Arizona Cardinal Fans Do Not Want To See the St. Louis Rams Make the Playoffs

If you’re an Arizona Cardinal fan, bottom dwellers of the NFC West, the last thing you want to see is the St. Louis Rams make the playoffs. 

The Rams aren’t the Arizona Cardinals' biggest rival; that distinction belongs to the San Francisco 49ers, but they have the division’s scariest player in rookie quarterback Sam Bradford. 

Bradford is going to torment the NFC West for years to come, possibly for a decade or longer. 

In a year that, technically, was supposed to be a throwaway year for the Rams—don’t tell that to Steve Spagnuolo—they suddenly have a chance to reach the playoffs. 

Standing at 6-8, they have two remaining games against SF at home and Seattle on the road.  Both games are winnable, meaning their chance at the playoffs is real.

If the Cardinals were as good as they thought they’d be before the season started, and as good as I thought they’d be, the Rams would have one more loss—and more frustration—and my beloved Cardinals would be a shoe-in for the playoffs in this substandard division.  Bradford, by comparison, would have had an awful year and have to sit in frustration watching the playoffs. 

If Sam Bradford makes the playoffs as a rookie, however, it will give him a taste of what Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco experienced. 

It’ll leave an impression on him, and nothing will be able to satisfy it except more trips to the playoffs.  You can’t simulate that experience anywhere else—it’s almost like giving a rookie an extra year or two of playing time.

Bradford is going to be great regardless, but it’s best for Arizona Cardinal fans if he sits in frustration for a year—and hopefully longer.

If you’re a die-hard Cardinal fan, you know there’s only one player in this division that can frustrate you for the next decade, and that player is Sam Bradford. 

You can’t give a talented player like Bradford a head start.

You can’t allow him to gain more confidence, and you especially can’t allow him to taste the success of the playoffs. 

If he does, he’ll never settle for less.