The 1-4 Jets enter the contest after suffering a 31-13 loss at Pittsburgh last week while the 2-3 Cardinals are fresh off of a 33-21 win at San Francisco.
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Cardinals PreviewThe Cardinals have one of the most potent offenses in the National Football League on paper but have not been playing like it. Quarterback Carson Palmer missed Week 5 with a concussion but has been cleared and will play on Monday night.
The Jets (1-4) have lost three straight, but that hasn’t dampened Sheldon Richardson’s optimism. The bad news for the Jets this week came when Eric Decker was placed on the injured reserve, and he will not play the entire season.
Kickoff is at 8:30 PM EST at the Cardinals’ University of Phoenix stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The Cards sacked 49ers QB Blaine Gabbert 6 times throughout the game, with Markus Golden, who had 2, D.J. Swearinger, Kevin Minter and Calais Campbell who also had a pair of sacks, however one of Campbell’s sacks of Gabbert ended up being a safety late in the 4th quarter that sealed San Francisco’s fate.
Yes, it was the team’s rushing defense that allowed just four touchdowns all year that led the way, but the pass defense was able to hold its own.
He still leads the National Football League with 10 INTs, though, two more than Tampa Bay’s Jameis Winston. Fitzpatrick is also tied for the highest number of fumbles in the National Football League this season.
That could be a huge problem against an Arizona offense that loves to throw the ball deep and is usually pretty proficient doing so.
But for as bad as the Jets defense has been, things could get better soon. He was a big part of the Cardinals’ ascent, setting a tone which put an emphasis on play-making and aggressiveness in 2013 and 2014. The Week 6 match-up against a struggling Jets secondary gives Palmer the flawless opportunity to return to his 2015 form.
A struggling NY secondary has surrendered a league-worst 118.6 passer rating to opposing quarterbacks.
On the offense, Arizona is averaging 25.0 points and 363.2 yards per game. However, a good run game can be a tremendous foundation for them to build on towards a win.
Through the season’s first five games, quarterbacks and the skilled position players have connected on 19 pass plays of 20 or more yards.
I assume this is meant to address what happens the rest of the season? Brandon Marshall is still around, but he figures to see plenty of All-Pro shutdown cornerback Patrick Peterson tonight.
Jets: The Jets must win to keep their playoff hopes alive and avoid falling to 1-5. But through five weeks in 2016, both quarterbacks have failed to match their 2015 performance. In Week 5, Johnson had 30 touches, which was by far the most of the season for him. The Cardinals leaned on running back David Johnson for the bulk of the heavy lifting offensively.
The running game has been nonexistent, with Matt Forte having not been the impact player many thought he’d be. It returned in the second half against the 49ers, and now the Cardinals have their quarterback in the fold once again. The schedule gets easier after Monday, at least on paper, and regardless of who is quarterback there is a decent chance the Jets go on a run against easier opponents, with most of the games at home. The Jets lone win came on the road at the Buffalo Bills.
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I’d have to say Arizona has the better QB, the better running game, the better defense, and I’d say that these teams are even on special teams. Geno (Smith) gets a lot of first-team reps too, because you never know. “Those two guys have – I don’t know – 16, 17, 18 years between the two of them”.
