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Cardinals vs. Eagles: Madden simulation predicts another Arizona win

Arizona gets a 26-16 win.

Jennifer Stewart-US PRESSWIRE

Madden 25, precision modeling and simulation tool or crazy lucky software that makes lucky guesses from time to time. Decision? You decide.

Last week Madden 25 predicted the exact number of points and the quarter that they were scored in for the Colts. Madden predicted a little more conservatively for the Cardinals, still giving them the win with 20+ points, but Madden did not expect Carson Palmer to have such a good day against the Colts defense. Let's see if Madden correctly predicts this week's outcome.

Continuing the trend from the previous two weeks the Cardinals offense was aggressive through the air and it netted the team 26 points and over 400 yards of offense. The Cardinals defense took time to find their groove against the Eagles quick tempo offense giving up 13 points in the first half, but they only gave up 3 more points for the rest of the day, and even those were in garbage time in the final minute of the fourth quarter.

The Cardinals Defense gets the game ball for this simulation keeping the Eagles' newly appointed starter at quarterback Nick Foles from tossing a touchdown. This unit shutdown the Eagles on 3rd down and 4th down only allowing 2 of 15 attempts on 3rd to convert, and 0 of 3 to convert, that's an incredible stand by the defense. Cardinals defenders held the Eagles to 239 yards through the air and only 97 on the ground, which considering the talent of Shady McCoy is quite a feat.

As expected Nick Foles' favorite target on the day was Riley Cooper who ended up with 88 yards through the air, but the real hero of the day was Larry Fitzgerald with nine receptions for 139 yards and Carson Palmers' only touchdown of the day. Michael Floyd must be drawing a lot of attention in Madden allowing Fitzgerald to be open for big gains.

Finally, Rashard Mendenhall had another very predictable game with 18 attempts gaining 50 yards rushing and a score, and his counterpart LeSean McCoy had 89 yards and a score on only 10 rushing attempts. The Cardinals prove to be plodders, but their method of attack words to kill the clock as much as possible.

I like the outcome and especially the fact that Madden predicted Palmer to have zero interceptions this week, if he can go three weeks without an interception that would be fantastic following the streak he previously had. This would be a great win, let's hope Madden is right again this week.

Top Performers:

Cardinals:

QB: Carson Palmer 25/48 (52%) 321 yards, 1 TD, 80.3 Rating

WR: Larry Fitzgerald 9 rec, 139 yards, 1 TD, 15.4 avg

RB: Rashard Mendenhall 18 att, 50yards, 2.7 avg, 1 TD

D/ST: John Abraham 8 solo tackles, 3 TFL, 2 sacks

Eagles:

QB: Nick Foles 19/43 (44%) 239 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT, 62.1 Rating

WR: Riley Cooper 6 rec, 88 yards, 0 TD 14.6 avg

RB: LeSean McCoy 10 att, 89 yards, 1TD, 8.9 avg

D/ST: Jerrell Freeman 12 solo tackles

Box Score

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Final

Cardinals

7

6

10

3

26

Eagles

10

3

0

3

16

Teams

Cardinals

Eagles

Total Off.

403

336

Rushing

82

97

Passing

321

239

First

18

11

PR

10

10

KR

88

71

3rd Conv%

8-19(42%)

2-15(13%)

4th Conv%

0-0(0%)

0-3(0%)

2-Point Conv

0-0(0%)

0-0(0%)

Red Zone

1-4(25%)

0-1(0%)

Turnover

0(0)

0(0)

If the Cardinals defense performs even close to this well the offense should be able to have a similar performance to what we've seen in real life over the last two weeks. This is a great chance for the Cardinals to pull out a road win.

So decision time, performance computing simulator or fortune telling gypsy from the movie Big?