The Arizona Cardinals face their biggest test to date this Sunday when the Dallas Cowboys come to town. The Cardinals have played lights-out at home so far but they'll have to bring their A-game if they want to send the Cowboys home with a loss. Given the Cowboys' injury issues in the secondary and the fact that there offense isn't clicking right now, the Cardinals have a chance to register a big win in front of a near-national audience and stake claim to their legitmacy as a contender. Here's what they have to do in order to come out with a WIN:

Shut Down the Cowboys Running Game: Dallas' running game is potent and they've got the duo at running back and the offensive line to dominate a game. If they get MBIII and Jones going early, their offense can do just about anything they please. If the Cardinals can shut down the running game early or jump out to an early lead, the Dallas offense will become one dimensional though. The Redskins frustated the Boys' running game early in their game, then dropped 17 points on them in the fourth quarter before giving Dallas their only loss on the year. The result was the Boys only ran the ball 11 times for 44 yards. Make no mistake about it, this offense can be frustrated if things don't go right for them early in a game.

Win the Battle of Feild Position: This incorporates several aspects of the game including the kicking game, ball control and defense. In the kicking game, they need to cover punts and kicks well. On kickoffs, Felix Jones is amazing (27.5 avg) and he's already took a kick back for a score and he's got two 40+ yard returns. On punt returns, Adam Jones hasn't put it together yet (4.7 avg) but I'm sure we can all remember him from his days in Tennessee. The Cardinals can't allow a big return and they can't give the Cowboys offense a short field because of a turnover. The Cowboys are too good to give them a short field or easy scores.

Keep Warner Upright: The Cowboys' defense is based on pressuring the quarterback, especially with DeMarcus Ware and Greg Ellis. The Cardinals success as a team greatly depends on Kurt Warners ability to get the ball to his playmakers. Obviously this will be a big key for each team. The Cardinals offensive line, most importantly Mike Gandy and Levi Brown, have to play a good game and the Cardinals might have to keep an extra back or tight end in the backfield to pick up any extra blitzers. If they can limit the Cowboys pressure or force Dallas to bring 6 or more rushers in order to get to Warner, the passing game should have a big game.

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Thoughts? Agree/Disagree? What other things must the Cardinals do beat the Cowboys?

The Arizona Cardinals came home looking for a win as well as some momentum and they got both on Sunday by routing the Bills 41-17. The Cardinals were physically dominant from the outset of the game when they knocked Trent Edwards out of the game on their third offensive play (we'll see if Adrian Wilson is fined for the hit later in the week). One look at the box score will tell the story of this game considering the Cardinals ended up with almost a hundred more total yards, more than a 10 minute edge in time of possession and +4 in the turnover ratio. There were far more positives that anything else yesterday so we'll take the easy way out and just talk about what went right. Later in the day we'll talk about the negatives from yesterday and concerns heading into next week including Roderick Hood and Ben Patrick's injury status.

Kurt Warner: I've said it before, but it's worth reiterating: When Kurt Warner doesn't turn the ball over, he's as good as any quarterback in this league. The Bills were 6th in the league heading into this week allowing just 168.5 yards per game but that didn't stop Warner from completing over 78 percent of his passes on his way to 250 yards. He didn't end up with a great yards per attempt (6.0) but a week after having six turnovers, he protected the ball and had a very good game despite missing one of his top receivers, Anquan Boldin.

Offensive Line: One week after getting embarrassed by the Jets, the offensive line had a great rebound performance against the Bills. The O-line kept Warner clean all game long, not allowing a single sack and he was hit just a few times. Considering that Warner dropped back to pass over 40 times, that's quite an accomplishment. They did a really good job limiting Marcus Stroud and Levi Brown had a nice bounce back game after being abused against the Jets. The run blocking still has a long way to go but they did end up with 123 yards rushing on 34 attempts (3.6 avg). 

