Arizona Cardinals vs New Orleans Saints: Preview, prediction
By Scott Allen
The Arizona Cardinals take on the New Orleans Saints in the 2015 season opener
The Arizona Cardinals open the season at home for the second straight season. This year the New Orleans Saints come knocking first. The last trip for the Saints to Glendale was on October 10, 2010. The Cardinals won that game 30-20. The last game overall between the two teams was in New Orleans on September 22, 2013. The Saints prevailed 31-7.
The Saints have not won a game in Arizona since October 31, 1993 when the Saints defeated the Cardinals 20-17 at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe. All of that is history but recent history had the Saints finishing 7-9 and the Cardinals finishing 11-5 in 2014.
What: New Orleans Saints at Arizona Cardinals
Where: University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, AZ
When: 1:05 p.m. Arizona time
TV: FOX – Kevin Burkhardt, John Lynch
Radio: Arizona Sports 98.7 FM – Dave Pasch (play-by-play), Ron Wolfley (color analyst), Paul Calvisi (sideline reporter); SiriusXM 137/Internet 800 (Cardinals feed), SiriusXM 93/Internet 819 (Saints feed),
Keys to victory:
The Cardinals are coming in once again having to deal with a few injuries. Certainly nothing they faced last January in Carolina but they will be without guard Mike Iupati and tight end Ifeyani Momah. Iupati is out until further notice, likely October sometime and Momah, who had a great preseason, tore his meniscus the other day in practice and is out for the season.
The Cardinals are going to be focused on the running game in 2015 and you can count on them starting that on Sunday. Sunday will be the first regular season game for running back Chris Johnson in a Cardinals uniform. He averaged 4.3 yards-per-carry in 2014 with the New York Jets. Also new to the Cardinals this season is tight end Jermaine Gresham. He missed most of training camp but returned to practice this week.
Also returning for the Cardinals is receiver Michael Floyd. Floyd went out early in camp with three dislocated fingers in which he had to have surgery on. He returned to practice this week. His return to game action though is not a certainty on Sunday. He will be a game-time decision. Just having him in uniform would be a huge boost mentally. Either way, the Cardinals are just fine without him.