Cardinals examining options for return game

FLAGSTAFF • Waiting to catch a punt in his first NFL preseason game, rookie Steve Breaston stood at the Cardinals’ 15-yard line in Oakland Saturday. Oops! He was supposed to be standing at the 10-yard line.

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So the ball went over Breaston’s head, landed at the 11, then rolled down to the 3, where the Raiders downed it, thus pinning the Cardinals in their deepest hole of the game.

Yes, the exhibition season exists to wash out these mistakes in games that will be long forgotten by the time the Cardinals open the regular season.

And mistakes figure to happen in the kick return game, where a rookie seems to have a leg up in the competition.

Breaston was the Cardinals’ fifth-round draft pick out of Michigan, where he played both wide receiver and kick returner.

“That’s a rookie mistake,” Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “I don’t think he’ll make that mistake again.

“If he’d been at the right yard line, he’d have fielded the punt, and we would have been at the 11. That’s what preseason is for. You can learn from those things.”

Breaston redeemed himself on a kickoff return late in the game.

The Cardinals trailed 27-23 with two minutes left.

“We needed a big kick return,” Whisenhunt said. They got it, when Breaston raced straight up field to the Cards’ 45-yard line.

Though the Cards didn’t pull out the game, “That was a big return for us,” Whisenhunt said.

Overall, Whisenhunt judged Breaston solid at catching the ball and “being aggressive getting up the field.”

At the moment, Breaston is listed as the top punt returner — backed up by Michael Spurlock — while Marcel Shipp and J.J. Arrington are the top kickoff returners (backed up by Breaston).

Others who could return kicks are receivers Bryant Johnson and Sean Morey and cornerback Rod Hood.

Breaston and Spurlock are trying to replace Troy Walters, who did a fine job on punts last season at 10 yards per return.

Breaston is more of a north-south runner.

“Steven can make you miss, but he’s decisive, makes one cut and goes,” special teams coach Kevin Spencer said.

“Michael has got great explosive speed. He can probably stretch the corner … He can widen the field, and then he can hit a seam.”

Breaston returned both punts and kickoffs at Michigan.

Though he certainly doesn’t want the Cardinals to forget he’s a receiver — “You’re going to get more playing time as a receiver,” he said — he said he’s always prided himself on making plays in the kicking game.

“It gives the team momentum, and the offense comes out in good field position.”

In returning punts, he said, “You have to be smart.

“You don’t want to make bad decisions, come up and make a misread on the ball.

“Someone is in your face, you have to be smart enough to call a fair catch, You don’t want to put your team in a bad position.”

When the depth chart came out, Shipp got a fair share of attention for being listed as the No. 1 kickoff returner over Arrington.

But the Cards will employ two kick returners, and Spencer said, “J.J. might be the guy we like to see get the ball more.

“Marcel Shipp is back there because I trust him impeccably. He makes good decisions. He can block anybody who comes off the back side.”

Arrington displayed breakaway ability last season when he returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown at Minnesota.

“I love kickoffs,” Arrington said.

Arrington said he’s impressed with Spencer (“He’s real detailed”) and appreciates Whisenhunt’s emphasis on special teams. “It’s very important to him because that’s how he stayed in the league as long as he did.”

For Arrington, who hasn’t run the ball nearly as often as he’d have liked in his two Cardinals seasons, could this be his ticket to a long NFL life?

Said Arrington, “Could be.”