The Cardinals' defense has become very stingy. Hasn't allowed a touchdown in nine quarters and two games. The franchise hasn't had a stretch where it didn't allow a touchdown in two straight games since 1970. That's a long time ago (and when the NFL game was a completely different animal.) The Cardinals are now fifth in the NFL in scoring defense at 15.7 points a game and second (behind Minnesota) in total defense.

The current stretch, however, has come against clearly lesser offenses. The Panthers, who the Cards visit this weekend, are fifth in the NFL in scoring at nearly 27 points a game. Carolina is not playing well enough to win, but it is scoring well enough to win (which tells you something about the Panthers' leaky defense.)

Many teams have quarterbacks that can move a little bit. The Cards benefited from the fact Russell Wilson, with a knee and an ankle banged up, clearly can't run around as well as he normally can. Now comes Cam Newton, who can definitely run around and has the giant frame to boot. Newton has taken a lot of punishment this season as he's run around, so maybe that impacts the Carolina game plan, but it would be foolish to think Newton carrying the ball -- either by design or scrambling -- won't be a concern.

Still, the Panthers are facing a different defense than the one they saw in the NFC Championship. The effective four-man pass rush, and the way Chandler Jones is playing, changes the dynamic. Tyrann Mathieu isn't quite himself -- Bruce Arians said on Sirius XM radio Tuesday Mathieu was about 85 percent, in his estimation, and will be better once the knee brace can come off -- but at least he is on the field, unlike January. The odds aren't with the Cards to keep the Panthers out of the end zone -- although when the Panthers met the Vikings earlier this season in Carolina, the Panthers only scored 10 points.