Cardinals Look to Titan Up.

By Michael Rifkin

The 2021 season for the Arizona Cardinals kicks off with a challenging task, go to Tennessee and defeat the Titans. The Cardinals were 8-6, heading into week 16 and looking at securing a wild card spot. They lost their last two games and missed the playoffs, something they haven’t reached since 2015, so this is a big year for third-year coach Kliff Kingsbury who is on the hot seat and not just because he coaches in the desert.
The Cardinals will not have two familiar faces with them in 2021 in receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who remains unsigned, and cornerback Patrick Peterson who is now playing for the Vikings. But the Cardinals did sign some veteran presences adding JJ Watt, who will be a Future Hall of Famer and up until this season spent his career with the Houston Texans to put Chandler Jones, who missed most of 2020 with a Biceps injury, and drafted Zaven Collins out of Tulsa in the first round to help rush the passer.

They signed receiver AJ Green from the Bengals to boost the outside opposite, Deandre Hopkins. Green should help in the red zone for quarterback Kyler Murray who last season had a 67.2 completion percentage for 3,971 yards with 26 touchdowns and 12 interceptions; he also added 11 touchdowns rushing. But the most significant number for Murray was sacked 27 times, so the Cardinals added Center Rodney Hudson from the Raiders to anchor the offensive line.The Titans last season went 11-5, Won the AFC South, and lost to the Baltimore Ravens on Wild Card Weekend.

The Titans made a few splashes this offseason; they signed pass rusher Bud Dupree from the Steelers and traded for star receiver Julio Jones from the Falcons. Jones was limited to 9 games last season due to injury. Now quarterback Ryan Tannehill has two excellent receivers to throw to Jones and AJ Brown, who last season had 70 catches for 1,070 yards and 11 touchdowns. As great as those two receivers are, the key to stopping the Titans is containing running back Derrick Henry, who ran for 2,027 yards and 17 touchdowns last season. Henry averaged 126.7 yards per game. Last season the Cardinals gave up 4.6 yards per carry, so it will be interesting to see what they do defensively. With Peterson in Minnesota and Malcolm Butler retired, pressure is on third-year corner Byron Murphy to take away Brown or Jones.

The Cardinals will be put to the test early this season; if they think they have a shot at being a playoff team, they need to get off to a strong start. They will be put to the test in week, one, going to Nashville to play a Titans team with Super Bowl aspirations.