Excuse Me but are the Cardinals some sort of World Beater that Miami would be Lucky to Hang With?

I’m sorry, but am I living in a reality where the Arizona Cardinals are a team that needs to be feared? Is it possible that I’m living in a simulation? At this point, likely, that’s the main goal to convince me that decent football teams are powerful foes.

This isn’t to say that Arizona is a tomato that doesn’t deserve any acknowledgment of being a good team. They are that. They are a good team. I’m alright with folks saying that they are, currently, better than the Dolphins. Not sure I agree with that, top to bottom, but if you want to go with that line of thinking, go for it. Arizona is 5-2, whereas Miami is 4-3. I wish Miami were 5-2, but they aren’t. But it’s not like Arizona is 7-0 or even 6-1. If that were the case, then I would believe the Dolphins don’t have much chance of beating them. Like when Miami played Seattle, I had very little confidence that they could win. I do not have that same feeling this week.

I suppose I’m just a tad ornery that whatever network or analyst I see are treating the Cardinals like they’re some monster and the Dolphins are their next victim? I know I shouldn’t care, but this week I do.

I imagine it has largely to do with Kyler Murray being pretty good and beating the Seahawks. Beating Seattle is an impressive win. More impressive than Miami beating the Rams. But, look at the rest of the opponents Arizona beat. They’ve beaten San Francisco, Washington, the Jets and Dallas. They lost to Detroit and Carolina. So besides Seattle, the Cardinals have beaten bottom-dwellers and have lost to average to below average teams. Miami has lost to Seattle, Buffalo and New England(week 1 when the Patriots were running the smart offense). I’m just saying the Cardinals and Dolphins aren’t that far apart.

This week won’t be close to easy for the Dolphins. They’re playing a team that has the quarterback who has the receivers that can cause mega problems.

Make no mistake, Kyler Murray poses an issue that isn’t hard to understand. When things break down he’s, just about as lethal, as anyone with running the ball and he’s getting better at it every week. Last year, Murray had 544 yards on 93 rushes. This year, Murray has 437 yards on 65 rushes. He also has 7 TDs on the ground. It means that Murray has all the confidence in the world when he breaks contain.

But, if you look at his passing numbers, you’ll see that Murray has a 13/7 TD/INT ratio. That is not that good at all from a guy that’s, often, touted as a stud. Even with adding DeAndre Hopkins and having more than adequate receivers behind him, the Cardinals offense hasn’t fired on all cylinders too much.

Miami must keep Murray in front of them and let their superior secondary handle the receivers. Of course, a repeat performance of last week where the defense blitzed the quarterback at will, forcing turnovers all over the place would be beneficial.

Offensively, the Dolphins have to rely on Tua. There’s no hiding him this week mainly because I don’t think the Dolphins will rattle off a defensive and special teams TD. Also, the Dolphins backfield is depleted. Miami will be sporting Zach Crockett Jordan Howard, the power of Laird and Salvon Ahmed. I wrote yesterday that I think Salvon Ahmed might end up being the guy because Flores does what he wants, and if he wants him to be the guy, that’s what he’ll do.

Tua will have to throw more for than 93 yards and do it against Budda Baker and the Cardinals defense. Arizona has an average defense. They can be really good, or they can be shredded. Depends on the game. The Dolphins offensive line may get a player back to help.

Not sure what this will exactly mean for the line besides the fact that the Dolphins need to find the best 5 guys and go with it.

Prediction

Vegas has Miami as a 4.5pt dog and I get why. It’s on the road and Kyler can have a major game because he is that good. But I like Miami this week. I know that, generally, means that they will get boat raced but I don’t care. I’m picking the Dolphins to win and move to 5-3 putting more pressure on the Bills.

Dolphins 31- Cardinals 20

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