The Cards have a fleet of colossal wide receivers. When they line up, they can put four or five playmakers on the field at one time. The thing that gave credence to the frustration at the lack of offense against the teams with winning records late in the year was not a lack of playmaking ability but rather the presence of Haley and Warner, the masterminds behind the 2008 Arizona Cardinals offense. If they are so good at surprising defenses and activating mismatches, why couldn't they score anymore?
Teaching Warner a lesson, soreness, teams figuring their offense out, trying to get playoff teams to take them lightly. Whatever the excuse for that awful Cardinals offense was, it was truly beautiful to see Kurt slinging it again on Sunday.
As for the Falcons game, the Cardinals would be well suited to make the run thing happen. This is imperative because the Cardinals want to control the clock, avoid getting Warner injured, avoid costly interceptions, and take advantage of the Falcons' run defense which is their achilles heel if Milloy is out. Fans want to see more pulling and more running behind fullbacks. Have the Cardinals tried a package with a tackle eligible and just one receiver? With Boldin or Fitz out there with Patrick, I don't believe it would be too blatant because they could still play action.
The shotgun 3-WR, 2 RB set has worked at times for screen passes this year. I like it in the red zone because often you get get 1-on-1 and Boldin, Fitz, Breaston, Urban and Doucet are all good choices in man coverage.
In their win over the Falcons, the Broncos ran it in from tight trips up the middle as well as a toss play plus had to kick a field goal when they couldn't burst through the middle.
The Cardinals offense will bring toughness and intensity but it really needs to bring energy, and it begins across the offensive line. I feel like if people are running around, blocking well, and they're getting to the line of scrimmage fast and feeding off the energy of the crowd, that a 14-0 start would be perfect to basically put Francisco in at safety and have A-Dub chasing Matt Ryan the rest of the game. I think the Falcons defense will be demoralized and confused when a successful high tempo offense has two big drives on them. They must rely on no. 32, Boldin and Warner who've all won big games.