On Thursday night, for the first time in approximately six months, there will be NFL action as the Carolina Panthers and the Arizona Cardinals open the preseason when they clash in the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio. And while there is never too much to take away from this game (or most preseason games), and neither team is expected to be a top Super Bowl contender this season, there are some things to keep an eye on Thursday night.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the game will be the battle between the two "starting" quarterbacks. The term "starting" is in quotation marks because we know that neither announced starter for the game, which will be Kenny Pickett for the Panthers and Carson Beck for the Cardinals, is expected to start this season for their respective teams. But both men have something to prove.
For Pickett, who was a first-round draft pick in 2022 for his hometown Pittsburgh Steelers, every preseason is the window for the now-fifth-year signal-caller to prove he belongs in the league. He went 7-5 as a starter during his first two seasons in Pittsburgh, but the statistics were worse than the admittedly average record, and he eventually was benched and traded.
Since then, he has only started three games in the past two seasons and hopes to prove he can compete with Bryce Young for the starting job. If he wants that to happen, it starts on Thursday night in Canton.
Meanwhile, Beck was a third-round draft pick this year after leading Miami (FL) to a national runner-up finish, but he has some obstacles in his way if he hopes to be an NFL starter. But even though one of those players, Jacoby Brissett, finally settled his contract dispute with the Cardinals, he is still relatively unproven and inconsistent as an NFL starter.
#thursday #cardinals #preseason
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the game will be the battle between the two "starting" quarterbacks. The term "starting" is in quotation marks because we know that neither announced starter for the game, which will be Kenny Pickett for the Panthers and Carson Beck for the Cardinals, is expected to start this season for their respective teams. But both men have something to prove.
For Pickett, who was a first-round draft pick in 2022 for his hometown Pittsburgh Steelers, every preseason is the window for the now-fifth-year signal-caller to prove he belongs in the league. He went 7-5 as a starter during his first two seasons in Pittsburgh, but the statistics were worse than the admittedly average record, and he eventually was benched and traded.
Since then, he has only started three games in the past two seasons and hopes to prove he can compete with Bryce Young for the starting job. If he wants that to happen, it starts on Thursday night in Canton.
Meanwhile, Beck was a third-round draft pick this year after leading Miami (FL) to a national runner-up finish, but he has some obstacles in his way if he hopes to be an NFL starter. But even though one of those players, Jacoby Brissett, finally settled his contract dispute with the Cardinals, he is still relatively unproven and inconsistent as an NFL starter.
#thursday #cardinals #preseason
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