It's tune time for cardinals; murray stays on reserve/pup

The week began with questions surrounding who the quarterback would be for each team, although it’s becoming clearer that from the jump, as long as Clayton Tune didn’t fall on his face in practice this week, he would be the Cardinals’ starter for Sunday’s game against the Browns.

And that’s the way it will be with Kyler Murray remaining on reserve/physically unable to perform with the expectation he will be activated by Wednesday. Jeff Driskel, who was re-signed to the practice squad earlier in the week, was elevated Saturday and will be Tune’s backup.

Of course, there’s no guarantee Murray will make his season debut next Sunday against the Falcons, which could result in another week of subterfuge.

That’s the only way to assess the mental gymnastics that occurred beginning Monday when Joshua Dobbs was benched and then traded Tuesday. By the sound of it Monday after coach Jonathan Gannon’s afternoon revelation, it appeared Murray had a solid chance of being the starter. However, within minutes of the announcement, ESPN’s Adam Schefter and NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport reported the plan was to start Tune.

Someone obviously fed them that information. It was essentially confirmed Friday when general manager Monti Ossenfort made his weekly appearance on the team’s flagship radio station, ArizonaSports 98.7 (all his comments in this were made there), and said the demotion of Dobbs would give Tune “an opportunity” and that “the plan was to move forward with Clayton and Josh as the backup.”

Ossenfort gave himself some wiggle room, adding, “If Clayton goes out there, we were ready to make that move on Monday, if that’s the way it plays out,” but the dye was cast.

There surely were hints of what would happen.

Two weeks ago, when Murray started practicing, coach Jonathan Gannon said it was Murray who told him he would be on the field that day. When asked how the decision would be made when he plays, Gannon said it would be organizational, but that Murray “would be a big part of that.”

Asked Friday if that was still the case, Gannon said, “We’ve got to make sure we’re doing the best thing for the team and the best thing for Kyler. So that’s how he plays into that. But he’ll have a big part of saying to me, and us, ‘Hey, I’m ready to go, I want to play football.’ And we’re still working towards that.”

However, Gannon then quickly backtracked somewhat, when he admitted, “He’s told me he’s ready. And I’m not even going to tell you when he told me he’s ready. But he knows he needs to do certain things and keep stacking good days and keep getting reps and playing the position to be ready to play.”

Ossenfort said, “Kyler is continuing to ramp up and he’s had another good week, another productive week of practice. What we’re looking for is to continue to get Kyler acclimated to return to the football field. It’s been a long time since Kyler was out on the field. This is a difficult assignment for Kyler to learn a new offense, to throw to a new group of receivers and to work with a new offensive line. We want to see him run the offense and be at a place both mentally and physically that he can do the things that we know he can do. That’s a gradual process that’s ramped up each week. Each week we put more on his plate and we’re excited for when that time comes to put him back out there.

“Football’s the ultimate team sport so this is not a situation where, ‘Hey we think that the savior is coming.’ We need everybody. We need all 53 guys and all 48 that go to the game and have a jersey and helmet on game day. We need everybody. We’re not putting this all on Kyler. We know what Kyler can do and we’re anxious to have him out there with the rest of the guys to put a winning effort out there on the field.”

Breaking down what Murray has to do to show he’s comfortable playing, offensive coordinator Drew Petzing said, “There are so many different aspects of it, from an operational standpoint, from a decision-making standpoint, from getting in and out of the huddle. It’d be like someone going to play a regular-season game on July 28. Realistically, that’s how many practices he’s had, essentially.

“Getting him up to speed, getting him ready to go, that’s a big task, but when he’s ready to go he’s gonna be out there. We’re not gonna put him out there before he’s ready.”

Gannon also said Wednesday, when asked how Murray was feeling, “Awesome. He’s fired up, ready to go. He was really good in the team meeting today. I put him on the spot. He was excellent.”

More gamesmanship, which we can count on in the days leading up to next week. Of course, once Murray is activated, the Cardinals will have to be more precise when his injury designation is reported. That is, if he’s even on the report.

Name that Tune

We’ll find out soon enough how ready Tune is for his first NFL start.

