***TNF IN THE SWAMP - ZONA @ SF***

***ARIZONA CARDINALS @ SAN FRANCISCO 49ers***

Brutal game on the Prime Time stage tonight and if it fell on a Sunday, I wouldn't even look twice at it to pick. That being said, Swampy's gotta come up with a side for Prime Time and I it was tough not to revert back to my ingrained dawg nature of when in doubt taking the home team catching points. The Cardinals are currently on tilt and I believe are in a state of shock at this point in the season. They were a clear Super Bowl contender after having such a strong season last year, and to the world's surprise have started 2016 with a 1-3 record. That being said the Red Birds are already now in the oh so dreaded "must-win" mode. The problem with tonight is, they are without their starting QB Carson Palmer due to a concussion suffered last weekend against the Rams. Let's face it, Palmer has straight up stunk so far this season. I am not sure but I would have to guess that it is his age that is catching up to him. He is slow in his drop back and the routes for his WRs take time to develop, and this has resulted in him getting pressured and banged up often, hence the head injury. While some may say well then good riddance, backup QB Drew Stanton may be an upgrade and do better, maybe this is what they need! I disagree. I have never been a big fan of Stanton when he came in for relief for Palmer in the past. The guy is very limited and prone to making big mistakes. That being said, the Cards have really lucked out here, having this happen to them in this situation given who they are facing. While every fiber in my being wants to fade Stanton on the road on the big stage, I don't think the Niners have the defense to take advantage here. They will surely be rocking the black uniforms and the combination of that and the home crowd should provide an extra boost they can feed off of here, but they will be without some key players tonight. They will be without rookie DeForest Buckner, CB Jimmie Ward, and most importantly MLB Navorro Bowman- the Captain of this defense. This guy is the heart and soul of this defense and essentially their QB on that side of the ball, making all the calls and directing everyone on what to do. This leaves a huge void in the center of this defense and without him the Niners could be in trouble, and yes, even against Drew Stanton. SF gets back LB Aaron Lynch which is a nice addition but I have read that he has struggled to get back into football shape and had to drop around 30lbs during his 4 game suspension. That being said, I don't expect him to hit the ground running here. The thing is that Stanton won't have to be there hero in this particular game tonight as Arizona has one of the top RBs in the league in David Johnson to hand the ball off to. Johnson could be primed for a huge game tonight and I fully expect Head Coach Arians to make sure he gets as many touches as possible to try and take advantage of the absence of the Niners best run stuffer. Johnson also is a tremendous receiving RB, and this can be a major help to Stanton when pressured having somebody reliable to dump the ball of to. Lastly, with the weapons the Cards have at WR, Stanton just needs to hit them in short slant type routes and let them do the rest and that is exactly the approach I think Arizona takes tonight. All it will take is one busted tackle on a 5 yard slant from Larry Fitzgerald and he is taking it to the house or at least lining them up deep in the redzone.

The Niners are on the verge of a major QB controversy. I can already hear all the chitter chatter about how Kaepernick should get the start. Given how big of a figure he has been in the public eye for reasons other than football, I don't see this outside push for him to start going away any time soon. Something like this definitely doesn't help out the current starter Blaine Gabbert at all on the confidence scale. In fact it just adds more pressure to a QB who is already prone to mistakes to go out and perform well. In my opinion at this time Gabbert is the better QB, but they lack weapons to throw to, and he will also be without his favorite target in TE Vance McDonald tonight which of course doesn't help his case to fair well in this game. The Cardinals so far in this young season have been an embarrassment, disappointment, shameful, you name it. Sometimes the best medicine for a reeling team is the quick turnaround on a short week to try and get the bad taste out of their mouths, especially if it is against a lesser foe. I have watched as Arians has cringed on the sidelines of those losses and I got to believe he has ripped this team apart. These guys will get up for this game and play for their coach to avoid another embarrassment tonight dropping a game they are expected to win, even without their starting QB. The return of the versatile DB Tyrann Mathieu hasn't really shown its impact yet. I have read that the Birds have made some adjustments to move him back to the slot CB, where he is most effective and can be involved in the action more by being lined up closer to the ball where he excels. Lastly, the addition of DE Chandler Jones has been one of the lone bright spots for Arizona as I believe he has had a sack in each game. I expect him to be in Gabberts face tonight and force a costly turnover to get this team going. The Niners do bode a beast of an RB in Carlos Hyde and they will try to lean on him to gash the middle of the Arizona defense as they have not looked good against the run after Buffalo's LeSean McCoy gashed them for a huge game in a brutal loss on the road. I think the Cardinals overthought this after that shalacking and prepared so much for the Rams RB Todd Gurley the next week out of paranoia and assuming Gurley was their only worry. Knowing this the Rams were smart enough to shock them with an unlikely passing game. I'll stop rambling now and just sum it up with the fact that I think this Arizona defense comes alive tonight, and that veteran WR Larry Fitzgerald along with WR Michael Floyd and RB David Johnson get the job done on offense. If the Cards get up by a score or two early, I don't like the Niners chance at a comeback. Arians over Chip here, the Kaepernick chatter will grow strong after this one. (my apologies for any typos, no time to spell check here) CARDINALS-3.5