Cardinals Prepared for Talented Tampa Defense

The Arizona Cardinals won't let recent form alter their view of a very talented Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense.

There's plenty of talk around the Arizona Cardinals' quarterback position, and rightfully so. 

With Kyler Murray and Colt McCoy out of action, the Cardinals now turn to Penn State product Trace McSorley. 

Sitting at 4-10 with majority of his starting offensive line missing, McSorley will make his first career start on Christmas Day, in primetime, against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

The Cardinals are currently riding a four-game losing streak and have scored over 15 points just once in that stretch. 

Fixing their offense gets even more daunting when factoring the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' talent on the defensive side of the ball. 

Devin White, Lavonte David and Vita Vea are just some of the names that will face McSorley and company tonight. 

Make no mistake, Tampa Bay has by no means played dominant football. They've allowed 35 and 34 points in the last two weeks. 

However, the Cardinals are prepared for that talent to flip a switch against an inexperienced passer like McSorley.  

“They’re one of the better defenses in the league. I think Coach (Buccaneers Head Coach Todd) Bowles is one of the top defensive minds and has been over the last decade and a half or so in this league," Kliff Kingsbury told reporters. 

"The multiple looks they show on third downs, the pass rush, the linebackers are as good as anybody in the league and then their secondary is playing at a really high level, so they don’t give up much. Last week, there were a bunch of short fields. That’s how Cincy got back in the game, but they’re playing at a really high level right now.”

McSorley offered similar sentiments. 

“They’re fast. A real fast, physical defense, and those are the type of things that we have to be ready for. Be ready to just execute our game plan and what we do, be detailed and exact at what we do, not forcing things down the field. Just taking what we can get and then being able to stay ahead of the sticks and be precise," he said.

"Those sorts of things are things that we’ve harped on a lot this year. I think against this defense with how they play, they’re fast, physical, aggressive. They’ve got really good linebackers on the inside, and some good stuff that they do blitzing. It will be tough for us to be able to detail that out during the week and then be able to execute on Sunday.”

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