Arizona Cardinals won't play starters vs. Las Vegas Raiders in preseason finale
The Arizona Cardinals' final preseason game is Saturday night at State Farm Stadium against the Las Vegas Raiders. The big question surrounding the game is whether or not starters will play and, if so, for how long.
Head coach Jonathan Gannon addressed that on Thursday. After earlier in the week saying he would wait to see how the week goes to decide, he revealed on Thursday that the plan against the Raiders will be "similar to last week."
What does that mean?
It means, essentially, no starters. None of the starting offense played last weekend and only two players projected to start on defense — rookie cornerback Will Johnson and linebacker Akeem Davis-Gaither — started last week. And Johnson and Davis-Gaither only played a handful of snaps.
Against the Broncos, quarterback Jacoby Brissett led the second-team offense for two possessions. We will see if he gets the start or if Clayton Tune goes the whole game.
Getting Saturday night off doesn't mean it is a vacation for the starters and key rotational guys, though.
While some coaches might say "the hay is in the barn" after the final practice for starters and those not playing in the preseason finale, Gannon prefers a mindset where "the hay is never in the barn until you kick it off."
"You have 48-hour prep, you have 24-hour prep, you have a walkthrough, you have a bunch of different meetings, you have psychological prep," he said Thursday. "What you're doing the week before the game, two days before the game, the day before the game, 20 minutes before the game. I don't think the hay is ever in the barn until they flip the coin."
So while the starters won't play, Gannon will expect them to follow through with game prep as if they were playing, and that is probably the smart way to do it.
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire's Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe onSpotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
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