Wide Receivers: There were several questions heading into Sunday concerning the wide receivers, such as could Breaston handle being a starter and how will Early Doucet handle his first professional game? In case you missed the game, both answers were a resounding YES. The Bills were focused on Larry Fitzgerald (7 for 52) and the result was Breaston and Doucet combining for 119 yards on 13 receptions, including a couple big third down conversions. Fitzgerald ended up with both touchdown receptions but Breaston and Doucet did a good job of moving the chains.

Defensive Pressure: After a couple of lackluster pass rush performances on the road, the Cardinals turned up the dial yesterday and harassed the Bills quarterbacks early and often. A blitzing Adrian Wilson knocked Trent Edwards out of the game on the Bills' third offensive play and they didn't slow down until the game was well out of hand. The defense finished with five sacks, two of which came from free agent signee, Travis LaBoy. LaBoy not only only led the team in sacks, he was also tied for the team lead in tackles and was a disruptive force all over the field. Another Arizona-newcomer, Clark Haggans finished with 1.5 sacks and oddly enough his sacks came on back to back plays in the fourth quarter. Gabe Watson made his presence felt in his first game back with a sack and fumble recovery.

Turnover Ratio: The Cardinals were -8 in the turnover battle the past two weeks against the Redskins and Jets and much of the talk was centered around the defense not being aggressive. Well that certainly wasn't the case yesterday as the Cardinals were ultra-aggressive causing four turnovers which led to 17 points. The first fumble was the result of a great play by Antonio Smith when he shot the gap and blew up a handoff between JP Losman and Marshawn Lynch. That was the second play after Trent Edwards was knocked out of the game and the Bills would never recover. The Cardinals would take over at the Bills 38 and score six plays later. 

Neil Rackers: I've jumped on Rackers for every mistake he's made this year so it's only fair to acknowledge him when he has a really good game. He not only connected on two field goals (47 yards and 38 yards), he also hit another one from 28 that was nullified by a Bills penalty. His kickoffs were effective even though he didn't register a touchback considering that the Bills average starting position on kickoffs was thier own 25 yard line. Rackers also helped his own cause registering two tackles, both of which came around the Bills 20 yard line.

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There were other positivies about this game, but that should get the ball rolling. Later today and into tommorrow we'll chart the running and passing plays as well as continue to break down a big Cardinals win. Thoughts? Who else stood out as having a good game?

Obviously when you get your doors blown off, there's plenty of blame to go around and this game was no exception for the Arizona Cardinals. It's easy to sit here the day after an embarrassing loss and point fingers but there's no sense in patting anyone on the back either. Here are the biggest culprits from Sunday's debacle
against the Jets.

Kurt Warner: He had to be on the top of this list considering that he ended the game with six turnovers that led to 27 points for the Jets. Not only did Warner prevent his offense from getting into any kind of a rythm, he also put the defense in a no-win situaton time after time. During the second quarter, Warner and the offense had the ball for five drives totaling 34 yards and resulted in two interceptions, two fumbles and one punt. He did come out on fire in the second half leading the offense to touchdowns on five straight drives but there's a reason that teams don't come back from 34 point deficit's very often. Warner may have redeemed him self a bit by having a huge second half but he also proved that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. All of the emphasis on protecting the ball didn't do a bit of good when the heat was turned up.

Levi Brown: Brown is looking more and more like a guy who just doesn't get it and it's just painful to watch him continue to struggle against any pass rusher with a quick first step. He was responsible for several of the hits and fumbles on Warner and I don't understand why the coaching staff doesn't realize that he needs help. It hamstrings an offense when they have to commit a running back or tight end to help an offensive tackle, but that's the only way that Brown can handle speed rushers. I hate jumping on a guy who still only have 15 career starts but he wasn't drafted to be an average player (and that's being generous).

Entire Secondary: The secondary took it's first blow before the game even started when they found out that Adrian Wilson wouldn't be able to play and they never recovered. By the time it was over Favre had a career day throwing for six touchdowns and completing over 70% of his passes. He had four passes over 20 yards, ending the day with 8.5 yards per attempt and a QB rating of 123.7. The secondary wasn't helped out by a non-existent pass rush and they got even more short handed when Eric Green missed some time with a knee sprain, but I can't remember the last time that I saw so many receivers running around wide open.

