The New Orleans Saints and Arizona Cardinals meet in the Superdome for a week one showdown at 12:00 p.m. CT this Sunday. It will be the first game of the Kellen Moore era, and the Saints are hoping to keep their six-game week one win streak alive with another opening weekend victory on Sunday.
The Cardinals’ offense poses a great challenge for the Saints’ defense to open the season. Last year, the Cardinals ranked 11th in the NFL in points per game (23.5) and return a lot of pieces from last year’s
team.
Kyler Murray is still Arizona’s quarterback and will test whether or not the Saints have gotten better at defending mobile quarterbacks this offseason. This has been a huge issue for the Saints’ defense in the past, but with Brandon Staley bringing a new system to New Orleans, maybe they can successfully neutralize Murray’s legs.
Out wide, the Cardinals’ biggest threat is Marvin Harrison Jr., who enters his second year in the league. As a rookie, Harrison caught 62 passes for 885 yards and eight touchdowns, and should be in for a much bigger year in 2025. Michael Wilson and Zay Jones, who combined for a little over 600 yards last year, figure to be a much bigger part of the Cardinals’ offense this season as well.
You can’t talk about Arizona’s pass catchers without also mentioning Trey McBride, who is currently a top-five tight end in the league. The Saints have been very poor at defending tight ends in the past, so that absolutely must change if they want to keep the Cardinals off the scoreboard.
The Cardinals’ receiving core vs the Saints’ defensive backs will be a very interesting matchup. The Saints will likely roll a defensive backfield that’ll consist of Kool-Aid McKinstry, Alontae Taylor, Isaac Yiadom, Julian Blackman and Justin Reid. I think Blackman and Reid could form one of the better safety rooms in the league, but I’m a bit more worried about the cornerbacks. I believe in McKinstry, but if he wants to be a true CB1, he needs to take the next step this year. Taylor has struggled ever since his stellar rookie season, but there’s still hope he can turn things around. Yiadom has proven to be a very solid depth piece, but can he hold up for an entire season? We’ll learn a lot from this week one matchup, but hopefully the secondary can be better than it was last year.
In the run game, the Cardinals have one of the most underrated 1-2 punches in the league. James Conner is always slept on, both as a rusher and a receiver, and Trey Benson is a very promising second-year player who should see a bigger role in 2025. Last year, Arizona rushed for 2,451 yards behind a 5.3 average, which was the second-highest in the league behind Baltimore. We’ve seen the Saints struggle in the run game in the past, so once again, they need to hope Staley’s new scheme can help them fix some of those glaring issues.
The Cardinals also return almost their entire offensive line from last season. They were obviously good in the run game, considering their 5.3 average, but they were also very good in the pass game. Kyle Murray was sacked just 1.8 times per game in 2024, which was the fifth-least in the league (part of that obviously due to his legs, but still). On the other hand, the Saints averaged 2.3 sacks per game in 2024, which was 23rd in the league. I’m excited to see what Staley can cook up and if he can help the Saints’ pass rush to improve their numbers from last year.
I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m excited to see how this defense plays in their new 3-4 system under Staley. I love the additions of Blackman and Reid at safety, and if the Saints’ CBs can step up, I think they have a chance to be pretty good this year.
