The New Orleans Saints and Arizona Cardinals will get their season underway on Sunday afternoon at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. It's an intriguing matchup, given the changes the former has underwent this offseason, and the relative health of the latter, itself a fairly big change from where they were a season ago.
Saints vs. Cardinals 2015: Carson Palmer, Drew Brees face off in opener
Carson Palmer and Drew Brees will duel in their teams’ opener on Sunday.
Arizona has been the surprise contender for two years running now, and we've finally reached the point where they're now actually expected to push the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC West and if they don't, they'll disappoint. Despite injuries to Carson Palmer and a ton of other quarterback issues over the past two seasons, the Cardinals rode a dominant defense and an improbably average offense to the playoffs and relevance.
Now Palmer is healthy again, and when he's healthy, he's great. When he's healthy, he's finding Larry Fitzgerald, Michael Floyd and John Brown and when he's healthy, the Cardinals are a force. Keeping Palmer upright and clean in the pocket is the No. 1 goal for the Cardinals heading into Sunday's game.
That may not be as tall a task as it sounds, as the Saints didn't have a great defense last season. They'll be playing at least three players who have never played a regular season game in the NFL, with Stephone Anthony, the team's first-round pick, second-round pick Hau'oli Kikaha and former CFL cornerback Delvin Breaux.
But it's offense where the Saints shine, and Drew Brees is definitely one of the elite quarterbacks in the league. Unfortunately, Brees is without top target tight end Jimmy Graham going forward, as the Saints traded him to the aforementioned Seahawks. They also parted ways with Pierre Thomas and Kenny Stills, two big contributors on offense. They're hoping Brandin Cooks really steps up at the receiver position alongside aging Marques Colston, and they're hoping Mark Ingram continues his development and becomes a true feature running back.
Digits
If not for injuries, one of the biggest stories of last season probably would have been Palmer's impressive play so late in his career. After a poor stint with the Oakland Raiders and a so-so season with the Cardinals in 2013, Palmer completed 62.9 percent of his passes for 1,626 yards with 11 touchdowns and just three interceptions in six games with Arizona last season.
If you extrapolate Palmer’s numbers out over the course of a full season, he’d have finished among the top quarterbacks in the league. But his health was an issue and again, the Cardinals will need to keep him protected on Sunday and throughout the season.
With Graham’s exit, the Saints are losing a player with 4,752 receiving yards and 51 touchdowns in five seasons with the team. Graham’s production put him third on the team in receiving yards last season and first in touchdowns. Stills lead the team in receiving yards in 2014, and he’s also gone. Cooks, who really needs to step up, had just 550 yards and three touchdowns in 2014, fourth on the team.
Arizona will be hoping they can put up a better showing than the last football game they played that mattered: a 27-16 loss to the Carolina Panthers in a wild card playoff game. In that game, the Cardinals gained just 78 total yards both throwing and running the football. The team averaged 359.8 yards in the six starts Palmer made last season.
Arizona won all of those games.
Who to watch
Brandin Cooks - Cooks represents the future of the wide receiver position for the Saints. They want him to become Brees’ top target, and on Sunday, he’ll be treated like it. That’s because he’s expected to go up against Arizona’s top cornerback, Patrick Peterson. Cooks will have to show he can reliably beat guys like Peterson, who are among the top corners in the league.
Brees threw for just under 5,000 yards with 33 touchdowns last season. Cooks caught 53 of his passes for 550 yards and three touchdowns. New Orleans believes Cooks can become a 1,000-yard receiving and double-digit touchdown guy. That has to start on Sunday.
Andre Ellington - A lot of the focus will be on Mark Ingram of the Saints, but the Cardinals will likely try and run the ball a lot on Sunday. Bruce Arians likes to run the ball, Ellington's primary concerns come from his durability so he'll be good to go on Week 1 and the Saints were not great against the run last season, allowing just under 5 yards per carry on the road and eight touchdowns. Ellington had 652 yards rushing and 395 yards receiving in 2014 and he'll get plenty of touches in this game.
How to watch:
When: 4:05 p.m. ET
Where: University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Ariz.
TV: FOX
Commentators: Kevin Burkhardt, John Lynch
Online: Verizon NFL Mobile
Preliminary Judgment
The Cardinals are the favorites essentially everywhere, though there are some going with the Saints. Five of the seven SB Nation experts are going with the Cardinals, with Matt Ufford and PFT Commenter picking the Saints. At CBS Sports, six of the eight experts are also going with Arizona. Ten of the 13 experts at ESPN also went with the Cardinals.
Odds
The Cardinals opened as three-point favorites, but the line narrowed slightly to -2.5 on most books, according to OddsShark.com.
Further Reading
For more on the Saints, check out Canal Street Chronicles. For everything Cardinals, go to Revenge of the Birds.
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