It's finally here. Opening kick off and on Monday night football no less.

While you don't want to put too much emphasis on any one game, the fact is that in the NFL every game is a big game due to parity and a 16 game schedule, and for the Cardinals to open on the road in San Francisco, against an up and coming 49′ers team that is being picked by many to win the division, only raises the stakes and the anxiety level for Arizona Cardinal fan's all over the country.

I don't remember being this anxious about an opening game in a long time as you really just don't know what to expect from either team. San Francisco is a 3 point favorite at the time i'm writing this, which means it's about an even draw as to which team is going to prevail. Given the front running status of most of the local Arizona "fans" a lot is riding on how the Cardinals perform on Monday night, as their last Monday night game, the Chicago Bear's melt down that led to the Denny Green post game, "crown their ass" tirade, is the lasting memory of a lot of local and national fans of the team. A lot has changed in a year, I believe the Cardinal's are clearly stronger in most areas, but the question is going to be how do they compare against an improved NFC West?

My keys to the game:

1. Which of the young quarterbacks is going to have grown the most in a year, Alex Smith or Matt Leinart. In the 2005 draft Alex Smith went number one to the 49′ers, and in 2006 Matt Leinart "dropped" to number 10 to the Cardinals. Each of them looks to be among the top prospects at the QB position and both teams are going to go as far as their quarterbacks take them. Smith made a huge jump last year under the guidance of now Chargers head coach, Norv Turner, and with a solid running game was able to cut down the on mistakes that plagued him during his rookie year. He is a smart QB and if he continues his upward arc he could be a great quarterback as the 49′ers continue to surround him with offensive weapons. Matt Leinart is the face and hope of the Arizona Cardinals and after a rookie year that saw him rushed into action, working with two offensive coordinators, a head coach that mailed in the season and a horrible offensive line he still kept his composure and finished with solid numbers. Now that the new staff has set up a solid offense, started the repair of the offensive line and will call a decent game plan it's going to be intriguing to see just how far Leinart has grown. Monday's game will start to answer some of the questions for both teams as to how much further along their quarterbacks are this year and if their teams have legitimate play off potential.

2. Which University of Miami running back is going to have the biggest impact on the game. Last year Frank Gore pretty much came out of nowhere as a third round pick due to a history of serious knee injuries while at University of Miami. He had an outstanding year in 2006 after finally recovering from serious ACL surgery, and was the primary reason that the 49′ers surprised a lot of people last year with a big time running game to take pressure of Alex Smith and a weak receiving core. Edgerrin James on the other hand rolled into 2006 with a big contract and high expectations, only to be greeted by a horrible offensive line and an even worse offensive scheme to operate in. I don't think teams are going to be caught by surprise by Gore this year, and I do think Edge is going to be far more effective then people imagine in the new Cardinals offense. Which ever team is the most successful in running the ball Monday is probably going to win in what is looking to be a very closely contested game.

3. Will all the money SF spent on defense and draft picks be enough to finally slow down Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin. Lets face it, the Cardinals have pretty much owned the 49′ers for the last few years as they just didn't have the cover guys or pass rush to keep Arizona from using their big wide outs to shred the SF defense. Mike Nolan is a very good head coach and he's building up the foundation of a solid defense with free agents like Nate Clements and Tully Banta Cain and draft picks like Manny Lawson and Patrick Willis. Monday night is going to be a big test of the Cardinals high powered offense against the 49′ers retooled and rebuilding defense. If SF can find a way to slow down the Cardinals offense, the game is over, as I don't believe that the Cardinals defense is going to be anything other then average at best this year. If the Card's are going to win they need to win with offense until they can get more horses on the defensive side of the ball.

4. Special teams. Trick or treat for the Cardinals. The pre-season wasn't encouraging as far as coverage teams went, and the release of Scott Player at the end of training camp didn't give new punter and holder Mike Barr a lot of time to work in game conditions. In a division as closely matched as the NFC West, and teams as closely matched as the Cardinals and 49′ers, it is probably going to come down to solid punting, good coverage teams and making the field goal opportunities you get. I still don't know if the Cardinals have the depth of personnel to have great special teams but they had better make a big leap forward from last year or they can expect to lose a whole lot of games by a touchdown or less just as they did last year.

5. Will the Cardinal's offensive line continue to look like a real unit or was the preseason improvement a mirage? There is no question that the moves made to bolster the offensive line in the off season appear to have worked so far. Mike Gandy looked very impressive at LT, Al Johnson is a big upgrade at the center position, Reggie Wells and Deuce Lutui both look really solid at the guards and big Levi Brown held his own in the preseason when he was thrown into things early by the injury to Oliver Ross. Now comes the real test of whether the work done by Russ Grimm will pay off for a full game and if they can build a solid rushing attack and protect their quarterback. If they play reasonably well the Cardinals should be in every game this year.

6. Will the upgrade in coaching make a major impact in keeping games close and putting the Cardinals over the top. In all the years i've been watching the Cardinals I don't think I ever saw them so badly outcoached as they were last year. It's like there was zero leadership, planning or accountability and the players reacted to it. If Ken Whisenhunt and his staff can manage a game, control the side line and make half time adjustments like a real staff, then the Cardinals are going to be dangerous. At least 4 of their losses last year were directly a result of failing to make half time adjustments or being flat outcoached, and if this new staff is as bright and tough as they seem, we could be in for a stretch of competence unlike any thing we've seen since Vince Tobin was head coach and the Cardinals made their play off run.

Original post by Eli Wahlstrom

Join the discussion at The Fanster Forums. Arizona Sports 24/7.