Cardinals haven’t turned ball over, and have NFL-leading seven takeaways (four interceptions, three fumbles), including CB Marcus Cooper returning interception 60 yards for score against Bucs. Most importantly, they bounced back to get their first win of the season after a tough opening loss against New England.
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Things don’t get any easier for the Bills this week, when Carson Palmer and the high-powered Cardinals come to town. After two losses, they need to win a game if they want to be relevant in the division.
Quarterback Carson Palmer shows no signs of slowing down at 36. Wide receiver Sammy Watkins is dealing with foot discomfort, but the team needs to find a way to get him more involved. It was a lot of short and underneath offensive stuff for the Cardinals, and they just were not prepared to play that game.
Hughes has two sacks this season already. We’ll start with the Cardinals. They also have struggled with players similar to Tyrod Taylor who thrive in the chaos that the Cardinals defense can create, so it should be a fun chess match on Sunday. While not much has gone right for the Bills and their fans through the first two weeks, here is your most optimistic point to the Week Three contest with Arizona: Hughes has the chance to flat out dominate Cardinals right tackle D.J. Humphries.
“Just trying to get in and out and put pressure on the defense”, he said on a conference call with Arizona reporters. It’s just a check down for Palmer but Johnson picks up close to 16 yards on the play.
Check status of BILLS WR Marquise Goodwin, who was being checked for a concussion after burning Jets’ Darrelle Revis on 84-yard TD catch in Week 2. “We had one thrown the other night and he didn’t catch it”. The Cardinals have a major advantage over the Jets in that Patrick Peterson has soared up the cornerback rankings to number one in my opinion. Though not the player he once was, he can be a wrecking ball inside. Johnson meanwhile has over 130 yards receiving as well as rushing so far in the young season. He came back to play however. No. 2 running back Mike Gillislee still doesn’t have a carry this season. My Grandma could run through this wall between the defense. Arizona hits road for first time after closing previous year with five straight road victories – team’s longest streak since winning six in row spanning 1975-76. He has been quietly really good so far this season, especially rushing the passer.
Nothing special here but pure, brute strength from Hughes. The Clemson product finished his second year in the league so strong that the Bills had raised the bar for him going into this, his third season. The Cardinals’ secondary will have to be aware that the Bills are going to look to take some shots down the field.
The Red Birds (1-1) are listed as four-point favorites in this inter-conference matchup. Just 22 points ey? “But we’ll see how we measure up against maybe the best in the league here”. “I think we have enough veteran presence and enough talent on this roster to overcome this hump”. It’s a bit of a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation for the Bills.
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Arizona is 12-1 ATS in their last 13 road games against a team with a losing home record and 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games in September while the under is 5-1 in their last 6 games overall.
