This week, the Giants roll into Glendale Arizona to face off against Senator John McCain’s beloved Arizona Cardinals. The storylines are everywhere in this one, such as the Giants’ 19^th ranked pass offense against Arizona’s 16^th ranked pass defense. Something’s gotta give!

1. Contain Fitzgerald and Boldin

The Cardinals’ 1-2 wide receiver punch of Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin is so strong that one cannot stop them, they can only hope to contain them. Corey Webster and Aaron Ross are both developing into excellent corner backs, but they have not yet faced a challenge like this one. Fitzgerald and Boldin are two of the most physical and talented receivers in the NFL, and the offensive game plan is always to get the ball in their hands. Throw in the excellent Steve Breaston (who went to high school with someone I play fantasy football with, so you could make the argument that we’re best friends) and you have the most talented receiving corps in the NFL. The three have combined for 2373 receiving yards and 17 touchdowns. I have much more confidence in this year’s secondary to get the job done.

2. Scare Kurt Warner

The aforementioned wide receivers would be nothing if they didn’t have someone talented throwing the ball to them (although I honestly think I could put up better numbers than some QBs if I had them to throw to [and no, I don’t seriously honestly think that]). Kurt Warner has enjoyed a career resurgence the past two years and is a legitimate MVP candidate with a league leading 105.5 QB rating. And not that it will really make a difference, but I doubt he has forgotten getting benched for Eli Manning in his rookie year. Expect this storyline to have absolutely no bearing on the outcome of the game, but for it to be mentioned multiple times by the commentators…but I digress. If there’s one thing Kurt Warner is not, it is mobile. The Giants need to turn up the pressure and get him out of his comfort zone. If they can do that, the Cardinals should struggle to move the ball, seeing as their run game is ranked 29^th in the league.

3. Pass the Ball

The Cardinals are relatively stingy against the run, allowing just under 90 rush yards per game, good for 7^th in the league. Obviously, as we saw last week, it doesn’t really matter who the Giants are playing; they are going to run the ball on a weekly basis. But if Brandon Jacobs’ knee injury is going to stop him from going, Eli might have to pick up some of the slack. Arizona’s defense has allowed opposing quarter backs to post a 91.2 QB rating, 9^th worst in the league. Even if Jacobs can go, or if Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw effectively pick up the slack, Eli could be in for a big day; Arizona has allowed a league worst 19 passing touchdowns.

4. Put Hixon in on Kick Returns!

Please? I’m asking nicely. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Domenik Hixon is the fastest and most explosive return man on the team. He was given a chance to return kicks at the end of last season, and only impressed (remember his kick return for a touchdown week 17 against the Patriots? Well, do you, Tom Coughlin?) This year Ahmad Bradshaw has been the sole kick returner, while Hixon has been relegated to punt returns. Bradshaw has averaged 21 yards per kick return, good for 36^th in the NFL. There are 32 teams in the NFL. Hixon, on the other hand, averages 11.5 yards per punt return, which is 7^th in the NFL (not counting the long punt return for touchdown he had taken away by a penalty that probably would not have affected the run). Since Hixon is not really being used in the passing game, and since Bradshaw figures to see more carries from here on out, it only makes sense to move Hixon back to full time kick returner. Please?

5. Remember Glendale

The last time the Giants were in the University of Phoenix Stadium (!) in Glendale Arizona, they were busy defeating the New England Patriots 17-14 in Super Bowl XLII. Tom Coughlin is a master of inspirational speeches, so I don’t really have any right to tell him what to do, but he may want to bring up that neat little factoid somewhere in his pre-game speech. Although, really, whether he mentions this or not will have little affect on the outcome of the game. But I’m sure it will be mentioned at least once during the telecast.

(!) University of Phoenix Stadium- am I the only one who has a problem with the name of this stadium? The University of Phoenix is an online university, so they obviously cannot have a football team (unless they play their games on NCAA Football’09 via XBOX Live or PS3 Online). So why does the University of Phoenix have a stadium in their name? Although, if it does turn out that the stadium, like the university itself, only exists on the internet, and the game between the Giants and Cardinals is to be played on Madden ‘09 online, I would be even more in favor of giving Ahmad Bradshaw more playing time, since he has some experience with video games.