Getting To Know the Arizona Cardinals

To be honest, I don't know much about the Arizona Cardinals other than the outstanding wide receiver tandem of Fitzgerald and Boldin and the fact that Matt Leinart likes to party. To learn more I sought out Cardinals bloggers and came across Eli Wahlstrom of Voice of the Cardinals. We agreed to exchange a Q&A about each others team in advance of the Sunday matchup. You can find my answers to his Dolphins questions on his site shortly. Below are the questions I asked about the Cardinals and the answers Eli provided.

What are the expectations for Arizona this year? They always seem to be a trendy pick to make the playoffs. Are fans buying that this year?

• Every season is suppose to be the Cardinals season. In my opinion this year looks better than any other year. Not because the Cardinals are so great but because the rest of the division including Seattle looks so bad. Once again we could see 8-8 or 9-7 win the NFC West and I think the Cardinals will do just that.
  

Outsiders always talk about Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin. Who are some under the radar stars for the Cardinals that the Dolphins should keep an eye on?

• Rookie RB Tim Hightower has been a pleasant surprise for the Cardinals. He scored a touchdown in the first game against the 49ers and looked very good in the preseason. On defense Travis Laboy is a guy that really puts pressure on quarterbacks. He had 2 sacks and a forced fumble against San Francisco and I expect him to make things tough on Jake Long and the Dolphins offensive line.

What is the biggest weakness of the team?

• The biggest weakness is still the offensive line. Kurt Warner is a sitting duck in the pocket, any team that has a good pass rush is really going to cause some problems for the Cardinals offense.

What's the deal with the Leinart/Warner situation? Are fans happy, angry, ambiguous or what about the decision to go with Kurt Warner as the starter?

• It's kind of mixed emotions, all Cardinals fans want Leinart to work out here in Arizona, But I think the majority of fans are happy with the decision to start the better quarterback which is Kurt Warner. It's nice to know that if Kurt does get hurt we have a quarterback that is capable to fill in and still lead this team to the playoffs.

Finally, what's your prediction for game?

• I don't think the Dolphins can keep up with the Cardinals offense. My prediction is 31-17 Cardinals

My Thoughts

This is the second time I've heard Tim Hightower's name mentioned. I haven't seen him but if he or Edgerrin James has any kind of success then we can be in trouble. We will have enough trouble stopping the passing game. If they can run effectively then it will be a very long day.

The fact that their offensive line is a weakness is good news for us. We have shown ability to rush the passer and if Warner really is a sitting duck then we should get a good amount of QB pressures, sacks and hopefully a dumb interception or two.