Thursday, Aug. 30, the Arizona Cardinals suffered their first preseason loss, 21-10, against the Denver Broncos at The University of Phoenix Stadium.

Some might argue that preseason doesn’t matter (aside from bragging rights) because regular season records have shown that preseason “predictions” are certainly nowhere near gospel—still, preseason is everything if you’re one of the 90 men looking to secure a place on the 53- man Arizona Cardinals roster.

In his post-game address, head coach Steve Wilks wasted no time saying that “all 90 deserve to be here.” With that said, the difficult task of cutting the roster had already begun.

Many of the starting players did not make an appearance in Thursday’s game to avoid the risk of possible injury, the scrutiny did fall on third and fourth string players going toe to toe for positions.

The week was a pivotal one for the coaches as they had to keenly observe players and the best possible scenarios of a team to fit their needs.

Coach Wilks was not delighted with the outcome of the Broncos loss.

“We take pride playing in front of our fans and protecting the nest and we don’t lose at home,” said Wilks during the local Channel 12 televised post-game interview. “Every mistake is critical, one missed pass, one dropped ball could cost a player the opportunity of making the roster.”

Patrick Peterson was not worried about making the cut and focused instead on what is expected as a leader.

“It’s an exciting time for the guys who are gonna be here so we can start ascending into that journey,” Peterson said.  “It’s a big play waiting to happen at any given point in the game, we wanna carry over into the regular season, we been doing a lot of great things.”

The 53-man Arizona Cardinals roster was officially released on Saturday and veteran wide receivers Brice Butler and Greg Little were among the notable cuts.