Giants-Cardinals: Too Hot to Handle?

?The Arizona Cardinals could be three days away from a playoff berth. Playing at home, in front of an energized crowd, with a legitimate MVP candidate throwing to two of the best receivers in football, what could go wrong?

What's that? Oh yeah.

Standing in their way is 687 pounds of pure, unadulterated running power.

And I find myself, as a Giants fan, thinking something for the first time since the Phil Simms years. We don't ned to rely on our defense, we need to rely on our offense.

Let's face it: The Cardinals are going to score points in the air. Sure, the Giants will be able to get to Kurt Warner (hell, they could usher in the Matt Leinart era, the last time Warner played 16 games, the twin towers were still standing), but he'll get his throws off. And the Giants secondary isn't going to do well against three very good receivers.

But the Cardinals defense is going to have a hard time containing the Giants' running attack, or Eli Manning.

They're the 11th ranked defense in the league, which is nothing to sneeze at, but they simply lack a defensive player that is going to cause trouble for the Jints.

To be completely honest, I'm having a difficult time fathoming how any team can stop the Giants' running attack, considering what the Ravens did.

The formula the Giants follow is very simple:

Rush on first and second down, hope for a big run (which has been happening more often than not), then give Eli a shot on third down to either Plax or Steve Smith.

The Giants have run an incredibly balanced attack, and the fact that they can do both well creates havoc. 

The defense gets so worn down that Eli and his talented corps of receivers can surgically exploit it.

Make no mistakes, this game isn't a lock. The Giants team that showed up in Cleveland could always make an appearance, and that thought fills me with absolute fear.

The Cardinals are clearly better than the Browns, and they do have motivation.

However, I think the Giants multifaceted attack will be able to put up enough points, and the Defense will keep enough off the board, to see the Giants to victory.

Giants - 31, Cardinals - 20