Punter Ben Graham has been outstanding for the Cardinals this season as he has been helping them win the field position battle almost every Sunday.  He has punted the ball 36 times for 1,719 yards (47.8 avg) this season.  Graham has only 3 touchbacks this season (8.3%) and he has pinned the opposition inside their own 20-yard line 16 times (44.4%).  His outstanding work has really helped the Cardinals’ D and they hope he can keep up the outstanding work.

This is a pretty bad matchup for the Carolina Panthers.  The Panthers need to run the ball with DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart but the Cardinals are only allowing 67.5 yards rushing and 3.0 yards per carry this season.  If the Panthers can’t run the ball effectively they can’t win this game on Sunday.  Jake Delhomme has been awful this season as he has 4 TD passes and 13 INTs so the Panthers don’t want to depend on him to win this game.  It would be helpful to the Panthers if they can get Steve Smith involved in the offense.

If the Cardinals are ever going to get the running game going this would be a good week to try it out.  Beanie Wells and Tim Hightower should find a lot of running room against a Panthers’ D that is allowing 133.2 yards rushing per game and 4.4 yards per carry.  The Cardinals must keep Julius Peppers away from Kurt Warner so that he has time to carve up the Panthers’ secondary with Larry Fitzgerald, Steve Breaston and Anquan Boldin. 

PREDICTION:  CARDINALS 34, PANTHERS 13

The Arizona Cardinals (4-2) beat the New York Giants (5-2) Sunday night, and it was the defense who deserved most of the credit.  The Cardinals aren’t really known for their defense, as it is there passing attack with Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald, and Anquan Boldin that usually leads them to victories.  The Cardinals defense forced the Giants into four turnovers, picking off Giants’ quarterback Eli Manning three times.  The Cardinals got some help from the Giants punter Jeff Feagles as well.  Feagles was trying to aim some punts down the sideline to limit the Cardinals talented return man, Steve Breaston.  Feagles failed miserably time after time and averaged 34 yards on seven punts in this contest.

The Cardinals got enough out of their offense as Beanie Wells had a solid day on the ground for them.  Wells finished with 67 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries (4.8 avg).  Kurt Warner played okay, with one touchdown and one interception on 231 yards and 20/36 passes attempts.  He found Larry Fitzgerald for some big plays though, as Fitzgerald catches of 26 and 27 yards.  He finished with six catches for 83 yards.  This was a big win for the Cardinals and they sit atop the NFC West.  They face off against the Carolina Panthers at home next game.

The Arizona Cardinals (3-2) are on the road against the New York Giants (5-1) Sunday.  The Cardinals are coming off a big offensive explosion in their 27-3 win over the Seattle Seahawks.  It was a good sign from their defense too, holding a Seahawks team to only three points after they put up 41 points the week before.  The Giants are a much better team than the Seahawks though, so this should be a closely fought battle.

The Giants are coming off their worst defensive game of the year, but it was against the best offensive team this year in the New Orleans Saints.  They are still only giving up 148 passing yards per game despite the big passing game from Drew Brees (368 yards, 4 TDs) last week against them.  Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald, and the rest of the Cardinals passing game has the ability to put up Saints’ type numbers though.  The Giants offense has that ability too though, with Eli Manning throwing for 1390 yards with 11 touchdowns and only three interceptions so far this year.  Eli has been battling plantar fasciitis, but he should be over it by now so I am expecting a better game out of him than the past few weeks.  This should be a very close game but I think the Giants have the better defense and will come away with a close win.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:   Arizona Cardinals 30, New York Giants 35

The Cardinals are holding opposing teams to only 59.6 yards rushing per game this season.  The reason is not because teams have had so much success passing (265.2 yards per game) that have decided to abandon the run because the Cardinals are only allowing 2.8 yards per carry.  The credit needs to go to the front seven of the Cardinals’ D which includes linebackers Gerald Hayes, Karlos Dansby, Clark Haggans, Chike Okeafor and defensive linemen Darnell Dockett, Calais Campbell and Bertrand Berry.  The Cardinals have a few playmakers in the secondary so with the defense making teams one dimensional the team will likely start getting big plays from the back four of the defense.

