ARIZONA (vs Seattle)
We're putting Arizona's key players lower than usual. The offense hasn't quite been firing on all cylinders. It's scored 18 touchdowns, but the three games with 4 TDs have all come against lesser opposition (San Francisco, and home games against the Bucs and Jets). The Seahawks, meanwhile, have a historically good defense, allowing the fewest points in the league three years in a row, and it's a group that doesn't seem to be falling off. They've allowed only 8 TDs this year. This game is in Arizona, of course, so the Cardinals won't have to deal with crowd noise at Century Link Field. But this defense, believe it or not, has actually been better on the road. In the last 26 road games, this defense has allowed only 34 touchdowns -- 9 fewer than its last 26 games at home. ... Carson Palmer isn't right. At 36, he might be slipping physically, or maybe he's just lost his confidence, tracing back to his meltdown in the playoffs. Whatever the reason, he's not the same guy he was in 2014. He's averaging over a yard less per pass play, his completion rate has dropped from 64 to 60 percent, and he's not making the key plays. He's thrown only 7 TDs in five games. Last year he ...
This report is taken from today's Week 7 edition of Fantasy Index Weekly. The newsletter includes our player rankings and 18 pages of camp reports, plus stat projections and custom rankings for the games being played this weekend.
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... threw 35 touchdowns. Maybe he rights the ship at some point, but it doesn't look likely to happen this week. Seattle's defense is remarkably tough, and that includes its work on the road. In its last 26 games away from home, the Seahawks have given up only 24 TD passes and an average of only 203 passing yards (185 if you include sacks). Palmer had a big game up in Seattle last year, of course, throwing for 363 yards and 3 TDs, but he's thrown only 1 TD in each of his other last three games against them. ... David Johnson is a great back who's on top of his game. He's averaging 139 total yards per game, and he's scored 7 TDs in the last four weeks, including a hat trick on Monday night. But with that in mind, Seattle's defense will come in loaded for bear, knowing that Johnson is the clear No. 1 priority. It's not a defense that gets manhandled by running backs often. Seattle remarkably has allowed only 9 rushing touchdowns in its last 26 road games -- about one every three weeks. Johnson is a great pass catcher; he's averaging 44 receiving yards per game. But they just faced a pair of really good pass catchers last week (Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman) and didn't have too much trouble with them. We're slotting Johnson much lower than usual. ... With the passing game projection lowered, we're cool on Arizona's receivers. Larry Fitzgerald at least has been their clear No. 1 option -- a future Hall of Famer who's on top of his game. He's catching the balls in the red-zone area. He caught 16 passes for 185 yards and a touchdown in the two Seattle games last year. John Brown is more dependent on hitting on deep balls, and those haven't occurred this year (and are hard to hit against a defense like Seattle). He's averaging only 50 yards per game so far, with no touchdowns. Michael Floyd has struggled this year but could be on the upswing. He caught a touchdown Monday night, and with Jaron Brown leaving that game with a knee injury, Floyd might now be ready to at least be their clear 2nd- or 3rd-best receiver the rest of the way. Floyd had his best game last year at Seattle, catching 7 passes for 113 yards and 2 TDs (but caught only 1 pass for 16 yards in the other Seattle game). ... Since the start of last year, the Seahawks have allowed more touchdowns to tight ends than wide receivers, but Arizona doesn't have a viable player at that position. Darren Fells and Jermaine Gresham are primarily blockers. They combined for 8 catches and a touchdown in the two Seattle games last year, but there's just not enough there. ... Given the difficulty of the matchup, we want no part of Chandler Catanzaro. Two years in a row the Seahawks have allowed only 88 kicking points, and they're on pace for the same kind of total this year. ... The Cardinals Defense has been very solid thus far, with 19 sacks and 9 interceptions. But it's working against Russell Wilson, and that's tough. Wilson is playing on a bad knee, but that's oddly made him harder to sack -- he's getting rid of the ball quicker rather than trying to scramble around. He's been sacked only 10 times in five games. And he's remarkably careful with the ball; in his last 37 games, he's thrown only 16 interceptions and lost only 4 fumbles.