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Despite being plagued with injury to start the season, the Cardinals have continued to fight for every victory. In this week's matchup, they face an Oakland team with a new coach and a fired up Derek Carr.
So how does Madden 15 think the Cardinals will do in this week's matchup? All-Pro, 8-minute quarters, 10-second accelerated clock were the setting we used for this week.
Madden in 3-2 so far in deciding the outcomes of these games and we hope this one is correct as well.
Finals Score: 23-16 Cardinals
The game was much closer than even such a close score might suggest. The Cardinals barely snatched up the lead at halftime, punching in a touchdown to go 20-13.
However, Palmer's arm is looking a lot better according to Madden. By a lot better we mean 39 completions on 51 attempts, 424 yards, no interceptions, and a touchdown better. Carr did not perform at the level he needed to beat the Cardinals as he only threw for 272 yards on 44 attempts with no touchdowns.
With a quarterback at his best you get receivers at their best. Michael Floyd led the Cards in receptions (14) and yards (181). In a close second was Larry Fitzgerald with 11 receptions for 132 yards. Larry also caught the Cardinals solo-passing touchdown. John Brown and Ted Ginn each had 7 catches for 34 and 82 yards respectively.
The leading receiver for the Raiders was James Jones with 7 catches for 88 yards. David Ausberry also had 7 catches but only for 36 yards. Andre Holmes had 6 for 87 yards. Maurice Jones-Drew had 6 catches for 57 yards.
Andre Ellington was not a huge presence in this game as he has been in past Cardinal victories with only 53 yards on 24 attempts but scored a touchdown late in the game (letting fantasy owners breathe a sigh of relief). Stepfan Taylor got 6 touches for 20 yards. Similarly Jones-Drew had only 46 yards on 16 attempts and his team's lone touchdown. Darren Mcfadden had 3 carries for 7 yards.
However, The Raiders did show up the Cardinals in one category: defense. Linebacker Khalil Mack had 11 solo tackles and a sack. Charles Woodson and Carlos Rogers each had 10 solo tackles while Chimdi Chekwa and Jamar Chaney each had 8.
Larry Foote led the Cards in tackles with 8 and 1 sack. Tony Jefferson came in second with 7. Sam Acho had 6 but also recorded the second sack on Derek Carr.
NFC Special teams player of the week, Chandler Catanzaro was a perfect 3-3 from 23, 33, and 36 as was the Raiders kicker Sebastian Janikowski was also 3-3 from 46, 45, and 42. Cardinals punted 5 times while the Raiders punted 7 times. Kick Returns and punt returns were not a factor in the game.
Let's hope that the Cardinals passing game is as good as Madden made it out to be. We place our full confidence in our Cards. 5-1 sounds pretty good to us