The Cardinals need to get a running game going soon or teams are just going to blitz Kurt Warner like a mad man.  Neither Tim Hightower or Beanie Wells has stepped up into a featured role in the offense.  Hightower leads the Cardinals with 158 yards rushing this season but he needed 51 carries (3.1 ypc) to get there.  He also has three TD runs.  As bad as his numbers are though, Hightower has been better than Wells this season.  Beanie Wells has carried the ball 35 times for 124 yards (3.5 ypc) this year.  The Cardinals as a team are only rushing for 57.6 yards per game and 2.9 yards per carry.  If that doesn’t improve soon I just can’t see the Cardinals making the playoffs again this season.

 The Arizona Cardinals (3-2) look like they are getting back to their 2008 form with a beat-down of the Seattle Seahawks (2-4) on Sunday. Kurt Warner played great going 32/41 (78%) for 276 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception.  Warner tied an NFL record for the fastest player to 30,000 passing yards.  He hit his favorite target Larry Fitzgerald a lot in this game, with Fitzgerald catching 13 passes for 100 yards (7.7 avg) and a touchdown.  They did not get much out of the running game though, with Tim Hightower and Beanie Wells combining for only 63 yards on 25 carries (2.5 avg).

The Cardinals defense was even better than their offense in this contest.  Seahawks’ quarterback Matt Hasselbeck was coming off a four touchdown game and going into this match-up I thought the Seahawks offense would be able to do some damage through the air.  I thought wrong, as the Cardinals defense sacked Hasselbeck five times, forced and recovered a fumble, and held him to 112 yards on 10/29 attempts.  Antrel Rolle also intercepted him.  They did an even better job stopping the run and no player on the Seahawks got more than five total rushing yards, and only got 14 total rushing yards on the day. The Cardinals are now tied with the 49ers atop the NFC West and look to stay on top when they face the New York Giants next week.

LaRod Stephens-Howling knew he was going to have a hard time making the team as a 7th round pick out of Pittsburgh.  He played hard in the pre-season and training camp earning a spot on  the Cardinals’ opening day roster.  He not only earned a roster spot but he won the job as the kickoff returner.  He has returned 12 kickoffs for 251 yards (20.9 avg) so far this season and he has 5 tackles on special teams.  If Beanie Wells and Tim Hightower continue to struggle then Stephens-Howling could get a expanded role in the offense.  To this point in the season he only has 1 carry for 2 yards and he has caught 3 passes for 22 yards (7.3 avg).  Expect Stephens-Howling to bide his time on special teams until he gets his big chance on offense.

The Arizona Cardinals (2-2) are on the road against the Seattle Seahawks (2-3) Sunday.  The Cardinals still have that exciting passing game, and they are going to need it Sunday against the Seahawks, who only give up 208 passing yards a game.  Kurt Warner had a great game last week after a bye, but hopefully the 38-year-old can do the same without a week off.  If the Cardinals could get there running game going, they will win this game.  The problem though is that they only average 56.5 rushing yards per game.  The Seahawks give up over 105 rushing yards per game though, so the Cardinals should be able to get some good work out of their running game.

The Seahawks got quarterback Matt Hasselback back last week, and he had a very good game after missing the previous two games.  He threw four touchdowns last week with no interceptions, while racking up 240 yards on 18 of 30 passes. He really makes a difference it seems for the Seahawks offense, so the Cardinals need to figure out a way to limit Hasselback’s impact.  That is going to be easier said then done, as the Cardinals give up 303 passing yards per game.  Their run defense is one of the best in the league though, holding opponents 71 yards on the ground.  This looks like it might be a high-scoring affair and I really like the Cardinals passing game, but the Seahawks looked so good last week with Hasselback and the Cardinals pass defense is so bad, that I am going with Seattle in this one.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  Arizona Cardinals 31, Seattle Seahawks 37

The Cardinals have lost TE Stephen Spach indefinately due to a high ankle sprain.  He has caught 3 passes for 16 yards (5.3 avg) this season for the Cardinals.  With the Cardinals using so many 3 WR sets they likely won’t miss Spach too much this season while he is out.  Anthony Becht will see a bump in playing time with Spach out of action.  He has caught 2 passes for 27 yards (13.5 avg) so far this season.  Becht won’t make a big difference for the Cardinals even with more playing time.