3 ways the Arizona Cardinals can pull off a historic upset in Week 3

3 - Win the field position game

So far, Nolan Cooney has looked sharp at punter, booting the ball for 47.6 yards per attempt, and landing 25% of eight punts so far inside the 20. If Cooney can pin Dallas deep early and often, then it will give the Redbirds defense an edge. 

However, Dennis Gardeck and Company must hold up its end of the deal for the entire game. Against Dallas, it’s inevitable that they won’t keep the Cowboys pinned deep in their own territory on every drive. But they only need to prevent Dallas from taking full advantage in the field position game. 

Cooney has a leg that’s strong enough to flip the field consistently, which, when paired with defensive stands, will give the Arizona Cardinals offense shorter fields. And the less Joshua Dobbs and Company need to work with, the higher the likelihood that they will transform shorter fields into points. 

As you can probably tell, each key to winning this game must work in conjunction for the Cards to have a chance here. If one of the three goes awry, they will have a much tougher time even hanging around in this contest. 

(Statistics and historical data provided by Pro-Football-Reference)