Browns vs. Cardinals: Keys to a Cleveland Victory at Arizona

This Sunday the Cleveland Browns travel to the desert to face the red-hot Arizona Cardinals in what will likely be a battle of the backup quarterbacks, thanks to concussions to Cleveland's Colt McCoy and Arizona's Kevin Kolb. 

At the beginning of the season, the Cardinals were widely written off as a total mess of a team that wasn't going to be cleaned up any time soon. Now though, despite their unspectacular 6-7 record, not only are they not a disaster, they're still in the playoff hunt. 

The Browns, who are perpetually contending with their own messiness, seem to have run into Arizona at exactly the wrong time.

Six or seven weeks ago, the Cardinals would have been a great opponent for the Browns to hope to eke out a win against. Now, it just looks like bad timing for the Browns, who seem destined this season to face off with every team right when it's at its best. 

This game was once looked at as a potential trap game for the Browns, the way it was sandwiched between round one and round two with both the Ravens and Steelers. 

The way things have turned out, the Browns haven't been a good enough team for the term "trap game" to even apply.

The Cardinals are the favorite in this one, and while it's a winnable game for the Browns, they're going to have their work cut out for them. 

1. Second-String Quarterback Showdown

Colt McCoy has already been ruled out for Sunday's game due to a concussion, and while Kevin Kolb remains listed as questionable and did take some practice this week, most think he'll be unlikely to start on Sunday. 

That means it's Seneca Wallace vs. John Skelton: two backups looking to prove they have what it takes to bring home the win. 

For Browns fans, the good news is that Wallace currently has a 100 percent completion rating on the season. The bad news? He's only thrown two passes all year. 

All reports suggest Wallace is ready to go, but the truth is, we have no idea whether he's capable of taking over the starting job. What we've seen of Wallace in the past certainly suggests he's not truly a starter-caliber QB, but he's a pretty solid option as a backup. 

Things are a little less uncertain for Arizona and Skelton, who thanks to multiple injuries to Kevin Kolb, has seen a decent amount of playing time this season. Skelton's numbers aren't spectacular, but they are serviceable. 

2. Browns Defense Faces Yet Another Tough Running Back

At the beginning of the season, there weren't too many people who thought Arizona would get much use out of RB Beanie Wells. 

The oft-injured, oft-underachieving back seemed to be a perpetual disappointment, never making good on the hype that once surrounded him in college.

But Wells has been a pleasant surprise for Arizona this season, logging 943 yards on 216 carries with nine touchdowns.

Wells is, as always, a little banged up going into this game, but it's unlikely to slow him down much.

The good news here for the Browns is that Wells, while a solid player this season, is possible to stop. Unfortunately, it would likely take a far better run defense than the Browns' struggling unit to do that.

Despite all predictions that they would falter, the Browns pass defense has remained one of the best in the league. But against the run, they've made very little progress since the beginning of the season.

Their biggest problem has been giving up huge totals and huge plays to top-tier RB, which oddly enough, is absolutely a term that can be applied to Wells this season.

The Browns defense can likely keep the Cards' passing game at least somewhat in check, but if they can't stop Wells from running all over them, it won't matter.  

3. Peyton Hillis Contract Audition

For Browns RB Peyton Hillis, it has not been a good year.

After lighting up opposing defenses in 2010, landing on the cover of Madden and winning the hearts of the Cleveland Faithful, Hillis suffered a tremendous fall from grace in 2011 both on and off the field. 

Hillis is up for a new contract following this season, and all evidence seems to suggest the Browns will allow him to test the free-agent market before signing him, if they even wind up being interested in signing him at all. 

For Hillis, these last three games are key.

He's either been injured or underperforming all season, and he has just three weeks left to prove he deserves a bigger paycheck. He needs to prove himself to the Browns certainly, but he's also auditioning for any contract he might receive elsewhere. 

His performance in 2011 won't have suitors lining up at the door, but that could change if he comes on strong at the finish. And if he does want to stay with the Browns, now is the time to show them why they should want him to. 

No one can truly call Hillis completely expendable for the Cleveland running game, but things seem to possibly be moving in that direction.

Montario Hardesty isn't the answer at RB for the Browns and never will be, and while Chris Ogbonnaya has done an outstanding job stepping up for a role he never expected to play, he's never going to be the dominant rusher the Browns need to compete in the AFC North. 

The Browns could seek out a running back in the early rounds of the 2012 draft, and most seem to think that they should, but if Hillis can finish 2011 strong, he could give them reason to consider retaining his services when free agency opens up. 

4. Time Is Running out for Struggling Browns Receivers

The run defense and the offensive line are the most griped-about components of the Browns, but the wide receivers are a very close runner-up. 

The dropped pass plague that has been blazing through Cleveland all season long has shown no signs of abating in recent weeks, and questions persist as to whether any of the Browns WRs will be viable starters over the long haul. 

Mike Holmgren was asked about the dropped passes and what he thought of his receivers' futures in his press conference on Wednesday, and while clearly upset by all the dropped passes, he declined to comment on any sort of evaluation for the long term on any of them. 

Holmgren was correct to hold off on making that sort of assessment publicly before the season ends, but I'm sure he's been busy putting together such evaluations throughout the year. 

For those WRs who the Browns are on the fence about when it comes to giving them another opportunity next season, the last three games, and especially this one against an Arizona defense that has struggled at times this season, could be key to whether they remain part of the Browns future plans. 

Rookie Greg Little clearly isn't going anywhere and neither is Josh Cribbs, but Mohamed Massaquoi's time in Cleveland may be running out. If Massaquoi doesn't step up in the three remaining contests of the 2011 season, he could easily find himself on the chopping block. 

Overall though, it will be interesting to see if the receivers can do any better at hanging onto the ball when it's Seneca Wallace slinging it rather than Colt McCoy. One game worth of passes won't be enough evidence to reach a verdict on that, but it will be an interesting thing to watch for this Sunday.