This has all of the potential to be a great football game tomorrow.  The defending champion New York Giants are 9-1 on the season while the Cardinals are 7-3.  To quote World Champion Wrestler Ric Flair, “To Be The Man You Have To Beat The Man!”  That’s what is facing the Cardinals tomorrow at home.  The Giants love to run the football and they will try it against a Cardinals’ defense that is only allowing 89.8 yards rushing per game and 3.8 ypc.  Still, the Giants average 172.7 yards rushing per game and 5.3 ypc so Jacobs, Bradshaw and Ward will likely get their yards.  The Cardinals have 23 sacks this season and 10 interceptions so they will be putting a lot of pressure on Eli Manning who has been solid this season.  The Cardinals are allowing 210.0 yards passing per game this season so the Giants could have some success through the air tomorrow.

The Giants have 31 sacks and 14 interceptions this season but that won’t stop Kurt Warner from throwing the football early and often.  Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin and Steve Breaston are a tough matchup for any secondary and if Warner has time to throw he will be successful.  The running game is a mess right now for the Cardinals and they will likely have a hard time moving the ball on the ground against a Giants’ defense allowing 91.0 yards rushing per game.

PREDICTION:  ARIZONA CARDINALS 27, NEW YORK GIANTS 24

The Cardinals have lost linebacker Ali Highsmith for the rest of the 2008 season with a torn ACL.  He played in 6 games for the Cardinals this season making 4 tackles.  He is a decent special teams player for the Cardinals so they may miss him a little bit.

The Arizona Cardinals got a huge win on the road last Sunday improving their record to 5-3 on the season which has them 3 games up in the NFC West.  Kurt Warner looked very comfortable in his old stomping grounds in St. Louis as he completed 23 of 34 passes for 342 yards with 2 TD passes.  Tim Hightower started this game at running back and he helped give the Cardinals a balanced offense as he carried the ball 22 times for 109 yards (5.0 ypc) with a TD run.  J.J. Arrington also had a very solid game as he carried the ball 6 times for 62 yards (10.3 ypc) and he also caught 5 passes for 57 yards (11.4 avg).  The Cardinals held onto the football for a stunning 38:38 of this game and the offense made things really easy for the defense.  The Rams finished up with only 231 yards in this game and they never really had much of a chance to win this game.

The Cardinals are entering a very important stretch of the season as they have a two game lead atop of the NFC West and they play their next three games against division foes.  The Rams are 2-1 since Jim Haslett took over and they can cut the Cardinals lead to one game with a win here.  The Cardinals will likely try to be more balanced than usual on offense as the Rams allow 152.4 yards rushing per game and 4.8 yards per carry.  Edgerrin James and Tim Hightower need to play better than they already have this season to help the Cardinals control the clock.  But, make no mistake the Cardinals will definately throw the ball often in this game as the Rams allow 233.9 yards passing per game.  Anquan Boldin, Larry Fitzgerald and Steve Breaston could all have huge games in Warner’s return to the Edward Jones Dome.

The Rams will probably lean on Steven Jackson in this game to keep the Cardinals’ defense on the field.  But, if this game turns into a shootout the Rams might be able to keep up anyway against a Cards’ defense allowing 222.9 yards passing per game and a opponents’ QB Rating of 108.6!  Still, the Rams will have to protect Marc Bulger as the Cardinals love to blitz and the Rams have allowed 24 sacks this season.

PREDICTION:  ARIZONA CARDINALS 37, ST. LOUIS RAMS 30