2009 Cardinals Need Lightning To Strike Twice

By Adam Fuller

A trip to the Super Bowl. It doesn’t get much better than that for an NFL team. While obviously the only thing better would be actually winning the title, for the Arizona Cardinals the 2008 season was a giant leap in the right direction.

After taking over a team in turmoil, coming off a disheartening 5-11 2006 season, Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt propped up the staggering team to a respectable 8-8 record in 2007, in his first season as head coach. He then built upon his promising foundation the next year, bringing the dormant franchise back to life and contention by leading the Cardinals to their first Super Bowl in 60 years and ending the NFL’s longest title-game drought.

After such a magical performance from a franchise that some say is cursed (due to a controversial ruling by the NFL in 1925 that granted the team its first NFL Championship) the natural reaction is to want more.

And, as always, the Cardinals’ off-season is full of speculation and question marks relating to how the team will handle the success of 2008 and perform in the 2009 season.

Currently, the biggest question mark is whether the team will be able to settle on a contract extension with star wide receiver Anquan Boldin. The 7-year veteran was an integral part of the Cardinals’ supercharged passing attack in 2008 with 89 receptions for 1,038 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Boldin, who finished second on the team in receiving to Larry Fitzgerald, is vital to the team’s offensive scheme that finished second in the NFL in passing in 2008.

Along the same lines, starting quarterback Kurt Warner is fresh off of hip surgery and at 37 an ever-present injury risk for a team that depends on passing, with the league’s worst running game in 2008.

To make matters worse for Arizona’s offense, the team lost offensive coordinator Todd Haley who took the head coaching job of the Kansas City Chiefs shortly after the Cardinals’ Super Bowl loss. It also fired defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergrast who led the Cardinals to a 19th-defensive ranking in his fifth season with the team.

All of these issues combined with additional contract disputes and the general stigma that the team got incredibly lucky last year, make the outlook bleak for the 2009 Cardinals. The 2008 season was an entertaining, spectacular and dramatic improvement for the Cardinals and unfortunately a very tough act to follow.