Not to get cocky, but the Broncos are beatable.

[RugbyMuffin]

Peyton Manning alone would be hard enough.

Peyton Manning with Julius Thomas, Wes Welker, DeMaryious Thomas, and Emmanuel Sanders, is flippin' short of a miracle, without a pass rush.

Not to mention the Cardinals are not a ground out the clock team either.

Gonna be a tough, tough game.

But beatable ? Sure. Any team is beatable, and its not like the Cardinals are horsepoop either.

Just a bad match up for our squad.

 

[BigRedRage]

Start denvers TE on your fantasy team.

 

[MrYeahBut]

Ken Whusenhunt is to only Cardinal HC to have his team beat Denver in a regular season game.

Yes!!! It was my granddaughters' first game ever. She's a total fan now!!
Hat, Tee shirt, purse, beads... the works

 

[crisper57]

Broncos are terrible running the ball. Cards are great at stopping it. So Manning is easily going to attempt passing 50 times in this one.

Cardinals have no pass rush. You don't beat Manning with blitzes, you have to get to him with your front 4. So he is going to either have all day to pick us apart, or he is going to have used his BYE week to diagnose every blitz we have so that he can audible at the line.

Either way, that means the defense will be playing on its heels all day.

So the only way you beat the Broncos is to do to them what the Chargers did to the Seahawks a couple weeks ago. You play keep away.

So expect the Cards to lean on Ellington all game. He may actually get his 25-30 touches in this one. Chew up clock and keep Manning on the sidelines. Use our Special Teams to win the field position battle. Make him drive the field.

Of course, none of this will matter if we can't start racking up TD's in the Red Zone. We can't swap 3 points for every 7 that Manning will throw up on the board.

 

[Rivercard]

Manning will throw up on the board.

Unusual prediction, but that would be cool.

 

[Mulli]

Broncos are terrible running the ball. Cards are great at stopping it. So Manning is easily going to attempt passing 50 times in this one.

Cardinals have no pass rush. You don't beat Manning with blitzes, you have to get to him with your front 4. So he is going to either have all day to pick us apart, or he is going to have used his BYE week to diagnose every blitz we have so that he can audible at the line.

Either way, that means the defense will be playing on its heels all day.

So the only way you beat the Broncos is to do to them what the Chargers did to the Seahawks a couple weeks ago. You play keep away.

So expect the Cards to lean on Ellington all game. He may actually get his 25-30 touches in this one. Chew up clock and keep Manning on the sidelines. Use our Special Teams to win the field position battle. Make him drive the field.

Of course, none of this will matter if we can't start racking up TD's in the Red Zone. We can't swap 3 points for every 7 that Manning will throw up on the board.

http://www.arizonasportsfans.com/vb/showpost.php?p=3049057&postcount=1


Cards have a pass rush.

And are you saying the Cardinals will need to out score Denver to win?

 

[Rivercard]

And are you saying the Cardinals will need to out score Denver to win?

I think he was simply underscoring just how important it is to over score your opponent.

 

[crisper57]

http://www.arizonasportsfans.com/vb/showpost.php?p=3049057&postcount=1


Cards have a pass rush.

And are you saying the Cardinals will need to out score Denver to win?

I am assuming giving Peyton Manning, of all QB's, 2 weeks to prepare will nullify any surprises our D may have left to show.

I hope I am wrong.

 

[Arizona's Finest]

We match up well (Like Seattle does) because of our ability to be physical across the lines and cover the 1st and 2nd read.

Julius Thomas and Ware/Miller scare me. But thats why they play the game. We keep those 3 in check I GUARANTEE a win.

Easier said than done. Lets keep it going AZ!

 

[Mulli]

I am assuming giving Peyton Manning, of all QB's, 2 weeks to prepare will nullify any surprises our D may have left to show.

I hope I am wrong.

Ya, because Peyton with two weeks to prepare has been nails in the playoffs.

Not really

 

[Chaz]

I think one advantage our defense may have is something mentioned by Palmer in preseason. That is the Cards defense is excellent at disguising it's looks. That they have multiple blitzes and coverages from the same look and multiple looks for the same blitz or coverage.
My hope is Bowles can keep Manning guessing.

 

[crisper57]

Peyton Manning Stats After Regular Season Bye Week:

11-4 (Undefeated since 2005)

Averages:

66.7% Completion Percentage (Career Average: 65.5%)
293.4 Yards Passing Per Game (Career Average: 270)
2.7 TD's Per Game (Career Average: 2.05)
0.6 INT's Per Game (Career Average: 0.9)
Average QB Rating of 112.4 (Career Average: 97.4)

 

[kerouac9]

1) It's not like Seattle put the beat-down on the Broncs at home. They limped out with a win in overtime.

2) It's not like the Denver team that we'll be seeing this Sunday is the same one that laid an egg in the Super Bowl. It's difficult to remember now, but that Denver team was obliterated by injuries last February.

3) Arizona will not have home-field advantage in this game. Fortunately, according to this study by Bill Barnwell from last year, the Broncos don't have that great a home field advantage, particularly since moving to their new building: http://grantland.com/features/bill-barnwell-best-home-field-advantages/

 

[Jetstream Green]

There is not a defense that Manning has not seen, but I am hoping Bowles' use of multiple safeties at different known positions makes the function of our defense something he will not be able to ascertain seeing it on the field in person for the first time... yes, I think we have an excellent chance lol

 

[seesred]

Palmer will be back. I look for big games from Larry and Micheal. The third guy with a big game Mr. Ellington. Hard game but we win.