“He’s come in and handled himself from Day 1 just with a poise and a maturity that typically you don’t see in a rookie,” Ossenfort said.

One clue about part of the decision came when Gannon was asked what he’s liked from Tune. “How he’s operating,” he said. “He had a really good week of delivering the ball accurately. Sometimes I forget how mobile he is. I’ve seen him the last couple days make plays outside the pocket. I’m excited if it’s him, to see him play.”

Designed runs have been a part of the offense this season, so Gannon was asked if that was considered in deciding whether Murray is totally ready to play his style and he said simply, “It does.”

So, we can probably expect that being a part of the game plan.

Gannon said, “We’re going to try to stress out the defense with the skillset of our players, so you use all the tools that you have in your toolbox to do that.”

That also likely includes possibly more of wide receiver Rondale Moore running, especially with Emari Demercado out because of a toe injury. The active running backs will be Keaontay Ingram, Tony Jones Jr., who was signed from the practice squad this week, and Corey Clement, who was elevated from the practice squad Saturday.

One plus next week is that running back James Conner will be eligible to return from reserve/injured, where he has been because of a knee injury.

Gannon said, “I think he’s getting faster. They’re doing a good job rehabbing him, but he’s getting ready to go and he’s excited to get back when he can get back and play.”

But, back to Tune.

Petzing noted the advancement he made since being selected in the fifth round in April and immediately saying to the media he believes he was the best quarterback in the draft.

“A lot of it’s the process, understanding the game, and the nuances between the college game and the NFL game, the speed of the game, the variety of coverages, how the run game ties in to the quarterback’s responsibilities,” Petzing said. “I think a lot of that was new to him. I think he really embraced that challenge in learning that and committing himself to that.

“There’s always areas where we say, ‘Hey we can do this a little bit better, clean up your feet, where are your eyes, why did you make that decision? OK, this is great, this is good, this needs to improve overall.’ Just the way that he’s attacked his job and making sure that he is working on all those things and learning when he is getting reps, learning from the other guys, reps in the quarterback room are really important things.”

Has he been overwhelmed at any point? “I certainly haven’t felt that. I think he’s done a great job of handling the NFL game, handling the NFL offense and making sure he’s ready to go every week.”

Gannon noted that Petzing and quarterbacks coach Israel Woolfork worked long hours with Tune, given that he was the backup for the first eight weeks of the season.

“He does things behind the scenes with those guys that gets him mental reps and the communication standpoint of it,” Gannon said. “Even just learning football. Defense is different. NFL is different from college. Things that Kyler might know, Clayton might not know. It’s just educational pieces and working with him, schematics and techniques, just talking ball a lot of times and he’s really taken to that. The guy puts a lot into it.”

What does he expect Sunday?

“He’s going to go in there if he’s in there and let it rip,” Gannon said.

Told what Gannon said about letting it rip, Tune said, “I’ll just go in there, play freely, play calm and just go out there and play the best way I know how. I feel like I’ve been preparing the same way I have been all season. But just excited for this opportunity to go out and give my team an opportunity to win.”

He said “it was cool” when he met with Gannon at the start of the week, adding, “It was good to go in there and have a 1-on-1 conversation with him. He kept it real with me, told me the plan and I’m just here to do what I can to help the team win.

“I would say I’ve made a lot of improvement watching Dobbs, watching Kyler, watching all the guys that have come before me, learning, and learning from the mistakes that I’ve made early on and I feel like I’ve come a long way since training camp.”

Center Hjalte Froholdt said, “We know it’s a big moment for him and we’re gonna support him.”

As for the atmosphere of a first start on the road, Froholdt said it might be where Tune is “maybe just being a little bit new and ignorant to it. ‘Hey, I’m just going to go out there and ball.’ I think he has a good mindset and he’s going to go out and out his best foot forward.”

And a year ago . . .

Sunday is the one-year anniversary of a wild college game Tune played. On Nov. 5, 2022, his Houston team lost to SMU, 77-63. Tune completed 36 of 53 passes for 527 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions. He also rushed for 111 yards on 12 attempts, inclduing a 55-yard touchdown.Two of the touchdown passes were to wide receiver Tankl Dell, who had 13 receptions for 180 yards and was a third-round choice this year of the Houston Texans.

