Making the trip to Arizona is tough enough for the East Coast teams. Throw in the fact that Jay Gruden is 0-4 in season openers during his tenure, and this looks like a tough game for the Washington Redskins. They've moved on from Kirk Cousins and believe they have an upgrade at quarterback in Alex Smith. The former Chiefs starter threw for more than 4000 yards with Kansas City last season with 26 touchdowns and only five interceptions, leading them to the playoffs. Gruden and the Redskins were hoping to have a balanced attack this season with the run and the pass. They drafted running back Derrius Guice in the second round, feeling they had the ground game covered. But Guice tore an ACL early in training camp so the Redskins signed Adrian Peterson. Washington is hoping, at the age of 33, Peterson can still be effective. Last season with the Cardinals, Peterson played six games and had 448 yards on the ground. The Redskins also think they have a pretty good offensive line to protect Smith and help open holes for Peterson.
How To Watch
Where: Phoenix, Arizona
Start time: Sunday, Sept. 9, 4:25 p.m. ET
TV Network: FOX
Stream Online: Watch live with fuboTV
The Arizona Cardinals turn to Sam Bradford to man their quarterback position. Bradford enters his ninth season in the league and has played all 16 games only twice -- missing the entire 2014 season with a torn ACL. Now healthy, Bradford wants to change the narrative. He'll be handing off and throwing short passes to David Johnson, who is back and ready to contribute. Johnson had a broken wrist that had him miss all but one game last season. He, along with Larry Fitzgerald, should prove to be a big weapon. Fitzgerald has said he doesn't want to settle for second place and wants to get back to the team that went 13-3 in 2015. Defensively, the Cardinals are moving to a 4-3 defense. That won't deter defensive end Chandler Jones from trying to improve on his 17 sack season from a year ago.
