Sunday, except it didn’t.
McBride was targeted twice against the Ravens, but couldn’t bring in any catches. In addition to an uninspired night, McBride appeared to miss a block on the goal line, causing Ingram to rush straight into a charging defender for no gain.
