Preview and prediction Cardinals get on track vs. 49ers on Thursday Night Football

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Every August, media folk -- like us -- are tasked with making predictions. Turns out, media folk -- like us -- are a surprisingly risk-averse bunch, almost always choosing this season's playoff teams based pretty much on who made the playoffs the season before. And every year, like clockwork, a handful of teams that no one saw coming end up playing January football. And, likewise, a handful of sure bets end up on the couch watching along with the rest of us. Through the first month of the season, the -- not only some people's favorites to win the tough NFC West but the conference and the Super Bowl -- are 1-3. It might be the second-most surprising development behind only the somehow Jacob Evans III Jersey having three wins in four games. The Cardinals looks lost offensively, which sounds impo sible given all the fire power on that side of the ball, starting with coach Bruce Arians and going right down the line: , , , and . But for various reasons, things aren't clicking. There was the close lo s in the season opener to the Tom Brady-le s , the lone win over the haple s in Week 2, a convincing beating by the previously winle s in Week 3 and last week's inexplicable lo s to that aforementioned Rams team. If there's a silver lining, it's this: The Cards have a chance to right the ship with games against the and . Of course, the 49ers and Jets might be saying similar things, since all three teams are tied at the bottom of their respective divisions with 1-3 records. Meanwhile, it seems like no one is much surprised by the 49ers' slow start. New coach Chip Kelly is no longer considered an offensive innovator, but the man at the helm of a plodding scheme where most of the action happens between the whistles, as the group rushes from one play to DeAndre Jordan Jersey the next. For an idea of just how bad things are, consider this: The 2016 version of the 49ers' offense ranks 26th, according to ' metrics. If you're a gla s-half-full type, the only good news about this is that it's six spots above their last-place finish from a season ago. So, yeah, things are probably going to get worse before they get better in San Francisco. But can Arizona turn things around, like, ? They're going to need to if they have any hope of making the postseason, but their previous four games offer little in the way of hope. Ten minutes you won't get back and I fire up the podcast machine for your listening pleasure. Can the Cardinals win without Carson Palmer? Can that offense finally find its stride? And what about the 49ers? When can we expect to see ?A theory on why Arians' offense has fallen flat Before Bruce Arians made his way to Arizona, he had great succe s as the ' offensive coordinator. Arians' offense, which featured , was all about the big play, a task made infinitely easier when you can throw bombs to and all day. In fact, you can make a good argument that Arians deserves a cut of that five-year, $60 million contract Wallace signed with the because he showcased Wallace's talents on a weekly basis during their time together in Pittsburgh. But there's another side to that conversation; the deep pa sing game isn't all unicorns and rainbows, and one of the reasons the Steelers' front office wanted to move on from Arians was because his offensive philosophy led to Big Ben taking a lot of hits. That's the cost of doing busine s in a risk-reward downfield pa sing attack, but clearly, not everyone in the organization was on board. So Todd Haley replaced Arians, he installed an offense that required Roethlisberger to get the ball out of his hands sooner than later ... and, funny story, Big Ben has had some of his most productive seasons under Haley, who took over in 2012. Meanwhile, Arians has been wildly succe sful since being forced out in Pittsburgh; he was 's offensive coordinator in Indianapolis, and parlayed that succe s into the Cardinals' job, where he's gone 10-6, 11-5 and 13-3, and made it to the NFC Championship Game in 2015. Expectations were through the roof heading into 2016. But has Arians' reliance on the deep-pa sing game -- and his stubbornne s to change when opponents take it away -- played a part in the team's early season struggles? According to Pro Football Focus, the Cardinals' offense is most succe sful on pa ses thrown 10-19 yards downfield, Mario Hezonja Jersey with three touchdowns and an interception. On pa ses over 20 yards, however, Carson Palmer is below average, with a lone touchdown against four interceptions. Put another way: Palmer ranks 21st out of 25 quarterbacks in PFF's deep pa sing metric, right behind (!). Interestingly, Palmer is fifth in the league in the percentage of downfield pa sing attempts (14.9 percent), but 21st in downfield accuracy (34.8 percent).So, about the starting quarterback ... Palmer's status was up in the air during a short week of preparation after the quarterback suffered a concu sion on Sunday. Arians had seen enough to make a call Wednesday, for Thursday's game. Quarterback was promoted from the practice squad to serve as the backup behind . Stanton replaced Palmer on Sunday and finished 4 of 11 for 37 yards with no Ignas Brazdeikis Jersey touchdowns and two interceptions. Thankfully, he'll have more than a few hours to prepare for the 49ers. Plus, there's the starting experience he gained in 2014, when Palmer was lost for the season with a knee injury and Stanton went 5-3 before a knee injury cut