SCOUTING REPORT: CARDINALS AT CHIEFS
The Cardinals meet the Chiefs on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium.
The game kicks off at 11 a.m. and is televised on Channel 5 with former Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians working the game as an analyst for CBS.
Bob McManaman offers his scouting report and prediction.
Cardinals on offense
The Cardinals are coming off a win last Sunday over the 49ers in which Arizona finally accumulated 300 or more yards in total offense (321). Maybe it was because they were playing the 49ers, a team they now have defeated twice this season. Maybe it was because new offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich did some tinkering with the play calling and the game plan, which included a lot more Larry Fitzgerald in passing situations. Whatever it was, the Cardinals will need a lot more of it and probably some type of hidden extra mojo if they want to try to keep pace with the Chiefs, the highest-scoring team in the league. Controlling the clock on offense will be paramount, which means establishing a healthy running game with David Johnson. But that hasn’t happened yet this season, which doesn’t offer much inspiration. The Cardinals should have some optimism in that Kansas City’s defense is allowing the second-most yards overall in the NFL and it has proven to be particularly susceptible to the run. For the Cardinals to have any real chance in this game, though, somebody is going to have to rise up and have a monster game. And even that might not be enough for the Cardinals to avoid a blowout loss. Edge: Chiefs
Cardinals on defense
If the Cardinals hope to keep this one close, a heavy weight is going to rest on their defensive line to establish an early tone up front and to hold up throughout the game. Once the Chiefs get rolling – and they’ve gone on game-opening touchdown drives in nine of quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ first 10 NFL starts – they usually don’t look back and instead, pour on the rout. Getting solid penetration by the front four can slow Kansas City down considerably as that can affect Mahomes’ timing on the array of play-action and misdirection calls the Chiefs love to run. But the pressure doesn’t stop there. The Cardinals have to be extra diligent when it comes to tackling and wrapping up because the Chiefs’ skill players, including running back Kareem Hunt, receiver Tyreek Hill and tight end Travis Kelce are difficult to stop once they get the ball in space. Cardinals defensive coordinator Al Holcomb said he thinks he has the game plan in place to try to limit Kansas City’s huge splash plays and that probably means a revert back to his safety-heavy nickel defense. If the Cardinals want to take Hill out of the game, though, they’d be better off going with tight, press-man coverage and having Patrick Peterson shadow Hill one on one. They’ll need an army, meanwhile, to deal with Kelce. Edge: Chiefs
Special teams
With the deck already heavily stacked against them, the Cardinals aren’t getting any favors here. The Chiefs always present a threat in the return game, particularly with Hill on punt return, and their kicker, Harrison Butker, is third in the league in scoring with 81 points. Arizona, meanwhile, hasn’t been able to take advantage of punter Andy Lee’s weekly heroics and there are far too many frequent penalties overall. Even if the Cardinals had the edge here, which they don’t, they probably are going to get buried. Edge: Chiefs
Bottom line
The Cardinals opened as 17-point underdogs and as much as their players said they weren’t paying any attention to the latest line, you could tell it’s been bugging them all week. I wouldn’t it put it past them to make this thing interesting, at least for a while, but then again, I can see them getting smoked out of the building after the first 15 minutes, too. Maybe the visitors will shock the world if everything falls just right. Common sense, however, says they’ll be lucky if the only lose by 17 points.
Prediction
Chiefs 38, Cardinals 17 Reach McManaman at bob.mcmanaman@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @azbobbymac.