I actually wanna pick your brain with the Cardinals. That is a really complete team, and even with the injuries to some of your starters, the backups have stepped up. This was just a random Cardinals fan, but they summarized the Cardinals weaknesses as follows:
Would you agree with this guy? The Cardinals always play the Eagles really well, even in past years when they've been just good. And Larry Fitzgerald single-handedly kills the Eagles. Our secondary is much improved from last year, although so are the Cardinals. The Eagles are starting to put together three phases of football, and it is at home. This is probably gonna be the toughest game we play along with the Panthers, and it'll really show if these last two weeks were flukes or the team figuring shit out
Yes and no.
Our greatest weakness is pass rush and it's been a huge hole for years. I desperately wanted a stud pass rusher last year but the Steelers stole one of our guys and the Broncos traded up right in front of us to take the other rusher we'd have taken... Okafor started coming along but got injured. He's back now but haven't seen him do as much since his return although Freeney has been solid. Regardless, we have to bring too many guys for blitzes (Bowles brought the whole damn house a lot last year) and it's a testament to how good our secondary is that we don't get eaten alive by QBs as a result. If we ever got an elite pass rusher to go with this secondary, I'd generally feel sorry for opposing offenses.
Receivers fumbling the ball too much is false. It's been incidental and infrequent and I would not call it a problem or weakness. The only player I worry about fumbling is David Johnson, he's had a propensity for it.
Risky play calling, yes, that's Arians, baby! I mentioned it weeks ago that Arians has balls of steel and he'd both win and lose us games based on his bold calls late in a game. Thus far, we've pulled his bold calls off more than not and it's won us a few games. We're pretty good at converting third downs and tend to convert more than not. It's risky but not a problem thus far. I trust Arians, he's earned it. In fact, at one point we led the league at third down conversions and while I doubt that's still the case, I bet we're still up there.
Red Zone, sadly yes. I'm really surprised at how much we've struggled there as of late. Our TDs have been big plays of 15+ yards and I'd consider red zone a genuine weakness right now.
His mid field comment is based on frustration in the Minny game. There have only been two guys that really killed us with it and that was Brees in week one (elite QB reading what our D gave him) and Teddy on Thursday. I think I mentioned in my long post yesterday that I was frustrated with how we didn't adjust to the mid range scheme and kept covering deep event though the long ball isn't Teddy's forte. We're normally pretty damn good at making adjustments at half time though and that's why we play so much better in the second half than the first. If the game is close or you're up a little at half, I wouldn't get too excited, the second half is the Cards half all season and the fourth quarter in particular. This team doesn't quit.
As for CB2, Powers has largely sucked this year as he did two years ago opposite Peterson before Cromartie came in. He plays great out the slot but not on the other edge. He's not the one playing though (been injured) Bethel is. Bethel was drafted as a CB but has namely only played ST (and is an ace on it) which is why that fan said he's a guru there but not a CB. He's incorrect in stating he's not an actual CB, however. The Cardinals planned to play him at CB as soon as Cromartie left in the off season and the guy had some exposure to it early on. When Powers went down, he was a bit of an unknown but the coaches were raving about him in practice and training camp at the position and sure enough, he's done a solid job. He played great in his first game and has been solid since. Teams go after him and I'm sure you will too but he's made plays each game and has contained his man more often than he's been burned. Right now he's still fairly green so certainly, that's who you should attack but he's been a lot more solid than that fan stated. Fans tend to remember the burns more than the good plays as you know and this guy clearly hasn't watched him and is only aware of any play that succeed against him.
So, all in all, we have a weak pass rush (though it won us our last game ;p), have been poor in the red zone against good defenses and have a greenhorn at CB2. Our OL has been a little spotty at times too but they've been solid overall. I think Palmer still takes more hits than he should.
Your support is appreciated, friend.
#DisrespectBowl
Likewise, division rival brother.
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