Coaching Staff: I'm one of the biggest Whiz supporters around but I'm dumbfounded about how this team can continue to look completely pathetic on the road. My biggest beef though is with defensive coordinator, Clancy Pendergast. After seeing the defense play fast and loose in San Francisco, we've seen three games in a row of a conservative, "please don't beat us deep" approach. They generated very little pass rush and given how vulnerable the secondary looked, they could have benefitted from a rusher in Favre's face. Penalties continue to be a big problem as well and so many of them are just sloppy, lack of concentration plays.

I wish I could put some kind of spin on this game or some lipstick on this pig but I just can't do it, at least not today. Maybe tomorrow we can talk about the few things that went right but for now all I see is a bad loss. Thoughts? Agree/Disagree? Who else deserves to be on this list?

We took our first look at the injuries heading into Sunday's game yesterday, and while there is some good news, there's also some bad news for the Arizona Cardinals. The good news is that Gabe Watson participated in a full practice for the second day in a row and there's a real possibility that he could make his debut this week. While I'm sure he's not ready to start or play most of the game, having him for even 10 or 15 plays will be a big boost to the front seven and more importantly the defensive line rotation. Alan Branch isn't even listed on the injury report and having both of those guys back will put an anchor back in the middle of the defense. The bad news though is that Travis LaBoy didn't practice at all, after being limited in practice yesterday. It's not clear whether he regressed and his ankle got worse or if they were just holding him out to make sure that he didn't put any extra work on a bad leg. We'll see what he's able to do today and update tomorrow. Others on the injury list who were limited: Levi Brown (knee) and Steve Breaston (hamstring). Jerame Tuman (hamstring) was again held out of practice and he will not play this Sunday.

As for the Redskins, HB Blades (knee), Malcolm Kelly (ankle), Fred Smoot (hip), James Thrash (ankle) all returned to practice on a limited basis yesterday after not practicing at all on Wednesday. Khary Campbell (thigh) was again limited and London Fletcher didn't practice at all after being limited on Wednesday (although they listed it as 'coaches decision'). Kareem Moore (hamstring), Carlos Rogers (groin), Jason Taylor (knee) and Marcus Washington (hamstring) all returned to full practice after being limited on Wednesday.

This 2008 version of the Arizona Cardinals can look back at the 2007 season and clearly see several games that they should have won. The October 21st game against the Redskins was certainly one of those games and ultimately could have been the difference between a playoff berth or just another unsuccessful season. By the end of 2007 the playoff bound Skins were 9-7 while the Cardinals finished 8-8 and sitting at home in January.

The bad taste can still be felt by many of the veterans considering that the Cardinals dominated that game (364 yards to 160 yards) but turnovers and penalties led to a Cardinals loss. The Redskins are pretty much the same team as they were last year with the only big addition being future Hall of Famer, Jason Taylor. The Cardinals have certainly added more new faces to the mix but none could have a bigger impact on the game than Taylor who will be going up against second year tackle, Levi Brown.

Check out the one on one match-up after the jump....

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Considering all of the major injuries that some teams have faced, the Cardinals and Redskins should consider themselves quite lucky. The Cardinals are getting more able bodies back by the day and it's possible that the defensive line could be at full strength this Sunday for the first time since April. Here's a complete rundown for both teams.

Arizona Cardinals: The best news is that Gabe Watson participated in a full practice for the first time since fracturing his knee cap in April. It's still unknown if he'll play this week but regardless, it's encouraging to see the big man back in action. Other minor injuries includes Levi Brown (knee), Travis LaBoy (ankle) and Steve Breaston (hamstring) who were limited but are all expected to play on Sunday. Jerame Tuman is still out of practice and isn't expected to make his first appearance of the season this Sunday.

