👋 GOOD MORNING — Happy Friday! We made it! I hope you had a great week.

College football is back tomorrow and the NFL has its last weekend of preseason games — fall is upon us! Sure, it doesn’t feel like it outside quite yet, but next month the overnight temps should start dipping down a bit, and before you know it, you’ll have trick-or-treaters at your door.

Can’t wait!

You know the drill — if you need a joke to get you through to the weekend, here you go: Why was the math book sad? It had too many problems!

Let’s run it back next week. On to the show!

— Patrick Brown, PHNX Sports Daily Editor

There’s just one more preseason game to go.

The Cardinals host the Raiders at State Farm Stadium tomorrow (7 pm, NFL Network), wrapping up a preseason slate that’s featured a 20-17 win over Kansas City and an abysmal 27-7 loss in Denver.

Now, I’ve said it a million times, I never put too much stock into any preseason game, whether starters play or not. The stakes are just not the same as a regular season game. Look at the 2017 Browns and 2008 Lions — both were 4-0 in the preseason!

Even so, there’s plenty to watch for as the Cardinals ramp up to the regular season, especially following last week’s dud against the Broncos that featured just one touchdown drive (the rest were punts). The longest non-touchdown drive of the day was 19 yards.

Yeah — hopefully we see a better showing against Vegas.

Here are the things you should watch out for as the Cardinals wrap up their exhibition season.

Last week’s loss left much to be desired, and though no projected starters played (sans Will Johnson, who has a huge learning curve ahead of him), there are still a few areas that you’d like to see be more effective, especially on the offensive side of the ball.

Coach Jonathan Gannon said yesterday final decisions on tomorrow’s lineup are TBD, but it will look “similar to last week.”

Even with that in mind, here’s what to be mindful of tomorrow night:

Honestly, given the success of the offensive line combined with the wildly talented James Conner, this shouldn’t be a huge concern. This is a team, after all, that finished seventh in the league last season by averaging 144.2 rushing yards, with Conner ranking 11th in the league, while Kyler Murray came in at 36th.

This preseason has been a different story, as the Cardinals managed just 36 yards on 17 attempts against Denver, and they put up 92 rushing yards a week earlier against Kansas City.

Heading into the preseason it seemed as if there might be a battle for backup QB duties, but Jacoby Brissett has seized his opportunity and put up some truly impressive numbers. His 16-yard touchdown pass last week was the only score for the Cardinals, and he is 11-for-16 with 138 yards passing, three touchdowns, zero interceptions and a rating of 134.9. That rating actually ranks fifth out of all quarterbacks this preseason.

Clayton Tune, meanwhile, has not matched that success, completing 18 of his 29 passes for no touchdowns and one interception while taking three sacks.

The backup job is likely Brissett’s to lose at this point, but can he finish with one, final strong performance?

Gannon did not relent after last week’s loss, stating “We got annihilated in the explosive play battle, which is the reason you lose by 20.”

Well, yeah.

Arizona’s longest play from scrimmage last week was a whopping 17 yards, and that’s not even the play they scored on, which was a 16-yard pass from Brissett to Simi Fehoko. The longest rush from scrimmage was six yards.

Denver’s defense, meanwhile, had pass plays of 58, 29, 28 and 27 yards, and rushing bursts of 35 and 30. That’s a huge discrepancy, and it would be nice to see a few more explosive plays in tomorrow night’s game.

My Take: Just two weeks away from the regular season kick off (Sept. 7 at New Orleans), there’s not much Gannon and co. need clarity on before they trim the roster to 53. Even so, the battles can be fun to watch, and with college football revving up starting tomorrow as well, enjoy the games, friends. FOOTBALL. IS. BACK.

Seeing Red: The Diamondbacks look to continue their recent winning ways as they host Cincinnati for three games, beginning tonight at 5:40. Arizona just took two of three from the Guardians, and has an absolute GAUNTLET coming up with road series at Milwaukee and Los Angeles (Dodgers), so the D-backs hope they can keep up the momentum against the 67-61 Reds this weekend.

Who will be coaching third base following Shaun Larkin’s removal from the role on Wednesday night?

Bad Beat: The Mercury dropped the final game of their three-game road trip, falling to the Aces 83-61 in Las Vegas. Alyssa Thomas led the way, notching 17 points, 11 rebounds and six assists.

Phoenix is right back in action tonight, hosting Golden State for our PHNX Mercury takeover! I’m bringing the whole family, and I hope to see you there!

No Place Like Home: The Sun Devils wrestling team announced its home opponents for the upcoming season, which features six ranked opponents: No. 3 Oklahoma State, No. 4 Iowa State, No. 6 Lehigh, No. 15 West Virginia, No. 16 Missouri and No. 29 Oregon State.

Home Stretch: Rising FC kicks off a three-game home stand, beginning tomorrow against Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC (7:30 pm, 3TV). It’s a critical matchup for Phoenix, which leads Colorado Springs by just one point in the USL Western Conference table for the final playoff spot.

I mean, there you have it.

Heading into the weekend like: