21-year old CB Patrick Peterson has been a true impact player for the Cardinals on both defense and special teams.  Peterson has played in 13 games for the Cardinals so far this year and he has 57 tackles, 2 interceptions, 11 passes defensed and 1 sack.  He continues to improve on defense after having a rough start to the season.  But, on special teams…..Peterson has been a beast.  He has returned 37 punts for 603 yards (16.3 avg) with 4 TD returns so far this year!  The scary thing for the rest of the NFL is that Peterson is only 21 years old, so he’s likely going to get a lot better in the very near future.

23-year old WR Andre Roberts looked like he was sleepwalking early this year, but he has come on big time lately.  In his last five games, Roberts has caught 20 passes for 286 yards (14.3 avg).  The Cardinals are incidentally 4-1 in their last five games, so Roberts is helping them out quite a bit lately.  Roberts has now played in 12 games for the Cardinals so far this year and he has caught 33 passes for 419 yards (12.7 avg).  Roberts has now played in 27 games in his first two years in the NFL and he has caught 57 passes for 726 yards (12.7 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  The Cardinals hope Roberts keeps playing well as they have needed a #3 WR for quite some time now and it looks like he’s trying to embrace the job.

27-year old QB Kevin Kolb was all banged up, which cost him to miss P.T.  After watching John Skelton play at QB for the last few weeks, the coaching staff had to be jumping for joy to have Kolb back.  He completed 16 of 25 passes (64%) for 247 yards with 1 TD pass and 0 INTs (109.9 QB Rating) in the Cardinals’ 19-13 win in O.T. against the Cowboys yesterday.  Kolb has now played in 8 games for the Cardinals so far this year and he has completed 145 of 252 passes (57.5%) for 1,953 yards with 9 TD passes and 8 INTs (81.0 QB Rating).  He also has carried the ball 17 times for 65 yards (3.8 ypc) so far this year.  The Cardinals need the offensive line to keep Kolb in one piece the rest of this year.

The Cardinals monitor 24-year old RB LaRod Stephens-Howling’s playing time due to the fact that he only stands 5’7″, 185 pounds.  He has played in 10 games for the Cardinals so far this year and he has carried the ball 17 times for 65 yards (3.8 ypc).  Stephens-Howling has also caught 8 passes for 192 yards (24.0 avg) with 2 TD grabs and he has returned 32 kickoffs for 759 yards (23.7 avg).  He has touched the ball 57 times for the Cardinals so far this year and he has 1,016 all-purpose yards.  Stephens-Howling is averaging 101.6 all purpose yards per game and 17.8 yards per touch this year.  The Cardinals need to get LaRod Stephens-Howling the ball a little more as he just makes big plays.

23-year old RB Beanie Wells is having a solid season for the Cardinals.  He has played in 10 games for the Cardinals so far this year and he has carried the ball 181 times for 849 yards (4.7 ypc) with 8 TD runs.  Wells has also caught 6 passes for 25 yards (4.2 avg) so  far this season.  Wells already has career highs in rushing yards and TDs this year,  but he has been a tad inconsistent as he has only two games with 100+ yards rushing so far this year.  One of those games was his incredible effort last Sunday in the Cardinals 23-20 win over the Rams in St. Louis.  He carried the ball 27 times for 228 yards (8.4 ypc) with 1 TD run last week.  The Cardinals need Wells to stay healthy the rest of the season so they can have a somewhat balanced offense.

25-year old DE Calais Campbell is playing the best football of his NFL career this season for the Cardinals.  He has played in 9 games so far this year for the Cardinals and he has 46 tackles, 5 sacks, 1 forced fumble, 1 interception, 4 passes defensed and 5 tackles for a loss.  Campbell is leading the Cardinals in sacks as he is turning into the player they thought he would be when they drafted him and they need him to keep up the good work.  Campbell has now played in 56 games in his first 4 years with the Cardinals and he has 182 tackles, 17 tackles for a loss, 18 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery, 1 interception and 12 passes defensed.

The Arizona Cardinals’ kickoff and punt return men have given them really good field position for the offense so far this year.  RB LaRod Stephens-Howling has returned 16 kickoffs for 398 yards (24.9 avg) this year as he is off to a good start.  CB A.J. Jefferson has also been very good on kickoff returns as he has returned 7 kickoffs for 203 yards (29.0 avg) so far this year for the Cardinals.  WR Andre Roberts as returned 1 kickoff for 21 yards.  The Cardinals as a team, have returned 24 kickoffs for 622 yards (25.9 avg) so far this year.  Rookie CB Patrick Peterson has been one of the best punt returners in the NFL so far this year.  He has returned 15 punts for 287 yards (19.1 avg) with 2 TD returns already this year.  The Cardinals hope these guys keep up the good work as the offense can certainly use the help with good starting field position.

The Cardinals think that they are a passing team, but the results have not been too good so far this year.  They should run the ball more, which would help them control the clock better and keep their own D (it’s not so good) on the sideline.  23-year old Beanie Wells is more than capable of being a workhorse, if he can just stay healthy.  Wells has played in 4 games for the Cardinals so far this year and he has carried the ball 79 times for 381 yards (4.8 ypc) with 6 TD runs.  He has also caught the ball 4 times for 12 yards (3.0 avg) so far this year.  The Cardinals need someone to step up and give Wells a breather once in a while.  Alfonso Smith will likely get the most chances for right now.  He has played in 4 games for the Cardinals so far this year and he has carried the ball 20 times for 72 yards (3.6 ypc) and he has also caught 3 passes for 21 yards (7.0 avg).  Veteran back Chester Taylor has only played in 2 games so far this year for the Cardinals and he has carried the ball 9 times for 20 yards (2.2 ypc).  He has also caught 1 pass for 12 yards.  He could and should get more involved in the offense as the season goes on.  LaRod Stephens-Howling gets most of his P.T. on special teams.  He has played in 3 games for the Cardinals so far this year and he has carried the ball 5 times for 16 yards (3.2 ypc).  He has also caught 2 passes for 11 yards (5.5 avg) so far this year.  The Cardinals are only averaging 103.0 yards rushing per game and 4.2 yards per carry as a team so far this year.  That means that they are having success when the run the ball, which they need to do more going forward.

31-year old TE Todd Heap and 28-year old TE Jeff King have been solid for the Cardinals so far this year.  Kevin Kolb has completed 13 of 18 passes (72.2%) for 206 yards and 2 TD passes to the TEs so far this year.  Todd Heap has played in all 3 games for the Cardinals this year and he has caught 9 passes for 109 yards (12.1 avg).  He will be the main TE used in the passing game as the season goes on.  Jeff King has played in all three games for the Cardinals so far this year and he has caught 4 passes for 97 yards (24.3 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  Kolb really liked throwing to Brent Celek (TE) when he was with Philly, so look for Heap to have big numbers by the end of the season if he can just stay healthy.

27-year old QB Kevin Kolb is off to a great start in his career with the Cardinals.  He has played in 2 games for the Cardinals so far this year and he has completed 35 of 57 passes (61.4%) for 560 yards with 4 TD passes and 1 INT (110.3 QB Rating).  Kolb has also carried the ball 4 times for -1 yard (-0.3 ypc) so far this year.  The Cardinals’ offense has looked pretty sharp so far this year and Kolb has had a lot to do with it, as they didn’t bring in much offensive help in the off-season.