Monday Night Football: More Questions Than Answers for Cardinals in Loss

      For the third time in as many tries, Leinart can't get the best of Vince Young. In a game where the score really doesn't give the true story, Tennessee dominated the Cardinals in every facet of the game for a 24-10 victory in Nashville tonight. 

     The really surprising thing about this game is that the total yards was 366-295 in favor of the Titans. When did Arizona get 295 yards?  Tennessee out-rushed Arizona 142-65. Earlier today,  we mentioned some of the things we wanted to see tonight from the Cardinals. The offensive line wasn't very good tonight, granted Tennessee looked spectacular on defense tonight. They blitzed all night, and none of the Arizona quarterbacks were comfortable. Matt Leinart was shaky yet again. Three series and no first downs. A bright spot tonight was Stephen Williams, the rookie wide receiver out of Toledo, looked sharp again and finished with three receptions and 59 yards. Max Komar caught the Cardinals lone touchdown from third string quarterback Max Hall and finished with 3 catches for 48 yards.

   Coach Whisenhunt has no game plans for preseason games, but he can't be sold on Leinart nor Anderson as the starting quarterback right now. Anderson did look good tonight under the first string offense, but stalled in the red zone. Let's face it folks. Quarterbacks earn their paychecks in the red zone. The Cardinals have been one of the best red zone teams over the past two years. You have to think there will be a game plan for the third game which is Saturday in Chicago. 

   Tennessee was pretty focused all night, and Vince Young looked like he is prepared to lead his Titans into the regular season on a mission of dethroning the Indianapolis Colts as the king of the south. We'll hold judgement on that one, but the Titans didn't make many mistakes tonight. Young finished with 9-13 and 128 yards. Chris Johnson finished with 22 yards on 6 carries with a touchdown. It looked like Cirque du Soleil out there tonight. The Titans were flying all over the field and mostly over Cardinals players for big gains. If you missed the acrobatic plays, check top plays on Sportscenter. 

   Jeff Fisher had to be pleased with the performance of his defense. They tortured the Cardinals quarterbacks all night and the offensive line was over-matched. It's going to take some time for them to gel but they have to perform better than this.The Cardinals first team defense looked good. The Titans were not throwing to Rodgers-Cromartie's side leaving that all important battle between Trumaine McBride and Greg Toler. Tonight, McBride looked okay but was burned on a couple of passes.

    LaRod Stephens-Howling looked like he was ready to explode all night. He had some great runs when he had the chance and led the Cardinals in rushing with 30 yards on 5 carries. All eyes were on Darryl Washington tonight on defense but he had a rather quiet night with only three tackles. Kerry Rhodes should have assuaged some fears about replacing Antrel Rolle at safety. Rhodes broke up what would have been a touchdown in the red zone.

   So what did Cardinal nation take from this game? Doubt. Uneasiness. The phone number of Rent-A-QB. Yes yes, those too, but if you are use to seeing a potent Cardinals offense on the field, these last two games have been tough to swallow. I'll admit I was ready to turn to the Real Housewives of New Jersey to see more fight. It's not about the final score or your preseason record, but it is about seeing some promise from your starting quarterback and offensive line (yeah, we won't let them off the hook). Granted, Matt probably should have played more than three series and one of the series he did get 9 yards. But the coaches elected to punt instead of going for it on fourth down. Personally, I respect Whisenhunt's decision to give Anderson some reps with the first team. He wanted -- no needed -- to see a spark in the offense. He got a spark, albeit a dim one, but he can't be confident completely in what either Matt or Derek has shown him.   Again for the second time in two weeks, the third string quarterback revived the offense.  This time Max Hall, rookie from Brigham Young, came in the third quarter and had a nice showing. He did throw an ugly interception in double coverage, but he recovered nicely on the next drive to lead the Cardinals on their only scoring drive

   In the first half of two preseason games, the Cardinals have scored 3 points. Worried yet Cardinals fans? 22 total points for the first two games. Ironically,  the first two games last preseason the combined point total for the first two games was 16. Game number three? 37 points including three fourth quarter touchdowns from Matt Leinart.

   The interview with Matt during the game didn't spark anymore confidence in him either. Where's the fire? Where's the drive? Where are the points? Get upset when you don't complete passes! You look at the premiere quarterbacks in the league like Aaron Rodgers and Peyton Manning. They're taking advantage of these games.  Now, the next so-called meaningless preseason game, may not be so meaningless. Leinart could be fighting to save his starting job. Maybe now he will get mad.

   Anybody want to come with me to Kurt's House. There's room for two more.