First-year Arizona Cardinals coach Steve Wilks has wanted players to separate themselves in the crowded competition at wide
receiver.Christian Kirk and Chad Williams seem to have done just that.Both
youngsters had impressive nights in the Cardinals' 20-15 preseason victory at
New Orleans on Friday night.Kirk
http://www.cardinalscheapstore.com/mike-iupati-jersey-cheap , a second-round pick from Texas A&M, caught four passes for 49 yards,
including a 13-yard dart in traffic from fellow rookie Josh Rosen for a
touchdown. Williams, a third-round pick from Grambling State in 2017, caught
three for 44 yards."Christian Kirk, Chad Williams, the way they performed. Tough
catches, yardage after with Chad," Wilks said after the team returned to
practice Sunday. "I thought those guys stepped up. I thought they created a
little bit of separation. It's ongoing in that room so I'm looking for guys to
continue to get better."Kirk and Williams took advantage of the absence of wide
receiver Brice Butler, out with a foot injury. Butler had been listed as the No.
2 receiver opposite Larry Fitzgerald on the depth chart but Wilks had declared
the positon "pretty wide open" during training camp."With Brice being out,
there's more opportunities to go out and show what we can do," Kirk said. "I'm
really excited with how we played and looking forward to another good week of
practice and getting out there in Dallas and do it again."Kirk, who grew up in
suburban Phoenix as a Cardinals fan, made his presence felt the first time he
touched the ball, returning a punt 38 yards in Arizona's first preseason game, a
24-17 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. He would have had a touchdown, most
likely
Cheap Chase Edmonds Jersey , had he not slipped making a move on the final would-be tackler, the punter.Now he's trying to show that he's not just a
specialist but a reliable big-play threat as a receiver."You've just got to
learn week by week, whether it's the speed of the game, the playbook, I mean it
all just comes more natural the more reps that you get," Kirk said. "You get
used to the looks that you're seeing. It's getting a lot easier. I feel like
I've made bounds and strides from when I first stepped in here."Wide receiver is
a big question mark for the Cardinals, with no truly proven players — except
perhaps Butler — beyond Fitzgerald, who enters his 15th NFL season with career
statistics among the greatest in the game's history.So the showing of the
youngsters was welcome news.That might be particularly true of Williams, who
struggled through a difficult rookie season, appearing in only six games with
three catches for 31 yards.Has the light come on?"He's just such a competitor,"
Wilks said. "He understands exactly what he needs to do. He wasn't satisfied
with some of the things that happened last year, the inconsistency, so I think
he's ready to step up."Williams said he's much more at ease."I feel like it's
sunk in and I know the way of going about things," he said, "and it just comes
natural now."The Cardinals wrapped up their relatively brief training camp at
University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale on Wednesday. They will work out
Monday, have Tuesday off, then practice Wednesday through Friday in preparation
for their Sunday game at Dallas."This was always in the plans because really I
wanted those guys to get acclimated to how we're going to do it during the
year
Youth D.J. Humphries Jersey , to get away from the University of Phoenix Stadium and get back here and get down to the routine," Wilks aid. "Routine is
so important to me."Notes: Wilks said there will be no rush to get DT Robert
Nkemdiche back after the former first-round draft pick left Friday night's game
with a foot injury. "I really don't have a timetable on it right now," Wilks
said. "Just taking to the trainers, we're just going to take it day to day and
see how it goes." Philip Rivers had the single greatest completion percentage in
NFL history in today’s win over the Cardinals.Rivers completed 28 of his 29
passes today, for a completion percentage of 96.6 percent. That’s the best
completion percentage any player has ever had in any game. The previous
regular-season record was 92.3 percent, set by Kurt Warner when he went 24-of-26
in a game in 2009. The postseason record is 92.9 percent, set by Tom Brady in a
postseason game after the 2007 season.With 259 yards, three touchdowns and no
interceptions, Rivers had an outstanding game, and he helped his team easily
beat the Cardinals despite falling behind 10-0 in the first quarter.Cardinals
quarterback Josh Rosen did not have a good game. He hit Larry Fitzgerald for a
25-yard touchdown on the Cardinals’ first drive, but after that he could get
nothing going. The Cardinals’ offense, which has bene ugly all season, was ugly
again today. Rosen was sacked twice by Joey Bosa, Bosa’s first two sacks of the
season.The Cardinals drop to 2-9, and they remain in contention for the first
overall pick in the draft. The Chargers improve to 8-3, and they remain in
contention for a first-round playoff bye — and Rivers remains in contention for
the league MVP award.
