What We Saw: Preseason Week 3

Series Navigation

Cardinals @ Broncos

Final Score: DEN 38 – ARI 12

Writer: Raymi Chavez

With back end roster spots and practice squad contracts up for grabs, Denver came out firing and took control of the game early on and never let go. Arizona struggled to get any offense going as their offensive line was abused and by the time they settled in they were down three scores late into the second half.

One Up

Zach Wilson – Wilson had one of those games that all of his truthers point to. He showed a lot of what was promised and seen coming out of college. A few too many batted passes, but thats just a little nitpicky at this point – he played really well and could be challenging Stidham more than you’d think for the backup spot.

Two Down

Troy Franklin – The rookie is just not producing as you’d expect. He is in a prime position to play a key role immediately with Jeudy and Sutton leaving this offseason, but it looks like he’ll be closer to a WR4/5 than a starter. Routes need a lot of work still.
Clayton Tune – Although he had a couple good starts last season and is experienced in this offense he just didn’t look great out there, even before he came back on and threw a pick six. His only saving grace is Ridder not being particularly impressive.

Arizona Cardinals

Quarterback

Clayton Tune: 12/18, 119 Yards, 1 INT | 1 Carry, 9 Yards

Coming in for one extra play has never hurt someone’s stock as much as this one did

Notes

Tune looked aggressively mediocre out there. Taking tons of checkdowns and often throwing beneath the sticks on third downs. He made a really great throw moving to his right away from a blitz to hit Weaver in stride early on.

Missed Opportunities

Tune’s day was done and then Ridder got rocked and had to visit the medical tent just as he was starting to get Arizona moving, Tune promptly stepped in and threw a 94-yard pick six.

Desmond Ridder: 10/16, 111 Yards | 2 Carries, 25 Yards

A whole lot of the same.

Notes

The box score is doing a lot of the heavy lifting here as even though he had few incompletions, not a lot of his throws were worth talking about.

Missed Opportunities

Just bad football IQ, keeping it on option plays where he 100% should have given to his RB, overthrowing simple screen passes and checkdowns and being tricked by the defense on a number of occasions.

Running Back

Tony Jones Jr.: 7 Carries, 29 Yards | 2 Targets, 2 Receptions, 14 Yards | 1 Fumble (Lost)

Notes

Got smoked in the first half in the redzone leading to his fumble lost, no impact plays.

Hassan Hall: 19 Carries, 59 Yards, TD | 4 Targets, 4 Receptions, 28 Yards

Energy.

Notes

Came on and provided a spark for the Cardinals, didn’t blow me away, but seemed like a noticeable improvement from Jones Jr.

Wide Receiver/Tight End

Xavier Weaver: 4 Targets, 2 Receptions, 56 Yards

Notes

Tune really locked into him for a couple drives in the first half and beyond one drop he came through.

Missed Opportunities

Had one badly dropped ball that was perfectly in stride for him that had plenty of YAC potential.

Blake Whiteheart: 6 Targets, 4 Receptions, 35 Yards

Andre Baccellia: 4 Targets, 3 Receptions, 31 Yards

Tejhaun Palmer: 6 Targets, 2 Receptions, 23 Yards

Bernhard Seikovits: 2 Targets, 2 Receptions, 18 Yards

Daylen Baldwin: 3 Targets, 1 Reception, 14 Yards

Chris Moore: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 7 Yards

Sage Surratt: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 4 Yards

Denver Broncos

Quarterback

Jarrett Stidham: 2/4, 28 Yards, 0 Carries, 0 Yards

One drive, one touchdown

Notes

Wasn’t particularly impressive, but did get the job done in the one series he was given.

Zach Wilson: 16/25, 251 Yards, 2 TD | 2 Carries, 22 Yards, TD, 1 Fumble (Recovered)

Streaky performance, mostly streaky good.

Notes

It’s always really nice – but a little weird – when Wilson comes out and has a good game. His first series wasn’t great and on his second series he got behind the sticks 2nd-and-20, so he broke out a 21-yard scramble for a first and followed that up with a 21-yard dart that seemed to fill him with confidence. His next few series were filled with him just slinging that ball around. The second half saw a couple more uneventful drives before he hit Brandon Johnson for a couple of 40+ yard plays, one for a TD and one to the 2-yard line setting up his QB sneak touchdown. Really great game for Wilson overall, maybe there is hope for him as a serviceable backup.

Missed Opportunities

Got lucky a couple of times. Had one incompletion in front of his own goal line trying to check it down to his RB with a sidearm angle to get around the defender and hit the defender right in the chest. A more prepared and maybe more talented DE gets a hold of that and brings into the house. Also his 46-yard TD bomb to Johnson is probably intercepted by any starting level safety in the league.

Running Back

Audric Estime: 5 Carries, 18 Yards, TD | 1 Target, 1 Reception, 14 Yards

Strong consistent running.

Notes

Only came in for the first couple of drives, but made a lasting impact, every run seemed to gain some yardage and the first defender was never taking him down.

Blake Watson: 11 Carries, 38 Yards | 1 Target, 1 Reception, 8 Yards

Up and Down game.

Notes

Had a good handful of strong runs that gained decent chunks, but had just as many negative yard plays that went nowhere.

Tyler Badie: 10 Carries, 32 Yards | 3 Targets, 3 Receptions, 19 Yards

Wide Receiver/Tight End

Troy Franklin: 1 Carry, 9 Yards | 1 Target, 1 Reception, 21 Yards

Still unpolished

Notes

His carry was a well ran end around and made a good catch on a bullet from Wilson in the second quarter.

Missed Opportunities

Just not polished with running routes, Wilson hit him down a seam, but Franklin overran the route, just needed to sit in the space where Wilson threw it, but he ran past it and had to reach back to make a great catch with his hands. Still needs a lot of work.

David Sills V: 2 Targets, 2 Receptions, 38 Yards

Devaughn Vele: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 14 Yards

Brandon Johnson: 2 Targets, 2 Receptions, 83 Yards, TD

Big play energy.

Notes