For SMU, which led 56-35 at halftime, quarterback Tanner Mordecai was 28-for-37 for 379 yards and nine touchdowns. He also rushed for 54 yards on eight runs and had a touchdown. Wide receiver Rashee Rice scored two touchdowns and was a second-round of the Chiefs.

It’s Watson for Browns

Deshaun Watson practiced in full Friday after being limited Wednesday and Thursday and was named the starter for Sunday’s game.

Watson suffered a rotator cuff injury in the third quarter of a Week 3 game against the Titans and since then has played 12 snaps. Those occurred two weeks ago when he started against the Colts, but departed with 3:13 remaining in the first quarter.

He was 1-for-5 in that brief time for five yards with an interception. A second pick on his final play was overturned by review.

“Every day has been a ramp up,” coach Kevin Stefanski said. “Making progress every day. Limited the first couple of days, but really good practice Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I think that was really important and I thought he did a nice job. … I have a ton of confidence in him and his teammates have a ton of confidence in him.”

On Tuesday, Cardinals defensive coordinator Nick Rallis said not knowing who the quarterback would be results in “a little bit more to the game plan, a little bit more layers that we can then start to eliminate as the week goes on or even on game day once we gain that information, but you can’t be unprepared for something so you have to be prepared for everything and then you have to be able to be adaptable whenever that time comes to make sure it’s the plan that you want come Sunday.”

Rallis knows there’s a lot more to the Cleveland offense than identifying the quarterback.

“Since Kevin’s been there, they do a great job of running the football,” he said. “The O-line is one of the best and the offensive line coach, (Bill) Callahan, he’s also one of the best in the game, so you couple that with a play-caller that’s willing to run it and good running backs. They lost (Nick) Chubb, but they still have good running backs behind that (Jerome Ford, Kareem Hunt) and they will find ways to buy angles and get numbers and stay ahead of the sticks with their run game.

“And then they do a great job of marrying their run game with their keepers and their actions and screens, so Kevin’s done a great job since he’s been there and actually since I was with him (2018-2019) in Minnesota.”

Turnovers have been costly for the Browns. They lead the NFL with 17 turnovers and 11 have been interceptions, five by P.J. Walker and three each for Watson and rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson.

“All of those turnovers are costly, and that’s frustrating,” Stefanski said. “It’s hard to win in the NFL, period. It’s hard to win when you turn the ball over. So, we have to really, really commit ourselves as an offense not to give that thing away. We have to take care of that football.”

Rookies in name only

As the calendar turned to November, this week marks the halfway point in the NFL season.

Yes, each team plays 17 games, so there is truly no “midway” point for that. But this is Week 9 of an 18-week regular season, and aside from there being a lot of eyes on the Cardinals’ quarterback situation for the next two months (and perhaps beyond), expectations are that there will be even more growth for a rookie group that has already had a significant impact on the team.

Eight of the team’s nine draft choices are currently on the active roster and the one that isn’t, center Jon Gaines II, would be had he not suffered a season-ending knee injury in the final preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings.

In addition, two Cardinals rookie undrafted free agents – running back Emari Demercado and tight end Blake Whiteheart – are on the roster in addition to two waiver claims, accentuating the job Ossenfort did in his first draft with the organization.

Cornerback Starling Thomas V, a Lions undrafted free agent, has been playing significant defensive snaps in recent weeks, while tight end Elijah Higgins, a sixth-round pick of the Dolphins, has been playing on offense and even more on special teams.

Ossenfort said, “A lot of young guys are getting opportunities to get out there and play. This group has been impressive starting from back in the spring, the way they’ve come in and handled themselves and doing the things we’ve asked them to do.”

Entering Week 8, the Cardinals were second or tied for second in snaps played by rookies, which Ossenfort said is a “testament to that group, testament to our entire player development process in terms of the coaching staff and getting those guys ready to play.

