Arizona Cardinals: 3 lingering questions heading into Week 4

The Arizona Cardinals upset the Dallas Cowboys in Week 3, and now they will head to Santa Clara to try and make it two in a row against their current division rival, the San Francisco 49ers. Arizona showed more than a few good things in their Week 3 shocker, but they have plenty of question marks heading into their Week 4 matchup. 

So far, Drew Petzing has been a godsend, routinely getting creative, which has brought out the best in quarterback Joshua Dobbs. The Cards also have a pair of corners who must step up this week, and the offensive line, though effective, must put together a more consistent outing. Let’s look closer at each of these underlying issues below and discuss why the Cards must give us positive returns in this one. 

3 questions the Arizona Cardinals must answer in Week 4

1 - Can the offense stay creative?

Creativity has defined the Arizona Cardinals offense through the season’s first three weeks, and things aren’t getting any easier when the Redbirds fly into Santa Clara to face the Niners. San Francisco is currently fifth in the NFL with 42 points allowed. They are also 14th in passing defense, and third in rushing defense, allowing just 3.7 yards per carry and 159 yards in the latter category. 

This time last week, Dallas allowed a similar yards per carry average, sitting at 3.9, but the Cards got creative and ran all over the Cowboys defense. Can they keep that creativity up in Week 4, and if so, will it confuse the 49ers?

If the Cardinals can emulate what they did last week, then there is a good chance that they will make yet another game interesting. However, they also need to find ways to stay creative through the air, and that’s going to be tough regardless thanks to the 49ers relentless pass rush.