Washington Redskins: The Skins have a few more players dinged up with London Fletcher (rib) and Marcus Washington (hamstring), Carlos Rogers (groin) and Jason Taylor (knee) limited in practice. Malcolm Kelly (ankle) and James Thrash (ankle), H.B. Blades (knee) and Fred Smoot (hip), did not practice but most are still expected to play this Sunday. 

While 2-0 tastes awful good for all of us Arizona Cardinals fans, we've still got 14 more games to go so we can't get 'fat and happy' just yet. This Sunday the Cardinals travel to our nation's capital to take on their most challenging opponent to date. The Redskins are in a state of transition but they've still got the weapons on offense and defense to cause match-up problems with any opponent. I recently exchanged some ideas with Skin Patrol, of Hogs Haven, to preview some of the key match-ups, so let me know what you think:

Match-up #1: Redskins secondary vs. Cardinals WRs

Hogs Haven: Advantage: Cardinals - No shame in admitting that there's no good way to deal with Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin. Last week: 12 receptions, 293 yards, 3 touchdowns. Shawn Springs I don't worry so much about, but this is way above Carlos Rogers' pay grade. The good news is rookie Chris Horton, who both looked phenomenal last week and may or may not retain the starting position vacated briefly by a sick Reed Doughty. Boldin and Fitzgerald, at least in this young season, are very much playing two impossibly difficult to cover roles. Boldin, despite being the shorter of the two, plays the reliable favored son, who moves chains at will. His three touchdowns are tops in the league and his impossibly high 78+% 1st down catch rate is about as high as anyone else. Fitzgerald, as stated, is a physical monster but somehow also is the speed demon get behind you receiver. His 20.4 YPC is remarkable, especially when one considers he's done most of it on 20-40 yard receptions, meaning he's consistently down the field catching footballs. Four of his nine receptions were +20 yards.

CG: Advantage: Cardinals - I don't know that there's a secondary in this league that I'd say had an advantage over Boldin, Fitzgerald and company, but I will say that I had to at least think about this one. Shawn Springs may not be what he once was but when he's paired with Carlos Rogers and Fred Smoot, you've got a solid trio of corner backs. When you add in one of the best young safeties in the league, LaRon Landry and rookie Chris Horton who had a great game last week, they're a formidable secondary. As solid as a secondary may be though when Warner is playing like he has the past two games and Fitzgerald and Boldin are catching everything in sight, the passing game is hard to contain.

Match-up #2: Redskins pass rush vs. Cardinals offensive line

Hogs Haven: Advantage: Redskins - I don't know enough about the Cardinals offensive line to really comment, so I'll just rant on the Redskins. At four sacks the 'Skins are good but not great so far. Jason Taylor is a big name with one sack so far, which is again, good but not great. Andre Carter and Cornelius Griffin round out a solid unit with the combo of Golston/Montgomery closing it out. As I'm of the opinion that Montgomery is probably the most underrated lineman on the team, I feel good at all positions. That said, who knows to what degree these guys remain healthy (or healthy enough; Taylor isn't long removed from injury)? This front downgrades subtantially when Demetric Evans is in for either Taylor or Carter. The emphasis will be the pass rush, since the Cardinals haven't looked so hot running the ball thus far.

CG: Advantage: Redskins - The Redskins have some formidable edge pass rushers in Jason Taylor and Andre Carter and Cornelius Griffin has been decent at providing some pressure up the middle. The turning point of this game could be whether or not the Skins are able to put pressure on Warner with their front four or if they'll have to blitz to get in his face. The Dolphins tried to blitz last week and they got burned numerous times. Warner is very capable of recognizing the blitz and standing in the pocket just long enough to deliver the pass. If Taylor and Carter are able to be get around Levi Brown and Mike Gandy, if could be a long day for the Cards.

The rest of the matchups are after the jump....

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The Arizona Cardinals offense took to the air early and often on Sunday and were in complete cruise control by the fourth quarter. Anytime you have a QB with a perfect game, two receivers with 100 yard games and multiple big plays (6 plays of 20 yards or more) you can't help but be pleased with the offensive production. Here's a position by position breakdown for those on the offensive side of the ball.

