Denver Broncos vs. Arizona Cardinals Game of the Week Preview
Arizona Cardinals running back Andre Ellington (38) following his two point conversion against the Denver Broncos. The Arizona Cardinals defeated the Denver Broncos. Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Justen Rosenberg
The Arizona Cardinals are this year’s surprise 3-0 team. With wins over San Diego and San Francisco, the Cards have been able to prove their worth. What is even more remarkable is they have accomplished this with a backup quarterback. They’re defense is scary and their offense is good enough.
The only problem I have with this game is they have to travel to Denver. While playing in Denver, Peyton Manning has lost just three times. If this game were in Arizona, I would consider a different outcome.
Peyton is always good coming off a loss and even better after the bye; this week it’s both. The game won’t be a blowout, but I think the Broncos win by at least ten points. 24-13
Kevin Casini
We did the Broncos recently but ok. Without a top-flight QB wins are hard to come by. Denver has one & Arizona doesn’t. I expect Stanton to regress towards his mean here soon. Denver 27 Cardinals 17. The interesting thing about this game is played out on the moves the coaches make. This is a game about scheme. If you’ve noticed, the Cardinals defense is performing very well without some of thee too name guys. This is because schematically DC Todd Bowles is getting ahead of the quick hitters offenses that plagued the hard-nosed Ds of the league. How so? Instead of taking LBs off the field & sending in CBs in sub packages he’s gotten a group of Safeties & CBs that can play the role of LB in running situations. He uses Bucannon in this role most often. It’s something that has come up from the college ranks. The idea is to neutralize the effect the offense can have by keeping you in sub personnel. With safeties that an tackle & cover subbing for LBs you lose less edge if Mannjng checks to a run. Of course it helps to have a Pat Peterson & a Honey Badger to practice it.
Conor Cahill
The Cardinals are still one of two unbeaten teams left in the NFL due to their stifling d-line and suffocating secondary. Denver’s running game is one of the worst in the NFL through 4 games while the Cards boast a top-5 run defense, so Peyton will have to test that Cardinals’ secondary early and often. On the flip side, Denver has one of the worst pass defenses in the NFL, second only to Jacksonville in yardage allowed. Drew Stanton improved dramatically in his second start of the year and got an extra week of reps during during the bye week. If Denver’s pass rush can’t fluster Stanton early on, Fitz and Floyd could be poised to take advantage of that secondary and take the Cards to 4-0. ARZ 27 – DEN 21
Joe Soriano
Wes Welker will no longer be limited now that he’s fully back into shape following the bye week, but the most important addition to the Denver Broncos will be the likely return of star linebacker Danny Trevathan, who adds to the Broncos firepower on defense.
Like the Super Bowl, we always like to make matchups about strength-on-strength: “The Denver Broncos Offense vs. The Seattle Seahawks Defense” or “The Arizona Cardinals Defense vs. The Denver Broncos Offense” are common headlines you’ll see before these types of games. But as fellow writers alluded to above, these games are often more about how well teams are on the other side of the ball. It’s clear that the healthy, revamped Broncos defense is an incredibly gifted group, whereas the Cardinals offense can’t be trusted with Drew Stanton at the helm. There are worse backup quarterbacks and he does have plenty of weapons, but he might be the most inaccurate quarterback that’s either first or second on a depth chart in the NFL today.
I don’t think this will be a high-scoring game due to the Broncos secondary, but one worry from this perspective is that the Cardinals rely too much on the out-of-this-world Calais Campbell to pace their pass rush, whereas the Broncos have a few top-notch players who can go after the QB. I think the Broncos take this one 24-14.