According to Football Outsiders, Arizona Cardinal receivers Anquan Boldin, Larry Fitzgerald and Steve Breaston rank first, third and ninth in total value at the position this NFL season. That's a big reason why Kurt Warner is a MVP candidate, and a big reason why the New York Giants shouldn't be looking at their visit to Arizona as a trip down Super Bowl memory lane.
The only Giant loss this season came when the Cleveland Browns strafed them for 310 yards passing on a Monday night. Cincinnati took them to overtime because whenever Carson Palmer wasn't sacked, he completed passes that gained big yards. Even last week, Joe Flacco found receivers all day and his back-breaking interception was the result of a receiver drop and not a great play by Aaron Ross.
No one could reasonably expect Ross and his mates in the secondary to completely shut down the Cardinal passing game, but they need to play better than they have thus far. Anytime the Giants haven't overwhelmed the quarterback with pressure this season, the opposition has been able to make plays in the air. They've had just one sack in the last two games, which means there's going to be an awful lot of pressure on the defensive backs, if not on Warner.
The secondary hasn't proven that they can make plays when the defensive line doesn't, which is something that should concern the Giants. On a team as good as the Giants, that hasn't caused much grief as yet. It could be a looming problem though. As the season gets longer, the chances are greater that the Giants will feel the losses of Osi Umenyiora and Michael Strahan more acutely. Less rotation means more fatigue and more chances for quarterbacks to try and exploit the secondary.
This would be a good week to make that seem like a bad idea.
