Opponent Profile: Arizona Cardinals To Provide Tough Task
By Shawn Lealos
The Dallas Cowboys have opened the 2014 NFL season with a nice 6-2 record, but are coming off their second loss of the season after an overtime defeat by the Washington Redskins. They also lost one of their most dominant defensive players for the season and Tony Romo is scheduled to undergo an MRI. That doesn’t bode well because this week they play a team that will give them everything they can handle in the Arizona Cardinals.
Here is a look at the Arizona Cardinals heading into the week eight NFL game.
This Isn’t the Same Old Cardinals
Long time Dallas Cowboys fans remember the Arizona Cardinals from when they competed in the NFC East as division rivals. They regularly finished last in the standings year after year and remained one of the teams that normally had more Cowboys fans in attendance at games then their own home fans. Despite a Super Bowl appearance when Kurt Warner played for the team a few years ago, Arizona remains a team that is hard to take seriously thanks to their history.
However, Arizona is a team that the entire NFL needs to worry about. After a horrible 2012 season, Arizona fired their head coach and brought in Bruce Arians. He immediately turned the team around. The Cardinals missed the postseason last season despite winning 10 games because they played in the same division as the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers and lost the tiebreaker to the Carolina Panthers.
This season, they are off to an even better start. Arizona is 6-1 and sits atop the NFC West, over the 49ers and Seahawks. Their only loss this season has come at the hands of Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos, which is nothing to be ashamed of, and they just knocked off the Philadelphia Eagles. This will not be an easy game for Dallas.
The Offense
What is most impressive about this year’s Arizona Cardinals is that they are 6-1, with wins over San Francisco, San Diego and Philadelphia thrown in there, and have done it with role players at key positions. Thanks to injuries to starting quarterback Carson Palmer, the Cardinals have won five games while using three different quarterbacks. However, what is most impressive is that Carson Palmer, Drew Stanton and Logan Thomas have combined for 1,756 passing yards, a 90.3 combined QB rating, and 11 touchdowns with only one interception. For the Cowboys game, Palmer will start with a very impressive 98.3 QB rating.
The running back position was supposed to see undersized Andre Ellington teaming with free agent signee Jonathan Dwyer, but Dwyer is no longer with the team thanks to domestic violence charges off the field. Ellington has not been completely healthy this season, but still leads the team with 464 rushing yards. As a team, the Cardinals have rushed for 662 total yards, almost 400 yards less than DeMarco Murray has all by himself.
The key to the offense is the receivers. With the quarterbacks playing so well, Michael Floyd has become a perfect complement to veteran Larry Fitzgerald in the offense. Fitzgerald leads the team with 30 receptions with 443 yards. Floyd is looking to bounce back from the Eagles game, where he didn’t record one single reception. He has 19 for 353 yards and two touchdowns on the season.
The Defense
Despite the five wins, the Cardinals are very susceptible to the pass. However, they are now the second ranked rushing defense in the NFL. When Murray played the former number one rush defense in Seattle, he ran for over 100 yards and now has eight straight 100-yard rushing games. Arizona only gives up 77.9 yards a game, so this might be where Murray finally slows down.
However, while the Cardinals stop the run, they rank 29th in the NFL against the pass, giving up 303 yards per game, and with Tony Romo hurting after bruising his back against the Redskins, this could be a difficult game for Dallas, who will have to try to run against the solid defense if they want to win.
For more Cowboys news and updates, visit Cowboys Central.
Shawn S. Lealos is a freelance writer who graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2000 with a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism. He writes for a variety of national publications and has over 15 years of sports journalism experience. Follow Shawn on Twitter @sslealos. Examiner.com.
