Three Cardinals Who Need to Rebound in Week 2

If the Arizona Cardinals are intent on getting into the win column for the first time in 2022, they need better performances from these three performers vs. the Las Vegas Raiders.

Richie Bradshaw | Sep 18, 2022

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Football is a team sport, and the Arizona Cardinals aren't an exception.

One player doesn't define a team and one player cannot will an entire roster to victories every Sunday. Instead, an NFL team needs a roster filled with good-to-great players who can elevate the talent and compete with any team they may face.

When everyone is in a groove, the team wins most of the games unsurprisingly. When they aren't, however, losing is the most likely outcome, but it can be terrible at times depending on how poorly the units play.

For the Cardinals in their season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs, their performance falls into the latter of the two.

While there were plenty of bright spots like Kyler Murray and Budda Baker, there were also more than a few guys who needed to step up. Heading into this week's matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders, there is a slew of guys in need of a rebound performance.

While we don't have time to go into detail on every single Cardinal player who needs to do better, these three players particularly need to step up more this week compared to their teammates.

If they do, victory is much closer in reach for the Cardinals.

Isaiah Simmons

While it's a difficult task for anyone to line up against Travis Kelce, there was still little resistance against him from the Cardinals' defense. Linebacker Isaiah Simmons in particular will be highlighted here as someone who needed to step up.

Simmons was the eighth overall selection just a few short years ago in 2020, and he has yet to live up to his draft status. Simmons is a freaky athlete, but he put together a complete season that fits with his abilities. Last week was more evidence of that inability.

Unfortunately for Simmons, he won't get a pass this week going up against another Pro Bowl tight end in Darren Waller. While this is certainly an opportunity to prove that last week's performance will not be indicative of what we should expect from him moving forward, Simmons's play against Waller will be a massive factor in this game.

A.J. Green

Sure, A.J. Green is undoubtedly a shell of his former All-Pro self, but he nonetheless needs to step up for Arizona right now as the receiving corps is trying to figure out their identity.

Rondale Moore and Andy Isabella have both already been ruled out for this Sunday's matchup, and the team still won't have DeAndre Hopkins for another five weeks. This places more onus on Green to show up big time.

The Raiders showed vulnerability against the pass last week when Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers carved up Las Vegas's secondary for 279 yards and three touchdowns. With a depleted wide receivers room, Green needs to step up this week and provide Kyler Murray with a reliable option in the passing game and perhaps give the quarterback a big option in the red zone, too.

James Conner

I know what you're thinking: how could a player who scored a touchdown last week be on this list? I mean, he had 16.5 fantasy football points last week!

This is why he pops up on this list - James Conner averaged well under 4.0 yards per carry at a disgustingly bad 2.6 and had just 5.8 yards per reception through the air. On 15 touches, the Pro Bowl running back garnered 55 total yards. But hey, at least he found the end zone in a blowout game, right?

The Cardinals need more out of their newly paid running back. While Conner wasn't above 4.0 YPC last season when he made the Pro Bowl, he was certainly better than what we saw a week ago. It also doesn't help his case that his backup, Eno Benjamin, looked exceptionally good when he saw the field.

This may be a blessing in disguise for Arizona's offense, but it's not a good sign for Conner.

If Conner doesn't rebound this week or even worse, repeats his performance from last week, the Cardinals need to seriously consider moving from a bell cow to a running back by committee approach.

Conner has no excuses to not do better this week considering how low he set the bar for himself last week, and Arizona certainly needs one of the best weapons on its offense to be better.

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Isaiah Simmons

A.J. Green

James Conner

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