They haven’t allowed a sack. The Clemson alum missed one game his rookie season and four games a year ago and, at 5-foot-9 and 199 pounds, isn’t exactly built for feature back duties. Iupati, whom the Cardinals acquired from the 49ers in the offseason, suffered a knee injury during training camp. After three off-seasons of roster reconstruction, Coach Bruce Arians has the pieces in place to run his system at peak efficiency.
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In the NFC, while we’ve focused intently on the Cowboys’ killer injuries, the bewildering Eagles offense, the Giants’ fourth-quarter collapses, the Seahawks’ Super Bowl hangover, the Saints’ continued unraveling and the Packers’ smooth and efficient start, we might be guilty of all but ignoring the record-setting early work being turned in by the Cardinals through two weeks of the regular season.
And based on his play from past year, Ellington has done little to inspire confidence that he can operate as a lead back in the National Football League to hold off the surging rookie.
Arians planned to meet with general manager Steve Keim and offensive coordinator Harold Goodwin to discuss whether Massie will replace Earl Watford, the starter the first two games.
Studying the All-22 Coaches Film of Palmer’s recent play, I’ve been impressed with his solid understanding of the system.
With Ellington out, Johnson is the primary receiver among running backs.
“I guess if the flags are coming out because we’re not finding the ball”, Ball said. “He had an explosive return last week and hopefully we can wrap him up”.
Williams was promoted to the active roster last week and played in the Cardinals win in Chicago against the Bears on Sunday. He opened his Monday news conference mentioning the achievements of David Johnson and receiver Larry Fitzgerald. We are still not particularly excited about him over the long haul, but he had a career day Sunday, rushing for 74 yards on 12 carries and scoring two touchdowns (one receiving). His three TD catches gave him 92, moving him to 11th on the all-time list. It didn’t take long for the latter to make an impact. Oh, and that doesn’t include his impressive 108-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to start last week’s game against the Bears.
In the opener against New Orleans, he also had a 55-yard touchdown catch. Chris Johnson appears to have to starting job locked up.
“It was an incredible feeling”, he said. “I was thinking about myself maybe down the road of hopefully being in there, and two weeks in the season it already happening is a great feeling”. And Johnson largely glided to the end zone without breaking stride.
“That’s the way I coach”, Arians said.
Palmer was 17 of 24 with 185 yards to improve to 15-2 in his last 17 starts.
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Palmer’s superior talent and superb pocket-passing skills perfectly match Arians’ ultra-aggressive scheme, which places a premium on the vertical passing game.
