Arizona Cardinals at Buffalo Bills: What to Watch For

Good morning Arizona Cardinals faithful! We’re going to break down what to watch for in this week 3 match up between the Arizona Cardinals (1-1) and the Buffalo Bills (0-2).

Earl Watford will get the start at Right Guard

How will Earl Watford handle the pressure of a Rex Ryan defense that knows he’s a substitute and he’s playing next to a rookie in D.J. Humphries? Ryan coaches defenses are known for their outside pressure, but they may use stunts to confuse Watford and Humphries and take advantage of their lack of chemistry. For Carson Palmer to have time to make the big plays he’s going to need the right side of the line to play well today.

2. Marcus Cooper to share playing time with Brandon Williams at Cornerback

According to Darren Urban, from the Arizona Cardinals home site, it is expected that Coop (who we shall dub him from this moment forward) and Williams will share time at outside cornerback. I think this is a smoke screen, Cooper played too well to not be heavily considered the CB of now and it should relieve some of the stress on Williams as he transitions to the position at the NFL level. I will speak for every #BIRDGANG fan when I say I could finally breathe a sigh of relief about the CB situation when I saw Cooper flying around the field with confidence and speed. Coach James Bettcher relies heavily on defensive backs who can keep the play in front of them to allow flexibility in the blitz game he uses. The problem being Williams let too many receivers get behind him and give up the big play. With a defense that keys off of a “bend but don’t break” mentality Cooper looks to be giving them that option. Let’s watch the snap counts today and see how much of a smoke screen Urban distributed.

3. Can this Larry Fitzgerald guy keep up his level of production?

Fitzgerald has 158 yards and three touchdowns in two weeks and is putting every pundit who said “draft late” to shame with regards to his value in fantasy football. Real world Larry is showing his incredible value to the franchise while also rewarding his fantasy owner’s with fantastic value production. Can Larry keep it up this week, or will the Bills start noticing that number eleven hasn’t lost a step and start to game plan for the Legend?

4. Mobile quarterback number 3 and a shady running back

For the third week in a row the Cardinals face a mobile quarterback in Tyrod Taylor who is paired with LeSean McCoy to set up an impressive running duo. With WR Sammy Watkins out due to a foot injury McCoy and the running game may be the main offensive weapons on the day, with Taylor using play-action to set up some passing options to keep the Cardinals from stacking the box.

Is there anything else we should be watching for today?

Go Cardinals, let’s get our first road win!