“We always say, ‘When an opportunity presents itself, if you take advantage of the opportunity there’s gonna be more opportunities. And I would say for the most part these guys have done that.”

The contributions of the Cardinals selections are explicitly shown in those snap-count percentages from Week 1 through Week 8.

Right tackle Paris Johnson Jr., first round: 100 percent in every game. Not much more could be asked of Johnson, and he should only get better in the second half of the season.

Outside linebacker B.J. Ojulari, second round: 17, 19, 19, 9, 27, 32, 33, 38. His snaps have been increasing steadily after being unable to practice in OTAs and part of training camp because of a knee injury and he registered the first sack of his career last Sunday against the Ravens.

Slot defensive back Garrett Williams, third round: 43, 55. Because of a torn ACL suffered while at Syracuse a year ago in October, he wasn’t activated from reserve/non-football injury until Week 7 against the Seahawks, but he has made his presence felt in the two games he’s played.

Defensive coordinator Nick Rallis said, “The fact that he is a rookie that did not get an offseason or a training camp and is just stepping in in midseason; he doesn’t look like what you would expect. He plays with great fundamentals. He plays within the scheme very sound. Knows what he’s doing. We put a lot on his plate, too. I feel like he’s going to be a really good pro because he has this (points to his head) along with the skillset. He (made) strides from Week 1 to Week 2. And I think he’s going to keep going up from there.”

Wide receiver Michael Wilson, third round: 90, 43, 67, 70, 75, 88, 83, 88. Wilson hasn’t practiced this week because of a shoulder injury, which is worrisome because his career at Stanford was adversely affected by injuries. He is questionable for Sunday’s game.

Quarterback Clayton Tune, fifth round. He has played one snap on special teams, completing a 4-yard pass to Wilson on a fake punt against Seattle, but his progress and work ethic made it possible for the coaching staff to even consider him to be the starter in Sunday’s game against the Brown.

Inside linebacker Owen Pappoe, fifth round: 61, 52, 68, 67, 67, 62, 71. Inactive for Week 1, his snaps have come on special teams and he recovered an onside kick in last Sunday’s game against the Ravens.

Cornerback Kei’Trel Clark, sixth round: 100, 97, 100, 98, 49, 56. He did not play in Week 7 and was inactive against the Ravens, but the coaches still believe his future is bright.

Said Rallis, “Kei’Trel is going to be a really big part of us going forward. He’s a really good player with a bright future. I feel pretty strongly about that.

“Honestly it’s a good problem to have with what we have going because we have a lot of guys in that room we feel can give us a chance to win. We are working different rotations there and every week it might look a little bit different.”

Defensive lineman Dante Stills, sixth round: 26, 41, 60, 51, 47, 43, 49. Stills was inactive in Week 1, but injuries to defensive linemen L.J. Collier and Carlos Watkins have created opportunity, and he has stepped up. Against the Ravens, he had five tackles (three solo and one for loss), plus 1.5 sacks. He had his first sack against the Bengals, but has yet to do a celebration like linebackers Dennis Gardeck or Zaven Collins because . . .

“After it happens, I just go black, and (my mind) just goes blank,” he said smiling. “I will have a sack celebration the next time. Definitely something I’ve been dreaming of my whole life. It’s something that I can’t really put into words, and I’m kind of in the moment, I’m just trying to take it all in and just enjoy it, really.”

Overall, coach Jonathan Gannon knows the hoped-for future success begins with this draft.

He said, “Monti and his staff did a really good job of identifying the traits that we’re looking for when we drafted those guys or signed them as free agents or brought them in after that acquisition period; the cutdown and things like that. They have a lot of pride, they work on their game, they take to coaching, they’re positive, they’re team-first guys.

“You see all of those guys have elevated their game, so a lot of those guys are playing meaningful snaps for us right now. Some are starting, some are playing as many snaps as the starters and it’s good to see them out there playing.”

Petzing said it’s “the attitude and effort that stands out more than anything. We tried to identify that throughout the draft process with the guys we bring into the building. Who they are, how they work, how they go about playing the game with a physical attitude, a team-first mentality. And I think that class certainly embodies that.”

