The Arizona Cardinals are now 3-0 after drilling the San Francisco 49ers 47-7 in front of a live studio audience. The Arizona crowd was treated to one of the most lopsided victories in franchise history and to sweeten the pot it was against one of their biggest rivals.
Last week on PPI we discussed the Arizona Cardinal’s keys to the game, specifically the need to shut down the 49er ground attack and to have success on the ground themselves. The Arizona defense limited Carlos Hyde to just 51 yards on 15 carries while the Cardinals ran for 140 yards on offense. This put the game into the hands of Colin Kaepernick, and eventually into the hands (literally) of the Cardinal secondary.
Kaepernick had a tough time facing a stingy and very well prepared defense. Things started off badly right away when he was intercepted twice very early in the first quarter, and having both picks returned for touch downs. Arizona’s new Defensive Coordinator James Bettcher deserves a lot of credit in this game. All in all the Cardinal defense hauled in 4 interceptions on the day and held the 49ers to a dismal 67 yards passing.
On offense the Arizona Cardinals were in complete control. Free agent pick up Chris Johnson ran like his younger self, going for 100+ and Carson Palmer… well if you haven’t heard about Carson Palmer you better ask somebody.
Palmer is in his third year with the Bruce Arians offense, an offense that is ruthless in it’s pursuit to the enzone. Carson has 9 TDs (tied with Brady for most) to go with 2 interceptions in the first 3 games this season. The Arizona quarterback hasn’t lost a game since 2013 and is 9-0 in his last 9 starts. Palmer has won 16 of his last 18 starts, and has a 12-2 record at home. He is putting up record numbers and probably has the best receiving core in the League.
Speaking of receivers I got three words for you, Fitz-is-back.
333 yards in 3 games, 5 TDs (leads all NFL receivers), and 8 of his 23 receptions have gone for over 20 yards. The chemistry between Palmer and Fitz really started gelling last year but the 2014 injuries claimed “what could have been.” The new Larry is having his way with defenses and his stats are great, but we can probably expect the other receivers like John Brown and Michael Floyd to have stellar games as well once the Fitzgerald film gets digested.
The Arizona run game (which was ranked 31st last year) appears to be functioning at a high level. After 3 games the Cardinals are ranked 11th, and are averaging about 125 yards per game. This is crucial for the team in protecting Palmer and in controlling the clock. The Cardinals also hope to have (LG) Mike Iupati in the starting line up this week, Iupati was brought in to improve the rushing efforts.
And then there is the Arizona defense, which is currently ranked 3rd in points allowed. The Cardinals lead the league with 7 interceptions in 2015, but honestly Kaepernick really helped out with those stats.
The truth is, the Cardinals have not only won all 3 of their games, they have never trailed at any point. The offense has been lights out but much of the success is because of the pressure being put on opposing quarterbacks and the defense’s ability to stuff the run. So far Arizona hasn’t really seen any type of drop off after losing Todd Bowles to the Jets, and they are as aggressive as ever.
Just to add to all that good jazz, the Cardinals have also had 3 NFC “Players of the Week” in just 3 games- David Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald, and Tyrann Mathieu. Arizona is loaded with play makers on both sides of the ball and are now using Patrick Peterson on punt returns. Bruce Arians loves to stay aggressive and he has quite the arsenal of which he credits to GM Steve Keim.
Times are good in Arizona and the team is deeper than they ever have been. There are still some disbelievers, some who will mention the quality of the opponents angle but the Cardinals are beating the teams they are supposed to beat and they are doing it in dominant fashion.
And that’s all you really can do.
