Butler: Facing Cowboys ‘means nothing to me’
Don’t ask Brice Butler how he feels about heading back to Dallas to play his former team on “Sunday Night Football.” The fact that the Cardinals meet the Cowboys in their third preseason game means absolutely nothing to the wide receiver.
“I don’t care. I could care less,” he said. Butler has said previously his split this past offseason with the Cowboys was mutual, that he needed a change of scenery anyway. Besides, he said, this is only a preseason game. It won’t have any special meaning for him at all.
“I mean, it’ll be good to see some of my old teammates, but like the game means nothing to me,” Butler said.
It probably should mean a little something to Butler. Though he’s a six-year NFL veteran, he’s still competing for a spot as one of the Cardinals’ top trio of wide receivers. And, after missing all of last week with a foot injury, including last Friday’s exhibition game in New Orleans, it’s not as if he couldn’t use a strong showing in what typically is referred to as a team’s final “dress rehearsal” of the preseason.
A poor performance Sunday night could make the Cardinals reassess how they plan to use Butler. He’s scheduled to make $1.1 million on his one-year deal, but nothing is guaranteed in the NFL other than the $300,000 the Cardinals must pay him this season.
Butler doesn’t sound worried about his status.
“The way we’ve been doing things so far, especially with the receivers, they’ve been interchanging all the ‘X’s’ per week and they told me that from the beginning,” he said. “There might be another guy starting at ‘X’ this week. I was ‘X’ the first week, Greg (Little) was last week, so it could be somebody else this week.”
The depth chart at receiver is still undecided after Larry Fitzgerald. Coach Steve Wilks said youngsters Christian Kirk and Chad Williams showed some separation last week against the Saints in the battle for the No. 2 and 3 spots, but Sunday’s game figures to be pivotal for all of the receivers.
“I know they’re still kind of possibly making decisions on who and what so even in practices, you don’t want to be out there having bad practices,” Butler said. “You can’t go out there and not play well.
“For me, I’ve been in the league six years and I’ve had really good preseasons and I’ve made my teams, but it’s never put me in a position that I wanted to be in so I just take it with a grain of salt. I try to just focus on what I can do and if it works out, it works out.”
Butler’s apparent lack of enthusiasm could be easily misconstrued, but he’s not taking his job for granted; he’s just highly confident and figures things will work out the way they were intended. Coach Steve Wilks made it clear he’s expecting to see a boatload out of Butler on Sunday night.
“Brice didn’t play last week. Looking for him to step up this week,” Wilks said. “He’s got an opportunity against his old team so hopefully that sparks him a little.”
Don’t count on it.
Another no-show?
If Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones stands by his words that it’s probably best to sit starting quarterback Dak Prescott and star running back Ezekiel Elliott for Sunday night’s game, Arizona’s first-team defense once again will be missing out on another opportunity to gauge itself.
Jones doesn’t want to put Prescott or Elliott at risk with two of the Cowboys’ starting offensive linemen — center Travis Frederick (Guillain-Barré syndrome) and guard Zach Martin (knee) — out for at least the rest of the preseason and possibly beyond. If Prescott doesn’t play Sunday at AT&T Stadium, it will mark the third straight preseason game that the Cardinals will not face the opponent’s first-string quarterback.
Philip Rivers didn’t suit up in Arizona’s 24-17 win over the Chargers, and last week, Drew Brees didn’t play in the Cardinals’ 20-15 victory over the Saints. Starters typically don’t play at all in the final preseason game, which means the Cardinals won’t expect to face Case Keenum either when the Broncos visit University of Phoenix Stadium on Aug.30.
“I don’t really think it’s a missed opportunity because we have to line up and really execute and do the little things regardless of who’s out there performing and playing,” Wilks said. “They talked last week about Brees not playing and those kind of things, but we’ve just got to go out and play our style of ball, be physical, play with extreme effort and really execute.
“And I’m looking for the defense, regardless of who’s in there, to stop the run.”
Last week in New Orleans, the Saints gashed the Cardinals for 183 yards rushing.
Kick this around
When the Cardinals brought in undrafted rookie kicker Matt McCrane, most observers figured it was less about pushing veteran Phil Dawson and more about having an extra leg in camp. It turns out there could be more of a real competition for the kicking job than anyone may have realized.
McCrane, 23, connected on 86.4 percent of his field goals at Kansas State and he’s made both of his field-goal attempts in the preseason, including a 53-yarder against the Saints. Dawson, 43, is one of two in two preseason games after tying career highs in field goals made (32) and field goals missed (eight) a year ago.
With two preseason games to go, Wilks made it sound as if the Cardinals’ kicking job remains wide open.
“I talk competition all the time,” Wilks said. “We know Phil is a seasoned vet. He’s done a great job. Anytime there is competition at any position it’s healthy. I like that. And Matt is doing a great job. He’s been doing a good job since the spring, so we’ll let those guys continue to battle it out.”