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Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic says Matt Leinart pointed to the Titans' frequent blitzes when analyzing what went wrong for Arizona's first-team offense Monday night. Somers: "With Matt Leinart at quarterback, the starting unit did not gain a first down in three possessions. It was only marginally better with backup Derek Anderson. But just when Anderson threatened to start a quarterback controversy, he badly missed receiver Steve Breaston on what should have been an easy 6-yard touchdown pass. Leinart knows his performance will be critiqued and criticized, but he said it was hard to deal with the Titans' blitzes without game planning."

Also from Somers: Nose tackle Gabe Watson and receiver Andre Roberts suffered sprained right shoulders. Just what the Cardinals need: another banged-up receiver.

More from Somers: Anderson's touch might be improving, but not all at once. Somers: "Anderson showed the inconsistency that's kept him from seriously challenging Leinart, at least so far. He threw a beautiful 37-yard strike to (Stephen) Williams, putting the Cardinals at the Titans 6. The Cardinals had a perfect call on the play after. Anderson faked to Beanie Wells, the Titans bit, and receiver Steve Breaston was open in the end zone. But Anderson put too much on the ball and Breaston had no chance. Coaches have been working with Anderson on showing some touch in those situations and believe he is improving. If the Cardinals score there, then we would all be talking an awful lot today about a possible QB competition." Instead, we're talking about ... a possible QB controversy.

Darren Urban of azcardinals.com thinks little will come of the Cardinals' offensive struggles Monday night. Urban: "My guess is the Cards will break down the tape, see the Titans bringing the house (and Leinart under heavy pressure nearly every play), see the running game providing no support, and figure with a better game plan, Leinart would have been OK."

Also from Urban: The Cardinals will remain in Nashville before heading to Chicago for their game Saturday.

More from Urban: Larry Fitzgerald appears close to receiving medical clearance to return from a sprained knee.

Clare Farnsworth of seahawks.com says it's unclear where Brandon Jones fits in the Seahawks' receiving rotation. Jones obviously felt the situation was unsettled enough for him to compete for a spot.

Danny O'Neil of the Seattle Times questions whether the Seahawks will keep a true fullback on their initial 53-man roster. Quinton Ganther worked ahead of Owen Schmitt in the second exhibition game.

Eric D. Williams of the Tacoma News Tribune says cornerback Roy Lewis has been "one of the pleasant surprises" during Seahawks camp. Also at corner: "(Walter) Thurmond’s play has tailed off a bit, but he still has enormous potential and would not make it through waivers if Seattle tried to put him on the practice squad. Cord Parks and Marcus Brown are likely competing for a practice squad spot."

John Morgan of Field Gulls liked what he saw from Marcus Trufant when the Seattle cornerback challenged a pass for Greg Jennings in the most recent exhibition game.

Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says the Rams aren't handing the starting job to Sam Bradford yet, even though Bradford will start Thursday night at New England while A.J. Feeley recovers from a thumb injury. Coach Steve Spagnuolo: "A.J.'s the starter right now (if healthy); Sam's the backup. A.J. has a little better command of the offense. If you based it on two games, A.J.'s been able to move the football team when he's been in there. That's really what we want. Sam has a little bit of a ways to go in that. But at some point, if we feel the guy that is behind the starter can do a better job, to me, that's when you make the move. I don't know if that'll be next week. If it'll be three weeks. If it'll be four weeks. Sam still has a lot of things (to learn)."

Bill Coats of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says at least one Rams player was already familiar with newly signed receiver Danario Alexander.

Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea offers a player-by-player review of the 49ers' offense against Minnesota. On first-round rookie tackle Anthony Davis: "Started at right tackle and played the first three quarters, taking part in 38 snaps. He was called for a false start on the second drive. He could not hold his block on Jayme Mitchell, causing Dixon to be thrown for a 2-yard loss in the second quarter. Starting defensive end Ray Edwards was difficult for him to handle, but Davis did a good job of riding him out of the picture on a third-and-11 pass to Walker for a first down to set up the 49ers' only touchdown."

Also from Maiocco: a look at the 49ers' defense, with these thoughts on Manny Lawson: "Started at sam linebacker. He came in off the edge to throw Peterson for a 3-yard loss on the first run play of the game. He also tackled Peterson for a 1-yard loss. Credited with four tackles, a very good showing, in his one quarter of work."

Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee singles out 10 players for their work in the 49ers' effort against the Vikings. On cornerback Phillip Adams: " The rookie broke up three passes, including a very nice play along the sideline on a throw to receiver Marko Mitchell. He also led the 49ers with four tackles. Adams is trying to be the fifth cornerback on the active roster. The fact that he is a strong, big-bodied corner helps his cause because he can contribute on special teams."

Phil Barber of the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat looks at the 49ers' competition between LaBoy and Diyral Briggs at outside linebacker.

Also from Barber: What's up with the 49ers' return game? Barber: "(Bobby) Guillory, signed Aug. 11, got all five punt returns against the Vikings, and both kickoff returns. There are two ways to interpret this: (1) The 49ers really want to give Guillory a good look before making a decision. Or (2) they know just what they have in (Ted) Ginn and (Dominique) Zeigler, and can rest them for the regular season." The latter option makes more sense. The team does seem high on Kyle Williams on punt returns.

