Big Red
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- Mar 16, 2019
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The way to a man’s heart is supposedly through his stomach, but not for Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury.
Even though cornerback Patrick Peterson bought ice cream for the entire team at the end of training camp, Kingsbury categorized it as a small recompense for the predicament the Cardinals now face in their secondary.
“It was the least he could do since he’s leaving us for six weeks,” Kingsbury deadpanned.
Peterson’s six-game suspension for failing a performance-enhancing drug test began on Monday. Fellow starting cornerback Robert Alford (leg) was placed on injured reserve Sunday and cannot return for at least eight weeks.
The Cardinals’ cornerback trio for the foreseeable future is expected to consist of Tramaine Brock, rookie Byron Murphy and Chris Jones.
Murphy has never played in an NFL regular season game, and Jones, a 2018 undrafted free agent out of Nebraska, is expected to see the first defensive snaps of his career on Sunday against the Lions.
“Any time you lose your first two before the opener, you know it’s going to be something you have to work through,” Kingsbury said. “But I’ve said all along, Byron Murphy and Tramaine Brock have done really good things throughout camp. Chris Jones continues to ascend. So we’ll make it work.”
It’s unknown who will be the starting cornerback opposite Brock in the base defense, but Murphy and Jones figure to play together often in nickel packages.
“Me and Byron have grown pretty close,” Jones said. “Cool dude. He’s just as hungry as I am. We both take the field the same way, same mindset. We’re going out there to be the best we can be and hopefully help this team as much as we can.”
The Cardinals must try to keep in check Detroit gunslinger Matthew Stafford and a receiver corps that includes Kenny Golladay, Marvin Jones and Danny Amendola.
“Playing the position, we automatically know everything is not going to be perfect,” Jones said. “We’re going against great receivers every week, so it’s not going to be a perfect game. They’re going to catch the ball. They get paid to catch the ball. We get paid to cover. Every once in awhile it’s going to happen, but how do you respond? If you give up a catch, stop them the next time.”
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