short his season too. "You can draw on it from the standpoint of I felt good about how I prepared and trust in the proce s," Stanton said, via . "B.A. talks so much about it, and I think that's been our battle cry and will be the battle cry until the day he stops coaching here, and it's been ingrained in me. So, from that standpoint, I think I feel good about what I was able to accomplish, but that means nothing moving forward." More bad news on the injury front: The Cards placed safety and running back on injured reserve after both suffered groin injuries in the Rams game.The last time we met ... The last meeting came in Week 12 of the 2015 season, back when Jim Tomsula was gainfully employed and the Cardinals looked like one of the NFL's best teams. Arizona would grind out a 19-13 win -- true story: (25 of 36, 318 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) outplayed Palmer (24 of 40, 271 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs) -- and improve to 9-2 while San Francisco dropped to 3-8. "led" the Cardinals with 24 rushing yards while John Brown had five receptions for 99 yards. It's Color Rush Thursday, y'all! It's Color Rush Thursday, which means that when the Cardinals visit the 49ers both teams look like this: ICYMI, the 49ers uniforms were announced yesterday & they are San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) Our 2016 Color Rush uniforms have been unveiled.More info Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) . Notice the similarities between the two uniforms? The league noticed too, and to avoid another Bills-Jets Color (Blind) Rush event, the visiting Cardinals were given two options: Wear their traditional white-on-whites, or a specially designed all-white uniform from Nike, the company behind the Color Rush looks. Arizona opted for the traditional all-whites. The Cardinals are one of several teams not wearing the Color Rush uniforms in 2016. The reasons vary from similar color schemes to the aforementioned color blind i sues to not playing Taj Gibson Jersey on Thursday night. Those teams include the , , , Rams, , , and Jets. Fun Fact So, yeah, even at 1-3, we're sayin' there's a chance. Of course, one of these teams will have four lo ses on Friday morning, and their playoff hopes are all but out the window at that point.Keep an eye on these guys Colin Kaepernick -- So far, Kaepernick is best known this season for kneeling during the national anthem. It has made him the NFL's most reviled player, though incidentally, he also had the league's . There was some speculation that Kaepernick might be close to seeing the field -- he lost his job to Blaine Gabbert last season -- but for now, Kelly seems happy to continue with the status quo. Which brings us to ... Blaine Gabbert -- The 49ers were up 14-0 on the last week but fell behind late and a costly -- and gro sly underthrown -- Gabbert pa s that should have been a touchdown was instead intercepted, changing the complexion of any comeback attempt. Gabbert looks DEEP down field...And picks it off! NFL (@NFL) But Kelly seems pleased with Gabbert's overall performance this season, and the plan is for him to play Thursday. "No, I thought Blaine played well today, to be honest with you, besides that one throw and, again, I have to see the film," Kelly said on Sunday. "I don't know Austin Rivers Jersey if he had a chance to step up in the pocket and make the throw, but besides that, I thought Blaine played a good game." -- Honey Badger is what defensive backs of the future will look like. He's a hard-hitting safety who covers like a cornerback, the latest in the evolution of the position that started with Ed Reed and Troy Polamalu, and now includes , , and Mathieu. And now Mathieu is poised to reprise his old role of playing nickel corner, a position that was occupied earlier this season by Branch, who is now on injured reserve. "It definitely would get us back in the thick of things of our true identity," cornerback said, via . "Really, because the nickel position is a huge playmaking position for us, and to have a guy of his caliber back at the position is definitely something that can help our defense. "Is he ready? We'll see. Only he will know that. But to ask him, he'll definitely say he's ready to go Myles Powell Jersey but we'll see when Thursday rolls around. I'm excited to see him in his normal role so I'm excited to see him make plays Thursday."Who ya got? All eight CBSSports.com experts have the Cardinals winning , and seven have them . "The Cardinals will almost certainly be without Palmer in this one, so it means it's Drew Stanton time. Then again, the 49ers counter with Blaine Gabbert, who is struggling. Cardinals, even without Palmer, will win this one on the road." -- . Our prediction: This is the game where the Cardinals get back on track, and if they can string together back-to-back wins (they face the Jets next), they'll be at .500 when they face division rival Seattle in Week 7. Final score: Cardinals 20, 49ers 13They said these words "I just don't think this team has found its motivation yet. We just have to find our edge, this team. We got to find our attitude. We just got to figure out what drives us. Our coaches aren't always going to be able to drive us. That has to come from us personally. Every man in this locker room has to look themselves in the mirror and ask themselves, are they giving all they got every play? We're 1-3. It's not what we envisioned." -- Mathieu, after Sunday's lo s to the Rams
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