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Is the jury still out on the Cardinals' decision not to play the starters in the preseason? Sure, and coach Jonathan Gannon knows it, but the more pressing concerns are concerns that everybody had before the preseason began — concerns that GM Monti Ossenfort must now decide how to address when the roster cuts come Tuesday and more players become available around the league.

— CRAIG MORGAN

Will Monti make a deal?

Let's get the obvious out of the way. The Cardinals' preseason finale in Denver on Sunday was not must-see TV. It was almost unwatchable TV.

That's no revelation to the fans who endured Denver's 38-12 win; a result that left Arizona 0-3 in the exhibition portion of the schedule. Preseason football is sloppy, it's slow, it's dull from a play-calling standpoint, and many of the players on the field will not be here when the rosters are reduced to the 53-man limit on Tuesday at 1 p.m.

Arizona finished the preseason 0-3. Is that cause for concern? Not really. There are some issues that we can dive into in a minute here, but with the starters missing all or almost all of the games, this was mostly about getting depth players reps to see who fits where. Sure, coach Jonathan Gannon wanted to see better execution, but as much as he says he wants to see wins every time his team takes the field, what else is he supposed to say? He knows that the results of these games are largely meaningless.

To put it in perspective, five other teams went winless in the preseason including the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, and the Cincinnati Bengals, who check in with the seventh best odds to win the Super Bowl. The circumstances are different for every team, but when you look at the preseason from a methodological angle, there are too many variables (many mentioned above) to draw significant conclusions from what we saw. It's just bad science to do otherwise.

A winless preseason does not portend what is to come for the Cardinals or any other team. We know this from looking at a litany of past examples of teams that went winless or unbeaten in the postseason.

Is the jury still out on this idea of not playing the starters? Sure, and Gannon knows it, but the more pressing concerns for the Cardinals are concerns that everybody had before the preseason began — concerns that GM Monti Ossenfort must now decide how to address when the cuts are known and more players become available around the league.

Again, it's preseason so attach all of the relevant qualifiers to the following but these look like the biggest issues:

Neither Desmond Ridder nor Clayton Tune looked ready to assume the backup QB role behind Kyler Murray. Tune progressed from last season and showed some promising moments, but he still looks like a development project best suited for the No. 3 slot. Ridder was largely a disappointment, rarely showing touch on his passes or a feel for the offense. The trade that Ossenfort made to get him looks like a miss and it would be a mild surprise to see the Cardinals go into the regular season with these two players as the backup options.They could use a better No. 2 option than Ridder.

The pass rush is still a concern. Losing BJ Ojulari obviously didn't help. Ditto for Darius Robinson, but this was a perceived weakness before the season began. There were some bright spots in the preseason, Xavier Thomas and Cameron Thomas both emerged as depth options — and we still don't know how much more Zaven Collins can bring, but this looks right now like a deficiency that could cost the Cardinals in the regular season.

The Cardinals may also want to scan the available player list for more depth at offensive tackle and a veteran at cornerback, but the two issues above appear to be the most significant. With a little less than two weeks before the season opener in Buffalo, the ball is now in Ossenfort's court.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

"The sense of urgency is high as I'm siting here right now. There's a starting line now that's becoming very clear in your vision. I don't want to say that our urgency is going to pick up but it needs to pick up."   Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon on the preseason ending and the regular season arriving GEAR UP ​