In what will be the battle of the birds, the Arizona Cardinals and the Philadelphia Eagles face off at University of Phoenix Stadium on Sunday. Both teams are 2-0 with very big wins last week. The Cardinals knocked off the New England Patriots and the Eagles knocked off the Baltimore Ravens. Both teams have won their games going down to the wire. Philly has won two one-point games. Arizona has won their two games by a combined six points.
The last two times the two teams have played, Philly has lost. They met last season in Philly and John Skelton threw for 315 yards and two scores, leading the Cardinals to a 21-17 win. The time before that? It was in University of Phoenix Stadium for the 2008 NFC Championship Game. The Cardinals won, 32-25 to clinch a Super Bowl appearance.
Now the teams Battle one another with connections we all know, plus another that it news.
The trade story is what we know. The Cardinals traded cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a second round draft pick to the Eagles for Kevin Kolb. Kolb was injured last season, so he did not play against Philly. This time he is expected to play, filling in for the injured Skelton.
DRC, now that Asante Samuel left town, starts across from Nnamdi Asomugha.
A new connection is a story that came out on CSNPhilly.com -- Larry Fitzgerald, before the Cardinals' Super Bowl season, was very close to being traded to the Eagles.
The report says:
Fitzgerald, the six-time Pro Bowl wideout of the Arizona Cardinals, told CSNPhilly.com on Friday that the Eagles tried to acquire him in 2008 and offered the Cards a first-and third-round pick to get the deal done.
It corresponded to the time before Fitzgerald signed his four year, $40 million extension that led to the deal he currently has. Things would be very different for both teams and would have that season.
As for the game on Sunday, on paper the Eagles are the dominant team. At and average of 471 yards of offense per game, they move the ball almost twice as well as Arizona. Defensively, both are similar. Arizona is allowing just 17 points a game. Philly allows 19.5.
Michael Vick, though, has thrown six interceptions in two games for the Eagles. Kolb has not thrown any interceptions yet.
Who will be the victor? We don' know. But if Weeks 1 and 2 are any predictor, then we can expect a game that goes down to the wire.
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