The Arizona Cardinals are coming off a heart-pounding 18-point comeback against the Detroit Lions in their season opener. The team was nothing short of dynamic in the fourth quarter and overtime, highlighted by two long passes from Kyler Murray to Larry Fitzgerald.
Fans came into week one with far more questions than anything, as nobody is sure what kind of team the Cardinals are this year. Coming into game two, those questions still linger. Perhaps even more uncertainty surrounds this football team than before the debut against Detroit.
What Cardinals team are we getting? Will it be the team that showed a complete inability to gain a first down or the one that lit the stadium on fire? If the Cards are going to take down their next opponent, they better hope it’s the latter.
The Ravens in Week 1
Enter the Baltimore Ravens, a perennial playoff club, is coming off one of the more dramatic blowout victories in recent memory. Last Sunday, the purple flock utterly decimated the Miami Dolphins 59-10, highlighted by a five-touchdown performance from quarterback Lamar Jackson.
Sure, Miami is a team terribly deprived of talent on all sides of the ball, but Jackson’s performance is not to be taken lightly. When given time in the pocket, he was able to deliver the ball with accuracy-which has been the biggest knock on his game to this point.
The only question mark to Jackson’s performance was his surprisingly low pass attempts. He was only asked to throw the ball 20 times(albeit completing 17 of those). Baltimore’s rushing attack and Miami’s defensive ineptitude gave Jackson open receivers consistently and prevented him from needing to take over the game with his arm. He’ll have to show he can do that this season, which he very likely will.
Offense
Lamar Jackson wasn’t the only exclamation mark from the Ravens offense on Sunday. Rookie WR Marquise Brown had two touchdown receptions on 147 yards in his first NFL game. Second-year TE Mark Andrews had eight receptions for 108 yards and a score.
Despite Jackson’s improvements in the passing game, the Ravens offense’s core is still in its rushing attack. Between four different backs, the Ravens totaled 250 yards on the ground. They control the game on the ground and set up Jackson with favorable throwing opportunities. The threat of Jackson’s running ability makes stopping the run that much harder as well.
The Ravens are short at the WR position, but Marquise Brown’s breakout game could change that. They rely on the tight ends a lot in the passing attack, taking pressure off the wideouts.
To stop this potent rushing attack, the Cardinals will have to pick up where they left off in Detroit, where they held RB Kerryon Johnson to 49 yards on 16 carries.
Mark Andrews poses a challenge. He has rare speed at the tight end position and the Cardinals struggled to slow down T.J. Hockenson last Sunday. There’s speed on all sides of the Ravens offense.
Defense
The Ravens lost a lot of their defensive core to free agency, but still have talent everywhere. Dolphins QBs Ryan Fitzpatrick and Josh Rosen took a beating on Sunday, unable to escape Baltimore’s consistent pass rush.
The defensive line is highlighted by run-stuffers Michael Pierce and Brandon Williams. They’ll look to stop David Johnson from having a repeat performance from week one.
Baltimore’s secondary is among the best in the NFL, led by the likes of Earl Thomas III and Marlon Humphrey. Cardinals fans know Thomas all too well, who hasn’t lost a step. A familiar face in safety Tony Jefferson also patrols the back end.
Rather concerning for the Ravens is the pileup of injuries to that talented secondary. On Wednesday, CBs Jimmy Smith and Marlon Humphrey did not practice(Brandon Carr missed out as well, but was listed as “not-injury related”). Jimmy Smith suffered a sprained knee and will be out a few weeks- he will not play against the Cardinals. If Humphrey can’t go, the Ravens would be extremely thin at cornerback, with slot corner Tayvon Young already on injured reserve.
A return home for a Baltimore legend
Rather than going through the usual player by player matchups, there’s a few intriguing storylines with former Ravens now suited up in Cardinal red.
Here’s the big one: future Hall-of-Famer Terrell Suggs is returning to Baltimore for the first time in his career not being a member of the team.
Suggs is a Ravens legend. He is the all-time leader in games played for the franchise and was a member of the club for 16 seasons. Suggs is the fifth player to play a team he played a minimum of 16 seasons for. He’s the first defender to enter this rare scenario.
The other four? Tim Brown, Jerry Rice, Brett Favre, and Sebastian Janikowski.
As we know, T-Sizzle chose to sign with Arizona. He was offered a contract by Baltimore to stay with the team. The matchup should be all love on both sides with no bitter feelings. Suggs may even get a standing ovation from the fans.
As for the other two, WR Michael Crabtree(who is playing in his first game as a Cardinal) and TE Maxx Williams will make their return to their 2018 squad.
Final thoughts
The Ravens are heavy favorites to win this game based on each team’s Week 1 performance. However, the Cardinals have a shot if they pick up right where they left off against Detroit, and don’t have an offensive lull for half the game. Baltimore’s defense is far more formidable than Detroit’s. Kyler Murray and the Cardinals offense have the firepower- now it’s about execution.
On the defensive side of the ball, Chandler Jones and Terrell Suggs must consistently pressure Lamar Jackson. Matthew Stafford was pressured on 47.1% of his dropbacks in week one. That trend must continue.
A big day is needed from LBs Jordan Hicks and Haason Reddick in slowing down the Ravens ground game. Reddick appears to be fully healed from his injury and Hicks is coming off a 14 tackle performance.
The Cardinals believe they can contend in 2019. This is a step forward in proving that.
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