Will The Real Arizona Cardinals Defense Please Rise?

Confession time here. I rarely predict a Cardinals loss. It's not a very professional practice I know, to let my devotion to my team get in the way of honest commentary and analysis.

Thing is, I really do expect the Cardinals to win a lot of the time, even if my reasoning is emotionally charged. This week I chose the Seahawks in my weekly picks column, The Chosen .

Now calm down Arizona faithful, I am not guaranteeing a Seattle win. In fact I honestly (no, really ) feel this game is a toss-up.

Eventually Arizona will be doing more than giving lip service to wishing for more balance in the play calling. Eventually, this team will utilize the rushing game and that is where things get really exciting from my perspective.

Beanie Wells and Tim Hightower could form one of the best tandems in the league, if they could only get enough carries. If they get enough carries, who is going to hang with the Arizona receivers with Kurt Warner throwing them the ball then? No one.

Rewind the Super Bowl to see that not even the Steelers, the No. 1 ranked defense in the NFL last year, could contain the Cardinals passing attack once their rushing attack got involved.

Seattle has been revitalized by the return of Matt Hasselbeck , that much is certain. Their effectiveness against Arizona's D-line is less so, with fourth-string left tackle Kyle Williams now in the starting lineup.

While the Cardinals have not registered a sack in two games, Calais Campbell and Darnell Dockett in particular have been close consistently. Maybe this is the opening they need to put enough pressure on Hasselbeck to alter the course of the game in their favor.

Anything is possible, but it would be unwise to expect the Seahawks to be able to win this game rushing the ball, given that the Cardinals are No. 1 in rushing defense. That said, David Garrard and Matt Schaub have proved that even in a loss the Arizona secondary is vulnerable, putting it as nicely as I can.

The reason there is hope for us fans is that we all know how much talent they have on defense, it's only a matter of time before they put it all together. DRC showed us a glimpse last weekend, but they'll need to do much better than just a few nice plays here and there to win this one.

Being ranked dead last in passing defense does not invoke respect. Still, the Cardinals seem to prosper when no one expects them to, so maybe this is the game that they play up to their potential in defending the pass. If the secondary plays well, the real Cardinals defense will rise.