Cardinals Drop Preseason Opener in Oakland

Although the Arizona Cardinals were unable to walk away victorious, fans have to be happy with most of what they saw. The Cardinals played tough, gutsy football last night and the play calling was leaps and bounds better than last year. Unfortunately, they made some foolish penalties and played undisciplined football at times, which eventually cost them the game.

The offensive line did show some improvement over last year's squad, but not much. Obviously it's going to take them more than one preseason game to jell, so there is no reason to be concerned ... yet. On the plus side, Levi Brown made it clear that he will be worth all the money spent on him. Unfortunately for him, Oliver Ross played like an absolute stud out there and would be the clear starter if the regular season began today.

Another surprise was the play of running back Marcel Shipp (72 total yards). He really made a case for getting some additional carries this year by having an excellent night. Shipp was decisive and hit the holes hard. Although he didn't break off a run for more than eight yards, he was able to net five per carry for the game.

With the positives, come the negatives. Ken Whisenhunt still has an awful lot of work to do if he wants this to be the year in Arizona. Some of the Cardinals penalties were uncalled for an extremely damaging; something he really needs to get a handle on. Whiz also needs to get his team to play more disciplined football. Men seemed to be just out of position, especially on defense, quite a bit throughout the game.

Another thing that is quite concerning was the Cardinals inability to stop the big play. Excluding kickoff returns, Arizona gave up 12 (that I can recall) plays of 10 yards or more. Making that even worse, three of those came on punt returns. The coverage looked awful and the Raiders often feasted on good field position because of it.

Other random observations:

- The wide receivers look as good as ever.

- Kurt Warner, despite only throwing two passes, still looks like a quality quarterback.

- Defensive end Chris Cooper (six tackles, two sacks and one forced fumble) had a spectacular night.

- Shane Boyd (7 of 19 for 66 yards and 1 interception) did not look good.

- Neil Rackers deserves some face time after a 59 yard field goal.

Final Score: Oakland Raiders 27 - Arizona Cardinals 23