4 things to watch in Cardinals’ preseason matchup with Colts

The Arizona Cardinals have their second preseason contest Saturday against the Indianapolis Colts on the road at Lucas Oil Stadium. The two teams held a pair of joint practices leading up to the game on Wednesday and Thursday.

The Cardinals’ starters, who did not play last week in the preseason opener, are not expected to play in this game.

The Colts will not play their starters or backup quarterback Joe Flacco.

With no starters for either team, we won’t be able to tell much about the teams. That said, what should Cardinals fans watch for in the game?

QB rotation and play

Head coach Jonathan Gannon has said that Desmond Ridder and Clayton Tune are competing for the backup job behind Kyler Murray. Ridder was outplayed by Tune last week in the preseason opener, although Ridder did play with backups against the Saints’ starters, while Tune played with backups against backups.

Will Ridder do a better job this week?

We can also know a bit more about how close the competition is, based on the playing rotation.

If Ridder starts again and Tune plays in the second half with the third stringers, that competition might not be that close.

How much the first-round picks play

Marvin Harrison Jr. played only three snaps in the opener, although that wasn’t necessarily the plan. Darius Robinson played a little more but not much. Check out how much action they get against the Colts.

The pass rush from the OLBs

Zaven Collins and Dennis Gardeck will be the starters at outside linebacker once the season begins. But who ends up making the roster among the other guys in the room — Victor Dimukeje, Cam Thomas, Xavier Thomas, Tyreke Smith and Jesse Luketa — is very much uncertain.

How the long snapping is split

Last week, Aaron Brewer handled the snaps for extra points. We can assume that would have been the case for field goals, had the Cardinals attempted any. Rookie Joe Shimko handled snaps for punts. Will they switch roles? Will one play more than the other?

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