The Arizona Cardinals are facing a Houston Texans team that has scored 69 points and allowed 64 over the past two weeks. Arizona’s offense also came to life last week in their 25-23 win over the Atlanta Falcons, showing us that they can play all four quarters with the right guy leading the team.
But the Texans have a lot of strengths, and it starts with quarterback C.J. Stroud, who has been stellar over the previous two weeks. Houston also has a sensational pass rush, and if the Cards want to move the sticks often, they need an answer for it.
The Redbirds are also playing in a game where every point and field position matters. Therefore, they can’t take any unnecessary risks that could come back to haunt them later. Houston is too good of a football team to give good field position to or to leave points on the field against, so the Cards must be smart with those potentially game-changing decisions.
3 ways the Arizona Cardinals can upset the Texans
1 - Confuse C.J Stroud
If the Offensive Rookie of the Year voting ended today, C.J. Stroud is the clear-cut winner. Stroud has also been lights-out with throwing the ball over the past two weeks, passing for a combined 826 yards, and six touchdown passes.
But, Stroud is still a rookie, and if the Arizona Cardinals can throw something at him that he has little experience with, they can contain him. One way is to disguise blitzes and coverages, and force Stroud into making decisions before he’s ready to throw.
They can also back off into coverage in situations when they regularly blitz, and vice versa. There are ways to throw Stroud off of his game, and he has gone through some pedestrian outings this season with the offense at times, so it’s not like he’s been throwing all over opposing defenses every week.