Arizona Cardinals: Underrated or Overachieving?

With the new release of the Madden rankings, it has become obvious that the Cardinals are not a well-respected team. But this is something Cardinal fans have come to terms with over the past three seasons.

After an "overachieving" first year with Whisenhunt in 2007, where the team went 8-8 and finished second in the NFC West, fans began to feel optimistic. It was our first non-losing season since 1998. In between 1999 and 2007, we experienced only one season with six or more wins.

But Whisenhunt wasn't finished there.

In 2008, the Cards defied the odds and history, making a Super Bowl run on the back of a supposedly run-down Kurt Warner. During Kurt’s tenure with the Cards, he resurrected his career and possibly cemented himself as a Hall of Famer.

Most importantly, he brought a winning attitude. Ask any Cardinals fan and they will talk in length on the impact of Kurt Warner on the Cardinals organization.

But though Kurt is loved and respected, fans know that it took more than just him to succeed. Through the great play of others and Whisenhunt’s leadership, the Cards had finally found some respectability.

During the last three years, fans across the NFL began to see what the Cardinals had to offer: Larry Fitzgerald, Adrian Wilson, Darnell Dockett, Anquan Boldin, Antrel Rolle, Karlos Dansby, and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie received the spotlight.

Today, after two consecutive playoff runs, hopes and expectations may be the highest they have ever been for Cardinals fans.

Most critics point out our losses, namely Kurt Warner, Antrel Rolle, and Karlos Dansby as reasons we will not be able to continue our reign atop the NFC West. It is also pointed out that the 49ers are now the team to beat with their excellent defense and  budding offense. Heck, even Seahawk fans are predicting they will have a better season than us.

Are we really down and out?

Most Card fans believe Whisenhunt will maintain our level of competitiveness and the mantra often repeated is, "In Whisenhunt we trust."

Have our past success blinded us to the truth of our situation?

Not even a Cardinal fan can disagree that our QB play will suffer because of the loss of Warner. The point of contention and debate among Cardinal fans and critics is whether Matt Leinart has the "right stuff" to lead our team back to its third straight playoff appearance.

Most arguments against Leinart discount his ability to play the game. He is a partier, has no work ethic, doesn't love the game, and has a noodle arm.

Leinart’s rookie season wasn't incredibly impressive, but it did have its moments.

He recorded the first 400-yard game by a rookie against the Minnesota Vikings. In 11 games, he had seven games with a 60 percent or better completion rate, with five of those games coming in the last six. In those five games, he also recorded a QB rating above 100 three times. Though he only threw 11 touchdowns to his 12 picks, he showed great improvement by the end of the season.

Compare Matt's rookie season to other QBs who are being highly touted, such as another Trojan QB, Mark Sanchez, and his rookie season doesn't look out of place. Sanchez had less completions in about the same amount of attempts (Leinart 214/377 56 percent, Sanchez 196/364 54 percent), and though Sanchez threw for one more touchdown, he also threw eight more picks.

Leinart finished his rookie year with a 73 QB rating to Sanchez's 63.

Remember that Sanchez's Jets were much better than Leinart's Cards.

Matt Stafford had a similar rookie season to Sanchez's with a 53 percent completion rating on 201/377 attempts, throwing 13 TDs to 20 picks with a QB rating of 61. Stafford and Leinart are more comparable because both started under 12 games and played on bad teams.

Now times have changed since Leinart last played regularly.

After sitting behind a HoF QB, he has shown much more maturity and has been working more diligently. Earlier in his career he showed little maturity, made poor decisions and expected success, if his words and the praise from the coaches is accurate it seems his mentality has changed and he knows what is required of him to succeed in the NFL.

He also now has a young and very promising duo of RBs in the backfield, a greatly improved line, and arguably one of the best WR cores in the game, led by the best WR in football, Larry Fitzgerald.

Leinart has every tool to succeed. Hopefully, as he did in college when surrounded by excellent talent, he will thrive.

But it will take more than Leinart’s play for the Cardinals to once again reach the Promised Land. After surrendering an NFL-high 98 points during the last postseason, it became very apparent that the D had serious holes. Granted, a few injuries (DRC, Rolle, and Matt Ware) and the terrible play of Bryant McFadden didn’t help, but there is little excuse for the lackluster performance.

Though the D has taken some hits in the offseason, we've upgraded with the additions of Joey Porter and Kerry Rhodes, who are upgrades over Rolle and Chike Okeafor, especially Okeafor. With the emergence of Calais Campbell and DRC, and stalwarts like Adrian Wilson and Darnell Dockett, the D could better.

Throw in young and developing players like Cody Brown, Dan Williams, Daryl Washington, O'Brian Schofield, Will Davis, Greg Toler, and possible surprises like two-time CFL Defensive Player of the Year Stevie Baggs, and it is very possible the Cards will have a consistent pass rush that will allow the team to fully utilize defensive coordinator Bill Davis's aggressive scheming without overexerting the secondary.

Lately, some fans have joked that Whisenhunt wants the media to underrate the Cards to maintain the team's "us against the world" mentality.

With the easiest schedule in the NFL this season, I believe the Cards will continue to “overachieve.”