How the Arizona Cardinals Will Get “Bye” Denver
The Arizona Cardinals have an unusually early bye week going into the 4th week of the NFL season. However, this bye week couldn’t have come at a better time for the Cardinals.
With their starting quarterback Carson Palmer out for the past two weeks, the Arizona Cardinals have managed to pull out two come-from-behind wins with their backup quarterback, Drew Stanton, leading the way.
Drew Stanton has done a remarkable job in propelling the Cardinals to victory in New York, against the Giants, and a huge win against division-rival 49ers. Although he’s been getting the job done, the Cardinals are going to need their starting quarterback ready and at his fullest potential against this tough Denver team. In addition to Carson Palmer, the Cardinals also have Andre Ellington, Antonio Cromartie, and Dave Zastudil who will be taking advantage of this extra bye week to heal a bit more.
Aside from healing, the Cardinals should also focus on:
Consistently converting in the Red Zone– In last week’s match against the San Francisco 49ers, the Cardinals were only 1-4 in the Red zone. Although they were still able to slide out with the win, they need to work on capitalizing on those red zone trips because against a tough Broncos team in Denver, the Cardinals are going to have to capitalize on any opportunity they get.
Improve first half performance– In the Cardinals season-opener against the Chargers; the Cardinals only scored a combined 6 points in the first half as opposed to their 12 points in the second half. When the Cardinals played against the 49ers this past week, they also scored 6 points in the first half, and finished with an astonishing 17 points in the second half, more than doubling their first half performance. If the Cardinals want to beat the Broncos they offense can not afford to get off to a slow start.
Use Larry Fitzgerald more efficiently– An aspect that has been everyone’s latest concern, Larry Fitzgerald not getting the ball enough. Larry has stated it doesn’t matter to him and it’s not his top concern, his top concern is the team winning. In three games, Larry has only 10 catches, totaling for 107 yards, per ESPN. Receivers Michael Floyd and rookie John Brown have been phenomenal but if they can add Larry to the mix, the Cardinals would almost be unstoppable when the ball is thrown in the air.
The Cardinals face the Denver Broncos on October 5th, kickoff in Denver is at 1:05 p.m. The Cardinals look to remain undefeated and stay atop the NFC West.