Arians: Chris Johnson getting into football shape, has his explosiveness

Teams are reflections of their coaches and the Cardinals had Tony Jefferson midweek before the Niners game on the PFT Live radio show on NBC Sports Radio expounding on Kaepernick’s weaknesses (he was proven right, for what its worth) and Tyrann Mathieu explaining after the game and then again on PFT Live on Tuesday how easy Kaepernick and San Francisco’s coaches made the game for them. “We had to switch to a silent count because of it”.

“It’s the kind of start you always want to have”, says Bengals quarterback ANDY DALTON, who leads the AFC in passer rating (121.0), about the team’s 3-0 record. While there is still plenty of football left to play this season, it is expected that the 49ers will suffer another loss this Sunday simply because of their display of mediocrity in the past two weeks. “That’s the game”, Palmer said. “It’s all about us, and how we go out there and prepare and perform”. I’m not worried about it with this group. The Cardinals can’t depend on all three division rivals struggling for the remainder of the season, but their 3-0 record and forgiving schedule give them a chance to maintain their distance in the standings.

The Cardinal beat the Saints, Bears and 49ers, who are a collective 1-8.

“It brings us to the realization (that Palmer) is a special player”, guard Jonathan Cooper told the Cardinals’ official website.

Both injuries were non-contact. The Rams offenders will be smothered leaving a tired defense on the field for the Cardinals to push around. For one, there aren’t many really good teams in the conference.

“It’s not the Gregg Williams’ defenses of eight to 10 years ago”, Palmer said. If the line can somehow get a little push up front and spark even a semi-competent run game, it will take an extraordinary amount of pressure off Foles and the passing game. They do what they do and do it well.

The way that the fan factor into all of this, should they indeed move to LA, is that they’ll help the team stay positive through the harder times. The Rams are tied with the Patriots for the league-lead in sacks with 13, and knocked Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger from last week’s contest with a knee injury.

Chris Johnson seems to be laying claim to the lead role in the Cardinals backfield. That’s the second-most in franchise history through the first three games of a season.

WR Larry Fitzgerald is off to the fastest start of his career. Brady has thrown for 1,112 yards with nine touchdowns and no interceptions to this point, while also completing 72.2% of his passes. To be able to do that, the Cardinals have to be productive in the run game. “The play-action pass, the chunk plays, all come off the running game”. To combat the pass rush, the Cardinals likely will use a mixture of mass protection and spread formations.

Running back Stepfan Taylor said Palmer has gone to great lengths to ensure the entire offense is on the same page.

“The quarterback’s going to trust what he sees and he’s going to play decisive”, Cignetti said of quarterback Nick Foles. That means stopping Todd Gurley, Bennie Cunningham and Tre Mason in the running game.

And for a team like the Rams, that’s nothing but music to their ears.