Cardinals Clinch NFC West: Latest Comments and Reaction

The Seattle Seahawks are the two-time defending NFC champions, but they took a back seat to the Arizona Cardinals in their own division this season.

The Cardinals clinched the 2015 NFC West title Sunday with a dominant 40-17 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. Carson Palmer threw for 274 yards and a score, but running back David Johnson was the star with 187 rushing yards, 42 receiving yards and three touchdowns.

NFL on ESPN reacted to the crown:

This is the second consecutive year the Cardinals reached the postseason. Prior to 2015, the franchise had made the playoffs in two straight years only twice since 1970.

One reason the Cardinals clinched the division is the fact they are one of the most balanced teams in the entire league. Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com noted Arizona was the only squad in the NFL in the top five in offense and defense at the time after it clinched a playoff spot with a Week 14 win against the Minnesota Vikings.

There is plenty of talent on both sides of the ball to thrive like that, but Palmer deserves much of the credit. Cam Newton and Tom Brady have grabbed most of the headlines in the MVP race, but Palmer is a dark-horse candidate as well, especially since he has his team in position to earn a first-round bye in the postseason (two games ahead of the Green Bay Packers with two games to play).

He already broke Kurt Warner’s franchise record for touchdown passes in a season (Warner threw 30 in 2008 on the way to the Super Bowl) and now has 32 after Sunday's win. He also became the first quarterback in team history to throw for more than 4,000 yards in two different seasons.

Palmer couldn’t have put up those numbers without arguably the best wide receiver corps in the NFL.

Larry Fitzgerald added another stellar season to his Hall of Fame resume in 2015, and John Brown and Michael Floyd both have the talent to be No. 1 options themselves. Each is incredibly dangerous with the ball in his hands, and Palmer’s ability to connect on deep passes makes this offense almost unfair to opposing defenses.

What’s more, 30-year-old running back Chris Johnson revitalized his career with 814 rushing yards in 11 games before he went down with injury, and rookie David Johnson stepped right in and kept the ground attack rolling alongside Palmer and the talented wide receivers. Just look at Sunday's breakout performance for proof. 

The defense has also been solid all year in the secondary with Patrick Peterson and Tyrann Mathieu and in the front seven with playmakers like Dwight Freeney.

Freeney appeared on The Jim Rome Show and did not hold back his excitement regarding his team, via JimRome.com:

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Absolutely. I’ve been saying it all year since I’ve been here. This reminds me a lot of the years I was in Indianapolis, high powered offense, but the difference here is the defense is so talented. Man, we have so much talent across the board. We’re going to be tough to stop here, if we can get everything rolling on all three phases. So like I said, it does remind a lot of the years back in Indianapolis with Peyton (Manning), Marvin (Harrison), and Edgerrin (James) and the years we were out there, with me and (Robert) Mathis, Bob Sanders. This is a great team.

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That Colts squad won the Super Bowl after the 2006 season. The Cardinals would love to add a Lombardi Trophy to any list of similarities.