Bears safety Antrel Rolle: Cardinals ‘have a dynamic offense’
Sep 17, 2015, 6:17 PM
Antrel Rolle was on an Arizona Cardinals team that made it to the Super Bowl.
That season, the Cards offense had a QB, Kurt Warner, who threw for 4,583 yards and 30 touchdowns along with a trio of receivers in Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin and Steve Breaston who all topped the 1,000-yard mark. They also had a running back, rookie Tim Hightower, who scored 10 rushing touchdowns.
That was seven years ago, however. This season, Rolle is a member of the Chicago Bears, who are getting ready to host the Cardinals in a Week 2 matchup at Soldier Field Sunday.
A guest of Burns and Gambo on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Thursday, Rolle was asked about having to face Cardinals QB Carson Palmer, who passed for 307 yards and three touchdowns last Sunday. When answering, the safety instead pointed to the entire Arizona offense.
“I think they have a dynamic offense, I think they have great execution in their offense,” Rolle said. “I think it all starts with Carson, obviously, and then you have a lot of intangibles like the great Larry Fitzgerald, who I’m very familiar with. And you have a guy you all call John Brown, but I call Smokey.”
Fitzgerald, of course, was the leading receiver on the Super Bowl team Rolle was a part of. While the veteran isn’t quite that player anymore, he led the Cardinals with six catches and 87 yards in Arizona’s season-opening win against the New Orleans Saints.
Also in that game, Palmer completed passes to eight different receivers, while targeting 10 in the afternoon. The Cardinals aim to spread the ball around, which helps to make them even more difficult for an opponent to defend.
Because while Fitzgerald led the team in catches and yards, it was Brown, tight end Darren Fells and running back David Johnson who were on the receiving end of Palmer’s touchdown passes, while running back Andre Ellington also found the end zone on a short run.
“They have a lot of guys,” Rolle added. “Ellington, I feel like he’s a great running back, I feel like he’s very versatile, catches it out of the backfield, quick, shifty guy. You add Chris Johnson, Fells had a great game last week.
“You have so many weapons that they can utilize and get what they want done, you know, and execute.”
