The Arizona Cardinals are the NFC representatives in the Super Bowl. Six days have passed since they beat the Eagles and it still feels weird. Having lived in Arizona for a little over a decade I seemed to know the science of the Cardinals.
Preseason- Excitement brewing, people believe the Cardinals can take the division title.
Week Two- Have a very impressive win that reassures Cardinals fans and there is now a strong feeling of hope.
Week Five- Usually at this point they are coming off a loss that they absolutely should have won and there is skepticism.
Week Eight- Good Bye Cardinals fans! All of a sudden you don't hear from them nearly as much. Talk has moved to other NFL teams and Fantasy Football, if someone didn't know they were in Arizona though they would probably notice with all of the excessive the mocking of them and talk of a Mickey Mouse organization. (Apologies to Wayne Gretzky.)
The season seemed all according to plan, the Cardinals had a potentially explosive passing game to once again excite fans. After opening the season with a road victory against the 49ers, they absolutely murdered the Dolphins at home.
I thought nothing of this. I've read this script before; the very next week at Washington the tide turns on a tipped interception in the fourth quarter, and then we all know about the Meadowlands Massacre the following week.
Two games altered this script though, the first one home against Dallas. Their offense came alive in the second half of that game, they dominated Dallas' offensive line that featured three Pro-Bowlers from last year, they blew a 10-point lead late but that was forgotten when they won the game in overtime.
Not only did they show just how lethal they could be at home, that they could beat a talented team, but most importantly that they could win this type of game. It was a game that they would have lost every time in the past and it showed that this was a better and more mature team than they've had in at least a decade.
The second game was at St. Louis, you were probably thinking "What did that prove? St. Louis is terrible!" They did catch St. Louis when they were playing well, fresh off a coaching change they played well three weeks in a row.
The Arizona Cardinals not only showed that they could dominate on the road but it was really the game where the NFC West seemed out of reach.
But while people consented that Arizona would be in the playoffs, people started to think that would be one and done after the Thanksgiving game, things were not looking good in Arizona.
From Weeks 12-16 they lost four of five, and lost three of those by three TD's. (Including a home game against Tarvaris Jackson.)
Their one win by the way was against the St. Louis Rams again, who were back to being murdered every week. The blow-out in Week 16 prompted me to write this about the Arizona Cardinals-
"-The Arizona Cardinals have won two road games outside of the division dating back to 2004. They beat the Miami Dolphins in 2004 on a last minute TD, the year Ricky Williams quit on the Dolphins to get high. They also beat the Bengals last year by eight, the game that Antrel Rolle was an unsportsmanlike penalty away from 3 INT returned for touchdowns.
They are 10-30 total on the road since that win, 2-23 outside of the division! That is absolutely pathetic, you name a team and they have lost to them just about all of them. The Indianapolis Colts resting their starters Week 17, David Carr led Houston Texans, the Andrew Walter led Oakland Raiders, the Brad Johnson led Minnesota Vikings, the Michael Vick led Atlanta Falcons in an epically bad 6-3 loss, and the Joey Harrington led Lions TWICE! And if you think it has gotten better this year with them being division champs, think again.
They have lost three of their five road games outside of the division by at least three touchdowns. Oh and they are 2-7 against teams with a winning record. So what am I trying to say? They stink. I'm sorry Cardinals fans, I live in Arizona, I've watched them all year, and they stink. I give them a marginal shot at winning one playoff game only because they will be at home but no more."
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