ST. LOUIS -- Rookie quarterback Sam Bradford showed he could run the St. Louis Rams' offense competently in his first NFL exhibition game. He appeared comfortable and in command. He threw accurately.

Bradford, sidelined 10 games by a shoulder injury at Oklahoma last season, also showed he could take a hit. Multiple hits. Too many hits.

The No. 1 overall draft choice started quickly in his NFL exhibition debut against the Minnesota Vikings. Fans rose from their seats in the Edward Jones Dome and welcomed Bradford with the loudest ovation of the night. They rose again when Bradford completed passes for first downs on his first two third-down plays.

"It was exciting," Bradford said following the 28-7 defeat. "It was the first time I had been in a game situation for a long time. It was fun to get out there, get hit a couple times, get knocked down, get back up -- just getting back into the flow of a football game was fun."

Bradford's first pass went through the hands of tight end Darcy Johnson. He faced third-and-5 from the St. Louis 27 on the next play and found receiver Laurent Robinson over the middle for an 18-yard gain. Overall, Bradford completed 6 of 13 passes for 57 yards and a 58.8 rating. But he was sharp early -- as long as his protection lasted.

"Sam sounded confident in the huddle, real calm and comfortable out there," Robinson said. "Threw a great ball, just put it on me and I was able to make the catch and get the first down. It felt good to get his first completion out there."

Two plays later, also on third-and-5, Bradford found receiver Danny Amendola underneath for a 5-yard gain.

"He is a leader," Amendola said. "He is a smart guy, he is a quarterback by nature."

Bradford completed a 9-yard pass to running back Chris Ogbonnaya on the next play, but the Vikings hit Bradford hard -- a sign of things to come.

The longer Bradford stayed in the game, the less reliable his protection became. Those wondering whether Bradford's surgically repaired throwing shoulder might be vulnerable should know the Vikings drove that shoulder into the turf at least twice. Bradford completed the 9-yarder to Ogbonnaya right before taking the first shoulder-crunching hit. The second hit came on the final play of the final Bradford-led drive of the evening.

Bradford said his shoulder felt fine afterward. More evidence the shoulder was fine: In the locker room, veteran starter A.J. Feeley repeatedly slapped Bradford on the shoulder to congratulate him on his first NFL action.

"The shoulder feels great," Bradford said. "I took a couple hits tonight, landed on the shoulder. Feels great, not sore at all. We'll see tomorrow how it feels, but right now it feels great."

Protection problems aren't always a big deal during the exhibition season. Teams aren't preparing for their opponents nearly as much. Coaches sometimes call plays designed more for evaluation purposes than to put individual players in the best possible position to succeed.

In this case, though, the Rams were certainly trying to set up Bradford for success as they sought to build his confidence and feed fan excitement (the dome was sparsely populated on a day when the Chicago Cubs visited Busch Stadium, always a hot ticket here, and a local MMA card attracted more sports dollars).

Unfortunately for Bradford, right tackle Jason Smith could not block backup Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jayme Mitchell, a player whose most recent regular-season sack came in 2007 (one of 4.0 career sacks for Mitchell). It's not good when the player St. Louis drafted second overall in 2009 cannot prevent an NFL backup from roughing up the new franchise quarterback. But there were mitigating factors. Smith has missed time to injury lately. He improved significantly through the course of the preseason a year ago, and he has time to do the same this summer.

Perhaps this was merely an off night for Smith, but I came out of this game with more questions about Smith's pass protection than about Bradford's poise or potential. Consider it a reminder that quarterbacks, though increasingly important as the NFL becomes more pass-oriented, still need considerable support to function, let alone flourish.

Bradford's third and final series of the first half went like this:

First down: Mitchell drives Smith off the ball, raises his hands and bats down Bradford's pass.

Second down: Mitchell beats Smith again, disrupting Bradford and collecting a half-sack on the play.

Third down: Mitchell beats Smith for a full sack this time.

Both teams were without multiple key players. Running back Steven Jackson, the only Rams player with a Pro Bowl on his resume, was among those sitting out. This game ultimately mattered more for what Bradford showed than for the protection issues.

"I felt like I did some good things tonight," Bradford said. "I felt like I did some things not-so-good, but that's what the preseason is for. When we get in there tomorrow and look at the tape, I'm sure we'll find a lot of things to work on."

Posted by ESPN.com's Mike Sando

MINNEAPOLIS -- The 49ers and Vikings submitted their list of inactive players for their Week 3 game in the Metrodome.

• 49ers: Marcus Hudson, Curtis Taylor, Marques Harris, Cody Wallace, Brandon Jones, Jason Hill, Ricky Jean-Francois. Nate Davis is the third quarterback.
• Vikings: Jaymar Johnson, Asher Allen, Husain Abdullah, Erin Henderson, Kory Lichtensteiger, Jimmy Kennedy, Jayme Mitchell. Sage Rosenfels is the third quarterback.

No big surprises for the 49ers. They have four receivers active (Josh Morgan, Isaac Bruce, Arnaz Battle and Micheal Spurlock). Linebacker Ahmad Brooks is active, as coach Mike Singletary suggested the case would be.

Jones has returned to practice following a shoulder injury, but the 49ers did not find a spot for him on the 45-man roster. They have not used more than three wide receivers at a time through two games this season.