Quarterback: What else can you say about ole 'grey beard?' A perfect QB rating, 361 yards, three touchdowns and most importantly a second straight game without a turnover. Warner hasn't gone two consecutive starts without a turnover since weeks 2 and 3 in 2004 and his ability to stand in the pocket and deliver a perfect pass is amazing at times. His most impressive pass of the day was the third TD to Boldin when he threaded the needle between two defenders and placed the ball perfectly on Boldin's back shoulder. All in all, Warner could not have had a better game. Leinart even got in the game with his mop in hand and completed one of two passes for 15 yards. Grade: A+

Running Backs: After rushing for 108 total yards in week one, the Cardinals looked more like last years' group with just 81 yards on 31 carries (2.6 ypc). The Dolphins, for whatever reason, seemed intent on shutting down the running game and forcing the Cardinals to pass, but you'd still like see more production from the running game. Edge ended up with a hard fought 55 yards on 18 carries and Hightower chipped in 24 yards on 10 carries. Hightower scored his second rushing touchdown in as many games and continues to pick up the critical yards when they really need them. He also chipped in with a beautiful 20 yard screen but his day was dampened by a fumble. It was another workman-like day for the Cardinals backfield but they'll have to get better for this offense to be truly balanced. Grade: C

Wide Receivers: The duo of Boldin and Fitzgerald gave the Dolphins secondary fits all day long and to be honest, I didn't understand their game plan at all. It's possible that the Phins knew they couldn't contain the duo so they instead chose to all-out blitz and hope that they got to Warner. The result though wasn't pretty as Q and Fitz combined for almost 300 yards and both posted new career highs in terms of longest reception. Boldin followed up his impressive second half against the Niners by posting a new career high with three touchdowns. Fitzgerald had a great game as well and his biggest improvement this season seems to be his ability to run after the catch (although he may never live down getting caught from behind). With the Q and Fitz having such big games, there weren't too many scraps left on the table but Ben Patrick made his first appearance of the season with four receptions and Leonard Pope also checked in with a nice catch. Grade: A+

Offensive Line: The offensive line did a decent job of protecting KW, considering that Warner was sacked twice and hit several times. Miami's game plan seemed to center around blitzing Warner from multiple angles and at times they got through untouched, but overall they held thier own. The line did have problems opening up holes in the running game though and this team will not be successful against better opponents if they continue to average less than 3.0 per carry.  Hopefully as youngsters Levi Brown, Deuce Lutui and Lyle Sendlein continue to gel, they'll get better at opening holes and taking some pressure off the passing game. Grade: C+

Play Calling: After watching the game, my initial thought was that the play calling
was really good. They did, afterall, score 31 points right? After watching the game again though, one thing kept standing out and after looking at some stats it became even more clear. The Cardinals run too much on first down and I think opposing defenses are picking up on it. Consider this, they ran the ball 18 times on first down for 32 yards (1.77 avg) and they ran it 11 times on either second or third down for 52 yards (4.73 yards). I understand that the play calling was effected by the score but at some point the game plan needs to be adjusted. That's my only real complaint and even that is explained away when you consider that the Cardinals led by at least three scores for over half the game. Grade: B+

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Overall, the offense was impressive to say the least and should give Washington plenty to worry about this week. There are some areas that need improvement but overall, I think they stuck to thier game plan while also exploiting Miami's flawed plan and weak secondary. Thoughts? Agree/Disagree? What would your grades have been?

