THE STORY: CANTON, Ohio -- Results are not what the Cardinals or Mike LaFleur sought from rookie quarterback Carson Beck Thursday night in the Hall of Fame game.
A clean operation. Correct decisions. That's all that was asked.
Beck did that. But in his first start -- preseason, of course, against the Carolina Panthers at Tom Benson Stadium -- he did much more.
That the Cardinals lost, 33-30, didn't matter as much as Beck. He executed two touchdown drives in his first half of work, completed 15 of 19 passes for 188 yards, threw two gorgeous bombs to wide receiver Jalen Brooks, tossed a nice end-zone fade for a touchdown to Simi Fehoko, and earned at least one week of part of the fan base insisting the Cardinals now have their QB of the future.
That's far from decided. In a game where none of the key players suited up for either team, Beck's performance was excellent but must be viewed within that prism.
Same too for a LaFleur offense that provided all the explosives that the Cardinals had craved over the past few seasons.
Yet, despite the basic (and low) bar the Cardinals set for Beck ahead of time or all the caveats that came with the first game of the NFL season, the third-round pick couldn't have done any better.
Even his last pass was pretty, a fourth-and-5 pump-and-go that was in fellow rookie Reggie Virgil's hands until former Cardinal Isaiah Simmons dislodged it late. The play would've given Beck another 35 yards or so.
More to come on azcardinals.com.
