[Editor’s note:  Former Broncos G.M. Ted Sundquist provides three scouting reports each week, and then he breaks down the games.  Here’s his first game review from Week Five.] 

This was to be the verification game that Buffalo was for real. Having not won five straight to start the season since 1991, the Bills were making the long trip to Phoenix to send the message to the rest of the League that they were indeed one of the new elite. Arizona was coming home after surrendering 56 points to Brett Favre and the opportunistic Jets. With a schedule that had Dallas and Carolina waiting in the wings, the Cardinals had to find a way to stop Buffalo and regain the confidence they had after a 2-0 start. Arizona’s secondary had been scorched the previous week to the tune of 6 Favre TD passes and the Buffalo offense had been thriving off the big play pass all season. Trent Edwards had been highly efficient throwing the football and the Bills were mixing in just enough of the run game to generate 109 points over the first four weeks.

I thought KEY #1 for the Bills would be to take advantage of the fragile Cardinal secondary and create the big-play scores (Arizona had given up 10 coming into the game). Things went awry after Trent Edwards was knocked out (concussion) on the 3rd play from scrimmage. J.P. Losman fumbled on his 2nd play and the Cards subsequently scored their first of five touchdowns. The big plays for Buffalo came, just not in the right fashion. Lee Evans scored from 87 yards, but would only have 2 receptions on the day. Marshawn Lynch would break one for 22 yards and Evans added another 22 yards around right end himself. The Losman/Edwards combo was held to 18 of 24 for 238 yards, respectable numbers but not nearly as explosive as over the course of the previous month. Lynch was once again held under 100 rushing yards for the day (55) and the Cards were able to keep Josh Reed and TE Robert Royal in check. Advantage Arizona.

KEY #2 hinged on the play of Buffalo’s defensive backs. Steve Breaston was filling in for the injured Anquan Boldin and was coming off a career day against the Jets. Breaston brought speed and quickness to combine with Larry Fitzgerald’s size and strength, and I felt the combo would pose a stiff challenge to the Bills secondary. Heavy pressure from the Jets last Sunday had forced QB Kurt Warner into multiple mistakes and I felt Warner would be locked in to redeeming his Week 4 performance. To help alleviate the Bills pressure, I felt the Cards would turn to shotgun a few times more and give the less-than-mobile Warner some more time to scan the coverage. McGee had injured his knee the previous week and had sat out practice all week (he was declared inactive) and replaced by Ashton Youboty. Greer finished as the Bills leading tackler (12), but had only one pass defense (Youboty logged two). Warner repeatedly tested Greer in the early going with Breaston, who finished as the Cards’ leading receiver. Fitzgerald added 7 catches of his own qne two scores. It was Warner’s second best rating of the season (107.3), trailing only Week 2 vs. Miami. He wasn’t sacked by the Bills and had no picks on the day, running out of shotgun a third of the time.Though the Cards hadn’t been chewing up yardage on the ground with great consistency, they had been working the chains behind Edgerrin James and Tim Hightower. Their three-and-out percentage was one of the best in the League, and Arizona had been winning time of possession over their opponents. The beating they took at the hands of the Jets would require a bounce back of sorts and a renewal of confidence as they looked down the schedule.

KEY #3 was the play of OG Deuce Lutui and OC Lyle Sendlein. Consistent production on the ground had come behind these two and they would be faced up against DT Marcus Stroud. Buffalo had clamped down on 3rd and short, Stroud’s side allowing under 2 yards per carry vs the rush. Arizona’s offense answered the call. James and Hightower, along with J.J. Arrington, combined for 32 carries and 113 yards. There were big runs of 13, 17, 15, 11 and 14 yards. The Bills had given up only 14 of 10+ the previous 4 games. Stroud finished with 3 tackles on the day, Arizona choosing to avoid the big DT for most of the game.

KEY #4 would be disrupting the rhythm of Buffalo’s offense with relentless pressure on Trent Edwards. Edwards struggles in the face of a blitz and is not the best at avoiding pressure in the pocket. Buffalo’s 3rd down conversion rate (especially in long situations) had suffered as a result. I felt the plan would be to clamp down on the big play, bring the pressure, and force a mistake. I noted that Edwards was 2 of 6 when passing for less than 60% in 2007. The “Edwards factor” was over before the game really got started. But Arizona brought the heat on his replacement, and tallied 5 sacks on the day. Despite the 87-yard TD to Evans, the big plays really didn’t come for the Bills offense. Turnovers did. Buffalo coughed up the ball 3 times on fumbles (2 by Losman) and he was picked for his own 3rd turnover on the day. The Cards would need to control the pace of the game and they did just that with almost 12:30 more possession time than the Bills. Their first four drives of 6, 14, 12 and 9 plays netted 24 points and they added a second half drive of 13 plays for a TD as well. They controlled the clock for over 36 minutes.

KEY #5 would be the punt coverage of Arizona wrangling the productive return ability of the Bills. It never materialized as the Cards punted only twice all game. Fred Jackson did return one of the two for 22 yards to the Buffalo 44 in the second half. The Bills would finish with a field goal on the drive.