Arizona Cardinals Vs. NY Giants Sunday Night Preview & Picks

The 5-1 New York Giants will play host to the 3-2 and suddenly resurgent Arizona Cardinals Sunday Night on NBC. The Giants are coming off their first loss of the season in which they were utterly embarrassed by the New Orleans Saints. The loss solidifies the Saints as the clear cut favorite in the NFC, if not the league, while shedding light on the very overrated New York Giants.

The Giants have been product of their scheduling. The only marginal team they have beaten is Dallas while the rest; Washington, Tampa Bay, Kansas City, and Oakland will all be slotting themselves somewhere in the top 7 of the 2010 NFL draft. The Cardinals will be the first real test for the Giants as the Saints where clearly out of their league.

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The Cardinals are finally starting to resemble something of the team we might have expected following their surprise Super Bowl run last year. Kurt Warner has had a passer rating of over 100 in each of his last 2 games, throwing for 4 touchdowns to only 1 interception. More importantly, Warner has only been sacked 1 time in those 2 games. 

The running game for Cardinals still remains what is was nearly a year ago, awful! They are ranked 31st in the league in rushing offensive with only 288 total yards this season. That averages out to an abysmal 2.9 yards per carry. It matters very little if it is Wells or Hightower, the offensive line can’t create enough holes to give either back a chance to do anything consistently positive. Kurt Warner will be forced to throw the ball at minimum 40 times to keep the Cardinals close which has been his average for the first 5 games of the year.

The Cardinals inability to do anything on the ground sets up perfectly for the Giants to line up 4 and get plenty of pressure on Warner every time he drops back. Warner has already proven to be as immobile as any quarterback in the league combined with his inability to avoid the fumble is bad news for Cardinals fans. The Giants rank in the top 10 in sacks and have plenty of powerful and speedy pass rushers to build on that this game. Justin Tuck is leading the team with 3.5 sacks and along with Umenyoria at 3, should provide plenty of hurries, pressures, knockdowns, and ultimately sacks on the aging Warner.

The Giants offensive front should see similar success as their defense. Even with the publicized struggles of running back Brandon Jacobs, averaging only 3.6 yards per carry, the Giants are still 2nd in the league in total yards on the ground. Their offensive line will be going up against the surprising and league leading Cardinal defensive line that is only giving up 59 yards per game on the ground. However, it’s a deceptive 59 yards per game. Like the Giant win total, the Cardinals rushing defense is vastly overrated. 4 of the 5 teams they have played are all ranked 22nd or worse in rushing offense and 2 of those teams are 28th or worse. The lone exception is Jacksonville which is ranked 10th and ran for 118 yards in a week 2 loss.

The outcome of the game will be decided by the Cardinals offensive line and how it holds up against the Giants pass rush. I expect the Cardinals to fold early and often. I see Warner being knocked around all night long, making it very difficult for him to get into a rhythm with Fitzgerald and Boldin (if he plays, game time decision). By the mid 2nd quarter, the Cardinals will be forced to abandon the run like they have done much of the year and the Giants defensive line will take over. Don’t expect this game to be close. Take the Giants to cover this one easy.

Pick: New York Giants -7
(Line from BetUs.com)

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