MARCO'S NFL PREVIEW  - ARIZONA CARDINALS


As we enter the Dog Days of summer I will try to preview most of the NFL Teams and recap their 2007 season and look at what to expect in 2008. Today we are going to look at the Arizona Cardinals. Arizona finished 2007 at 8-8  in Ken Whisenhunt's first year as a head coach. For a team that has been a losing franchise forever 8-8 was quite an accomplishment in Wisenhunt's first season. Add in all the injuries that Arizona suffered last year 8-8 has people thinking Playoffs in 2008.

The Playoffs are a realistic goal for this team as I expect improvement for Arizona in Whisenhunt's second season but not where you would expect it to be. Everyone knows that Arizona has 2 of the best young receivers in the League. Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald are an explosive 1-2 punch. Fitzgerald will become one of the league's elite receivers as his work ethic and sheer talent will make him one of the Top 5 in the Game today. I truly enjoyed watching him play for the Pitt Panthers as a season ticket holder when I lived in Pittsburgh.

The Cardinals were the 7th best team in scoring averaging 25.2 points per game. They were 5th in passing throwing for 254 yards per game.  As good as those numbers were and as much as I love the Cardinal receivers those numbers will go down this year. I expect in year two that Whisenhunt along with assistant coach Russ Grimm will bring their Pittsburgh mentality to Arizona this year. Whisenhunt had a ton of weapons when he was in Pittsburgh as the Offensive coordinator but with Grimm building a powerful offensive line the Steelers ran first then punished teams with big plays off of play action.

Running the Ball more also protects your defense as too many times Arizona was involved in a Shootout.  Arizona gave up 24.9 points per game which was 27th best. They ranked 28th against the pass giving up 232 yards per game. If Arizona goes to more of a Ball Control style on Offense they will shorten the game and protect a defense that played way too many minutes last year.  Arizona spent 3 of their first 4 Draft picks on defense so if the defense improves and the offensive keeps the defense off the field for longer stretches Arizona could be looking at a 9-7 or 10-6 year and a Playoff Berth.