Week 3 ends in the desert: The Arizona Cardinals receive the Dallas Cowboys and both teams have some question marks: How do Elliott and the Cowboys react to the run game debacle in Denver?Is Arizona’s offense as bad as it looks?And who can turn what screws to improve the situation?SPOX editor Adrian Franke discusses with mySPOX user Red_7, the game will be shown live on DAZN from Monday to Tuesday from 2.30 a. m.!
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Arizona Cardinals (1-1) – Dallas Cowboys (1-1) (Tue., 2:30 a. m. live on DAZN)
mySPOX-User Red_7: The Cowboys’ duel against the Cardinals has been very rare since the Ligareform 2002, when they played in a common division.This year’s match takes place very early in the year and both teams are not yet on the way with all cylinders.
The cowboys’ bad luck was particularly bad luck in the defense and the secondary.The Cornerbacks Carroll and Awuzie will be dropped out as well as Linebacker Hitchens.For this purpose, Moore (doping ban) and Scandrick (hand break in week 1) will be back on the field.
Surprisingly, the Defensive Line has been able to put pressure on the Giants (acknowledgedly, one of the weaker O-lines in the country), but also on the Broncos.The return of Moore should make a better rotation possible and a good pass rush from Lawrence (fit for the first time, not blocked and in the contract year) is important to stop Arizona’s aggressive offense early on and to take control of the clock with the own running game.
In the LB position, Lee has been reinforced this year by Smith, who has played surprisingly well for me, despite his long injury break since his last game for Notre Dame.In the Secondary the youngsters Lewis and Brown will probably be the shop against Fitzgerald and Co.you will have to look at how effectively he can play after his break of the hand two weeks ago.At Safety Heath, I just hope he catches more opponents this week than his teammates.
With the Cardinals the next interesting test for the Defense is now in the house, so that you will be able to see where you stand next week.
Now, the problem child.The offense.Against the Giants, a somewhat uninspired performance of Prescott and Elliott was enough.Against the Broncos the running game didn’t work at all (40 yards total) and Bryant, Witten and Beasley had a hard time against the Broncos-Secondary.Result: A 17-42 gossip in mile high.
Bryant will be facing the next top cornerback after Talib with Peterson and it will be important that he makes his two or three placements in the Red Zone.In addition, the running game MUST get going.If Dallas can run the ball and has a lot of possession, they are very difficult to stop.Personally, I still have some doubts that the departure of Leary (Denver) and Free (end of career) can be put away so easily, but it was clear anyway that you can’t keep this offensive line together (meaning: pay).
In the running game, Smith will probably receive an NFL ball for the first time and I would be happy to see Switzer on the field with some offense naps.Otherwise it’s time for the offense to score 30 points or more.With a 2-1 one should calm down the upcoming duels with the L. A.Rams and playoff rematch against the Packers.
Adrian Franke (SPOX): As a Cardinals fan you have to be disillusioned after this start of the season.Defense is still doing largely acceptable work, but the offense is more or less a complete failure so far.Just a gala from JJ.Nelson in the closing stages prevented an unacceptable defeat against the Colts in the guardhouse, with all due respect to Indianapolis.
Of course, David Johnson’s retirement weighs heavily, which should come as no surprise to anyone.So not on the note, but I had the relegation of Carson Palmer.He reveals bad reads and communication errors with receivers he has been playing with for years.Especially the arm looks broken, the passports come without a touch, sometimes clearly too high or too short – simply imprecise.
In addition, there are problems in the offensive line, which underscore Palmer’s massive deficits so far: against four or less pass rushers, he stands at 57 percent of attached passports with 6.25 yards per pass, a touchdown, four interceptions and four sacks.Does the Defense, on the other hand, bring five or more Rusher? 68 percent, 10.94 yards per pass, a touchdown and only one bag.In short: Palmer has problems with the Defense’s ability to cover a lot of games, both in terms of reads and with throws in the corresponding windows.
Now the cowboys are exactly the team I expect it to play like this – conservative pass rush, many players in the coverage.So why should it look different?Because Arizona is making the necessary changes aggressively: Mike Iupati has been training again for a few days now, and Tight End Jermaine Gresham is probably fit again.Chris Johnson had some good scenes against the Colts and with a better run-blocking Arizona should have problems with a passive cowboys defense in the run game.And if Coach Arians draws the right conclusions from the first two games, the short pass game should play a much bigger role.
And defensive?In a way, the Denver Broncos have shown how to beat Dallas.The short version: Keep the runs in the middle and create a numerical overweight.And the run defense has been Arizona’s strength so far, I expect a much more aggressive approach with more Blitzing to make the Cowboys-Offense one-dimensional for the second time in a row.
It’s the only way Arizona has a chance.If Dallas succeeds in getting into the running game and thus dominating the game, the Cardinals Offense would presumably have to score several times and also quickly.Two years ago, this team’s trademark, not much left of it.The cardinals have on paper the cover players to play a lot of man-coverage – and then the lightning packs have to do their job.
If it is possible to dominate defensively in the run game, the focus has to rest on the slot.Arizona has been struggling with slot receivers so far this season, and tyrant Mathieu has to play better here.Outside, however, the duel between Patrick Peterson and Dez Bryant can also be looked forward to from a neutral point of view.