Appreciating Dobbs

Despite the decision to bench Dobbs Monday, Gannon said it wasn’t easy parting ways when the trade to the Vikings went down the next day.

“Hard,” Gannnon said Wednesday. “I think at times I’m empathetic; hopefully I’m always empathetic and I understand that he put a lot into this, getting here. Helped us win a game, be in games. The amount of prep that he went through in getting here late, a little bit late right before the season. He’s an ultimate pro, takes the arrow in the forehead. He produced for us, so it’s hard, you know what I mean?”

Dobbs will be the backup quarterback behind rookie Jaren Hall for the Vikings’ game at Atlanta Sunday, and Gannon said, “With the situation that he got to go to, I think it was the best for both sides truthfully and he appreciated that. I’ll always be a fan. I said, ‘I hope our paths cross again sometime.’ He was really a joy to be around. As a head coach and as your quarterback for however many games he played, it was a really cool experience for me too.”

Ossenfort said, “I can’t thank Josh enough for his contributions to our team. It’s overlooked a little bit about what Josh actually did and the way that he came in here on such short notice and upset his whole life in terms of he had to pick up his whole life, had to move, get into a building and learn 70 players’ names and a whole coaching staff and forget about learning an offense. The guy came in and started eight games for us and made us competitive. So all the respect in the world for Josh and what he did for us.”

As for how the trade came to be, Ossenfort said, “As we watched the film Sunday night and then again Monday morning, just came to the decision that we wanted to make a change and give Clayton Tune a chance to get out there and give him an opportunity. The plan was to move forward with Clayton and Josh as the backup.”

However, with the Vikings losing quarterback Kirk Cousins because of an Achilles injury suffered the day before, a call came from the Vikings Monday night and the deal was done.

“It was an opportunity we thought made sense for the team,” Ossenfort concluded. “We threw a monkey wrench into Josh Dobbs’ life, but I think this gives him an opportunity to go someplace where he can potentially start.”

The Cardinals received a sixth-round pick from the Vikings in the trade and sent a seventh-round choice to Minnesota with Dobbs. However, that latter pick is conditional and it’s believed the Cardinals will retain it if Dobbs starts four games for the Vikings.

Missing the Browns

While Kyler Murray won’t play against the Browns, he was probably angling to even more because he believes he owns them.

In games played in 2019 and 2021, the Cardinals won 38-24 and 37-14 with Murray having big outings.

He was a rookie in the Dec. 15, 2019, game and completed 19-of-25 passes for 219 yards with one touchdown and ran eight times for 56 yards. Running back Kenyan Drake rushed for 137 yards on 22 carries and scored four touchdowns. The leading receivers were Damiere Byrd (6-86), Christian Kirk (4-33 and Larry Fitzgerald (3-42). Remember them?

The Cardinals rushed for 226 yards and totaled 445 yards (7.4 per play).

On Oct. 17, 2021, the Cardinals were 5-0 and raced to a 20-0 lead with 9:24 remaining in the second quarter and scored two touchdowns and three field goals on their first five possessions of the game.

Murray was 20-for-30 for 229 yards and four touchdowns with two to DeAndre Hopkins and one each to Kirk and A.J. Green. Running back James Conner rushed for 71 yards and Chase Edmonds added 46.

On defense, there were five sacks by players no longer on the team: linebackers Jordan Hicks and Markus Golden (two each) and defensive end J.J. Watt (one). Of the top eight tacklers in that game, only safety Jalen Thompson and cornerback Marco Wilson are on the current roster.

Notable in that game was that coach Kliff Kingsbury and quarterbacks coach Cam Turner tested positive for COVID-19 two days before the game and didn’t make the trip.

Petzing was Cleveland’s tight ends coach that season, and said, “I remember it being wild and I remember we lost.”

Handling the play-calling duties for the Cardinals was assistant receivers coach Spencer Whipple, who was a rarity in being retained on this year’s staff by Gannon and is the team’s pass game specialist.

Whipple said Friday, “A couple people have brought it up, but it feels like a long time ago. It’ll be fun to go back. It was a good game, a good team win that day. Crazy circumstances.”

