Cardinals' Bruce Arians Leaving No Questions About Coach of the Year so Far

Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians first entered the NFL as a running backs coach with the Kansas City Chiefs all the way back in 1989. He didn't receive an opportunity to be an NFL head coach until the 2012 season, when he stepped in as interim coach for the Indianapolis Colts.

His team's performance that 2012 season (Indianapolis finished 11-5) helped Arians earn NFL Coach of the Year honors. If the second half of the 2014 season plays out like the first, Arians' second season with the Cardinals should earn him a second Coach of the Year award.

The competition sure has a lot of catching up to do, at any rate.

Forget for just a moment that Arians' offensive system has allowed veteran quarterback Carson Palmer (11 touchdowns, two interceptions) to regain some of his youthful Pro Bowl form. Palmer has missed three games this season due to injury.

Also forget that the Cardinals currently hold first place in the brutal NFC West. The Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers have looked shaky at times this season. 

Pay no attention to the fact that Arizona just hammered a very good Dallas Cowboys team to move to an NFC-leading 7-1. Had the Cowboys been armed with a healthy Tony Romo instead of the seemingly always-unprepared Brandon Weeden (18-of-33 for 183 yards and two interceptions), the outcome on Sunday might have been different.

Maybe.

Forget all of those individually impressive facts and just look at Arizona's record and all it has taken to achieve it.

The Cardinals are 7-1, best in the NFL. Their only loss came at the hands of the vaunted Denver Broncos at Sports Authority Field. They are at least two games ahead of any other team within the division and could very well be looking at home-field advantage in the postseason.

Interestingly enough, the Cardinals would become the first team to have home-field advantage in the Super Bowl, should the team make it that far.

Arians has the Cardinals looking, playing and winning like the best team in the NFC and one of the best teams in the entire league.

He has done it with the aging Palmer and his bionic knee under center. When the veteran couldn't play because of nerve damage in his shoulder, Arians' Cardinals earned a 2-1 record with journeyman Drew Stanton.

The Cardinals have won the games they were supposed to (Oakland Raiders, Washington Redskins) and taken care of some very competitive clubs (Dallas, San Francisco, San Diego Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles).

Palmer aside, Arians' team has survived key injuries to important players such as defensive ends Darnell Dockett and John Abraham and All-Pro cornerback Patrick Peterson (linebacker Daryl Washington is suspended for the year as well).

Credit defensive coordinator Todd Bowles for fielding a defense that has surrendered just 19.5 points per game (fifth in the NFL), but remember that the unit has also allowed 366.4 yards per contest (18th in the league). 

Make no mistake, the Cardinals are experiencing success because Arians continually puts players in a position to provide total-team performances.

According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), only four teams have been less efficient on offense than Arizona this season. Pro Football Focus ranks the Cardinals 24th in defense and 22nd in special teams.

These are not the type of rankings you would expect from a team that has dominated its competition through the halfway point of the 2014 season. Yet this is exactly what the Cardinals have done, which is a perfect reflection of just how valuable Arians' coaching has been.