GBR
40

 

[daves]

I was a bit surprised to see that (even if it's only through three games) Denver's "fearsome" offense hasn't been any better than the Cardinals' O, and the Cards D has been MUCH better than Denver's.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/intel?gameId=400554246

...dbs

 

[kerouac9]

I was a bit surprised to see that (even if it's only through three games) Denver's "fearsome" offense hasn't been any better than the Cardinals' O, and the Cards D has been MUCH better than Denver's.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/intel?gameId=400554246

...dbs

I think you're looking at raw stats that don't necessarily tell the whole story. That's why advanced stats are pretty fun:

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/teameff

The problem with this ranking right now is that DAVE includes preseason expectations, and these haven't been adjusted for opponents (the Cards will likely rise because San Diego and New York are much better than they looked not long ago).

But when it comes to efficiency, Denver has a Top 10 offense despite a crappy running game, and a Top 10 defense.

Arizona has a Top 10 defense, but their offense is below average. Our offense is above average in the passing game, but pretty dreadful in the running game. Andre Ellington is ranked 28th in DVOA right now and 33rd in success rate.

The conventional wisdom is that our defense is doing it with "smoke and mirrors." That may be the case, but I think it's more truthful to say that our offense has been succeeding with smoke and mirrors.

The real difference between our offense and Seattle's is efficiency. Seattle seems to just grind out these long drives and keeps the opposition off the field--it's how San Diego managed to beat both Seattle as well. Our offense very much seems to be feast-or-famine. These deep passes get us behind schedule on second and third down.

 

[cardncubfan]

Palmer will be back. I look for big games from Larry and Micheal. The third guy with a big game Mr. Ellington. Hard game but we win.

GBR
40

Including John Brown.

 

[daves]

I think you're looking at raw stats that don't necessarily tell the whole story. That's why advanced stats are pretty fun

Interesting stuff - thanks for posting. I should've been more careful to say that Denver's O hasn't been any more productive, rather than saying it hasn't been better.

The advanced stats probably tell a more accurate story, but quite simply, while people may think of Manning and Denver's O as "scary", i was surprised to see that they have produced essentially the same number of yards as (and a just few more points than) the Cardinals' O. And that's with Drew Stanton playing two of three games. And Denver's D has been far from an immovable object.

Another interesting tidbit: The last teams to beat the Broncos are the Seahawks and Chargers; the last teams to beat the Seahawks are the Chargers and Cardinals, and the last teams to beat the Chargers are the Cardinals and Broncos.

...dbs

 

[sunsfan88]

All that the Broncos are gonna do is try to set up screen passes for DeMariyus Thomas. If you double Julius Thomas and watch for the screen passes, you'll be good.

 

[Duckjake]

Hard to believe but Peyton Manning has been in the NFL since 1998 and this Sunday will be only the 3rd time the Cardinals have played against him.

 

[Garthshort]

Julius Thomas figures to be a prime PM target, and I'm wondering if the Honey Badger will be our prime defender. We all know that TE's kill the Cardinals, but it seems to me that Julius Thomas, while not Jimmy Graham big, is pretty quick for a TE, hence my thinking that TM might be able to stay with him. Does anyone agree?

 

[RugbyMuffin]

Julius Thomas figures to be a prime PM target, and I'm wondering if the Honey Badger will be our prime defender. We all know that TE's kill the Cardinals, but it seems to me that Julius Thomas, while not Jimmy Graham big, is pretty quick for a TE, hence my thinking that TM might be able to stay with him. Does anyone agree?

No. Not on one leg, and I would be 50/50 if Mathieu was on two good legs.

It is a huge matchup problem for sure.

Plus if Matheui takes J.Thomas, Peterson D.Thomas, and Cromartie takes E.Sanders, then who covers Wes Welker ?

 

[Garthshort]

Powers, I would think. But it's Julius Thomas that I'm most worried about.

 

[Chopper0080]

No. Not on one leg, and I would be 50/50 if Mathieu was on two good legs.

It is a huge matchup problem for sure.

Plus if Matheui takes J.Thomas, Peterson D.Thomas, and Cromartie takes E.Sanders, then who covers Wes Welker ?

Here is how I would match up as we currently are

Peterson - Thomas
Cromartie - J Thomas
Mathieu - Welker
Powers - Sanders

The Broncos like to work Julius Thomas deep which is why I would put Cromartie on him. Cro has the size to make Manning throw over him which increases the room for error.

I put Mathieu on Welker because I'm more comfortable with Mathieu in the slot, and I think he matches up with Welker's speed better.

Powers on Sanders is a tough call, but I think Powers can run deep with Sanders, and I'm ok with Powers outside.

Peterson vs D Thomas is a good matchup.

We don't match up well in this game because we will struggle to get off the field on 3rd down due to the need to blitz Manning on 3rd down. However, man coverage is the best way to disrupt that rhythm/timing offense so we will see.

On offense, protection will be key. The Broncos are pretty athletic in the front 7 which is always tough when you have a QB who isn't really mobile.