A homecoming

Like the season opener at Washington in the Eastern time zone, the team traveled to Cleveland Friday instead of Saturday. That means finding a place for the walk-through and mock game the day before the game.

In the Washington area it was at Georgetown Prep, which owner Michael Bidwill attended. Gannon said, “I’ve got some close buddies that went there, so it was cool to see where they went to high school and things like that.”

For this trip, the workout was at Saint Ingnatius High School where Gannon played football, basketball and ran track.

“It’ll be a little chilly out, but it’s a really good facility. Our guys will enjoy it,” Gannon said.

Safety Budda Baker said this week, “That’ll be cool to go to his old stomping grounds. I’ll probably talk a little smack to him depending on what it looks like.”

When asked how many people from his hometown will be at the game, Gannon said, “I don’t know. I told them, ‘Don’t bug me.’”

He was also asked what it means for his high school to have the Cardinals practicing there and for him being one of 32 NFL head coaches.

Gannon said, “They’re playing Canton McKinley in the playoffs, so I don’t really think they care. I know that because I talked to the head coach making sure that the schedule was set. We’ve got a little something going on over there, but he’s focused on his ball club not me.”

McKinley won the quarterfinal game Friday night, 28-24, at Tom Benson Pro Football Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton.

Another war daddy

Add another to the list of elite defensive players the Cardinals have faced this season. That’s the term Gannon uses to describe elite defenders.

For the Browns, it’s defensive end Myles Garrett, who was tied for third in the NFL with Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt with 8.5 sacks after eight weeks. Watt added a sack in the team’s Thursday night win over the Titans.

When asked if Garrett is indeed a war daddy, Gannon said, “Yeah, he’s a good player, a really good player, but it’s their whole defense.”

He said defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz “is one of the best to ever do it” and added, “They’re fast, aggressive, they’ve got really good players on all three levels, and they’re connected with how they play because it’s a little bit of a different style than ours. They’re one of the top defenses in the NFL. We’ve got a big challenge ahead.”

Petzing said Schwartz’s wide-nine scheme “is a unique style in terms of the violence they play with, the team speed, the effort, the intensity; certainly the scheme that he’s committed himself to over a long NFL career. He’s done it at a really high level with multiple organizations, so it presents a lot of challenges.”

One oddity is that despite leading the NFL in total yards and passing yards allowed, they have only 10 takeaways and 11 teams have fewer.

Froholdt knows Garrett well, having played for the Browns before signing with the Cardinals as an unrestricted free agent in the offseason.

He said, “It’s a tough defense we’re facing; really good front that we gotta take care of. We’re putting a lot of pressure on our shoulders to care of it.”

As for Garrett, Froholdt said, “He’s really hard. He’s one of those top-tier guys. You can say, ‘Oh, watch for this move and this move and this move and this move.’ He has some things that are his signature stuff, but at the same time, you’ve got to be ready for anything. Gotta give respect to him, but we’ve got to be able to go out and execute our jobs.”

Expanding on what makes him great, he said, “He’s a menace in there and I think they’re doing a really good job of getting him in situations where he just gets to work and that’s what he does best. We definitely will try to neutralize him and it definitely will be a tall task, but I think we’re ready for it.”

Left tackle D.J. Humphries believes that no matter who the opponent is, as a player you have to focus on your own job.

He said, “They are all so different, you have to have the mindset, ‘It’s about me.’ If you sit around thinking of what these guys are going to do like it’s basketball, I’m trying to figure out what these guys are going to do, no, I just know what I’m going to do. That’s the mentality I have taken in my career taking on those types of rushers. He’s going to do his thing. This is my plan for me.”

By the numbers: Since Garrett and Watt entered the NFL in 2017, Watt, with 88 sacks, and Garrett with 83, rank first and second respectively in the category.

Garrett will be playing his 92nd game Sunday and with two sacks would tie Hall of Famer DeMarcus Ware for the fourth-most sacks by a player in his first 100 career games. Leading the group is Reggie White with 105, followed by T.J. Watt with 88, J.J. Watt with 87.5, Ware with 85 and Bruce Smith with 84.5.

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