Carson Palmer was the model of consistency last season, posting an above-average Total QBR (more than 50) in 15 of his 16 games played. However, with Brady on the sideline, the home team Cardinals sit as six point favorites for the game. His window is closing, both to win a Super Bowl and on his career.
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Arians added: “He sets an edge presence for us”.
He said he never thinks about it “until I get asked about it”. “It’s just a matter of getting them all there to that first game”.
The 36-year-old quarterback will be at the controls of a high-octane Arizona Cardinals offense that returns every player who gained a yard for the team last season. The right side of the offensive line is new, with veteran Evan Mathis at right guard and young D.J. Humphries.
Stanton is entering his 10th National Football League season, and fourth consecutive year with the Cardinals after moving over from Indianapolis with Arians following the 2012 season.
Both teams are coming off of championship game losses, and are legitimate Super Bowl contenders this season.
The season will kick off on September 11 on Sunday Night Football against the New England Patriots at 5:30 p.m. on NBC.
They added a nice pass-rush piece in Chandler Jones and they will again be explosive on offense. Fresh off of a 12.5-sack season with the Patriots in 2015, the Cardinals hope they have found their premier edge rusher.
They should be better on the defensive front, too. Larry Fitzgerald sent a text message. He might not have played the first couple of games regardless after suffering a triceps injury during training camp.
But it was clear Jones was trying to tamp down the storyline a bit Wednesday, staying safe with his answers and noting that, even though he is supposed to be mic’d up for the game, he probably won’t be talking much on the field. Mathieu is the star of the secondary and arguably the best all-round defensive player in the league, having come into the NFL after being kicked off the LSU program in 2012.
Rookie Brandon Williams has the raw talent, but played the position only one season in college and struggled in the preseason.
Arians has traditionally kept three signal-callers on the team’s roster, but this season, the team elected to release third-string quarterback Matt Barkley who enjoyed a productive preseason and move forward with Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton. It will also be the first real look of what the Cardinals’ backfield tandem of Chris Johnson and second-year David Johnson can do together. He has gotten into 11 regular-season games in his career and is 20-for-31 passing for 188 yards, a touchdown and no picks.
“I can’t thank him enough”, Brown said. “I feel strong. I feel fast”.
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Safety Tyrann Mathieu is expected to be ready for Week 1, his late season injury hampered them a year ago, but if he is and can remain healthy for the entire 2016 campaign, along with Patrick Peterson at the corner position, the Cardinals will be a tough nut to crack downfield.
