Kansas City Chiefs head coach Todd Haley addressed the Arizona Cardinals on Wednesday and called both their offense and defense "explosive". Haley is probably being a little too nice there. The Cardinals numbers do not say explosive by any means.
Offensively, they're ranked 23rd in points scored, 30th passing the ball and 29th rushing the ball. Explosive? Defensively, they're ranked 32nd in points allowed, 27th against the pass and 28th against the run. Explosive?
"They’re an explosive team offensively. They have one of the best receivers in the league in WR Larry Fitzgerald, another guy in WR Steve Breaston that in my mind is one of the best receivers in the league. They’ve got some good young tight ends that are able to make plays. They’ve got some good young backs in (Tim) Hightower and (Beanie) Wells that are different types of runners but both run the ball really hard and can run it well. They have a big, physical offensive line that’s pretty familiar to me and a couple quarterbacks that I don’t have a lot of familiarity with other than seeing them around the league."
There's no doubt Larry Fitzgerald is a hell of a player. He may be the best receiver in the league and he excelled under Todd Haley when he was in Arizona. So Haley knows just how good Fitzgerald is. Their second receiver, Steve Breaston isn't too shabby (if my fantasy football team has any say in it). Beanie Wells is expected to return to the field this Sunday as well. Haley isn't familiar with the quarterbacks and that shouldn't matter. The Cardinals have one of the worst QB situations in the league with Derek Anderson and Max Hall.
"Defensively, they are an explosive team on defense – as explosive of a team as we’ll see, starting with S Adrian Wilson. He’s a big, physical presence that’s all over the field, a run-and-hit guy that will make big plays. DT Darnell Dockett up front, one of the most active inside linemen and one of the best inside lineman, in my opinion. Then they have some backers that can rush the quarterback and play the run in Clark Haggans and (Joey) Porter and inside, they’ve got one of the big guys on their team, one of the heart-type individuals in number 54 (LB) Gerald Hayes coming back for them I know is a big thing."
The Cardinals are last in defense. Explosive isn't the word I'd use but they do have a couple of play makers starting with Adrian Wilson. The guy is a beast and can blow up Chiefs receivers or is athletic enough to make a pick. Darnell Dockett is another great player on the defense and someone the Chiefs will have to prepare for.
The Cardinals do have some explosive players but their numbers would indicate the opposite. They can't score very often and they can't stop people very often, so the Chiefs should have a good opportunity to win this game.