Putting last Sunday's win over the Niners in the rearview mirror, the Arizona Cardinals face off with the Miami Dolphins this week for the first time in four years. Needless to say both teams have experienced quite a bit of turnover and there will be plenty of new faces on each sideline. Just like last week, I've exchanged some matchup ideas with Matty I, from The Phinsider, in an effort to preview these two young, up and coming teams. Here's what we came up with on the first four: 

Match-up #1: Dolphins secondary vs. Cardinals receivers

Matty I: Advantage: Cardinals - Not many teams, if any at all, can really match up with the Cardinals' group of receivers.  Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin are as talented as they come and really provide matchup nightmares for Miami's secondary because of their combination of size, speed, and skill.  And to be honest, while Boldin may not have that great top-end speed, he's actually the one I'm more worried about.  And we can't forget about Steve Breaston, who is entering his 2nd season and is yet another talented receiver.  And while Will Allen is a very good player, it's going to take some real creativity to get guys like Andre Goodman, Nathan Jones, and Michael Lehan (if he plays) to slow down these receivers.  Safety help will be needed often, but we saw last week that even safety help is sometimes not enough.

CG: Advantage: Cardinals - I'll always give the Cardinals wideouts the advantage over any opposing teams secondary and this week should be no different. The Dolphins secondary should have trouble containing Fitz, Boldin and Breaston most of the day. Normally the Pro Bowl duo of Fitz and Q get most of the attention but third WR, Steve Breaston is coming into his own and could be the wild card that makes this the best receiving corps in the league. The quartet of Will Allen, Andre Goodman, Nathan Jones and Michael Lehan will need help from the safeties to keep the Cardinals recievers in front of them. The Phins secondary didn't allow Farve too much last week but they did give up a couple of big plays and they'll have to perform better against the Cardinals. The gameplan for the Cardinal offense seemed to be based around establishing the running game last week. I wouldn't be surprised though for Whisenhunt and offensive coordinator Todd Haley to open things up a bit in the home opener.

The rest of the match-ups are after the jump.....

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With the roster finalized, it's time to figure out exactly where everyone fits into the mix. With the first game just six days away, here's how I see the offensive depth chart playing out:

QB - Kurt Warner, Matt Leinart, Brian S. Pierre

We all know the situation at quarterback. Warner's the guy but no one expects him to play all 16 games. Leinart will get on the field at some point.

RB - Edgerrin James, Tim Hightower, JJ Arrington

Edge is still the workhorse but Hightower will see his share of work, especially in short yardage situations and around the goal line. If Arrington continues to impress he'll warrant some carries as well.

FB - Tim Castille, Terrelle Smith

This is the first position that isn't clear yet. Whiz hasn't named a starter but I'd imagine that both would play in different situations.

WR - Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Steve Breaston, Jerheme Urban, Early Doucet, Sean Morey

The top two are set but the next three are all somewhat close and should see the field. Breaston will start the season as the #3, but given the injury status of both Fitzgerald and Boldin, Urban and Doucet will see playing time.

TE - Leonard Pope, Ben Patrick, Jerame Tuman

Pope won the job by default but when Patrick gets healthy, he could still push him for the job. Either way, they'll both see the field and are decent pass catching options. Tuman's a blocking specailist but could snag some goal line catches on play action passes.

RT - Levi Brown, Elton Brown, Brandon Keith/Elliot Vallejo

Elton Brown is the primary backup at almost every position on the line, but if Brown is already playing a guard position then either Keith or Vallejo would step into the spot.

RG - Deuce Lutui, Elton Brown, Brandon Keith

Lutui's on the hot seat but it's still his job for now. Brown was close to winning the job but he'll up on the field at some position. Keith's a promising rookie who's show the versatiilty to play multiple positions.

C - Lyle Sendlein, Al Johnson, Reggie Wells, Elton Brown

Sendlein stepped in when Johnson went down and he may not give the job back when AJ is back. Reggie Wells is the emergency center and primary backup until AJ returns but Brown is also taking snaps at center this week.

LG - Reggie Wells, Elton Brown, Brandon Keith

The top three are pretty much set in stone. The only wild card here would be if Elton Brown beats out Lutui, then Lutui would be the primary backup.

LT - Mike Gandy, Elton Brown, Brandon Keith

The top three are pretty much the same as left guard. Elliot Vallejo could also figure into the mix if multiple injuries occur.

Thoughts? Agree/Disagree?