Why the Arizona Cardinals Must Beat the New York Giants Sunday

Sitting at 1-2, the title of this article may seem like the most obvious statement you probably read today. 

But never mind that. There's much more to this game this Sunday than just a chance to go 2-2.  

Sunday's loss to Seattle has to sting the entire Arizona Cardinals team, organization and fanbase even worse than the loss to the Washington Redskins the prior week. It was a divisional game on the road against an inferior team (or so we hoped).

But what we saw was a team that had so desperately tried to let its fanbase know that this team was different than the one that fielded a 5-11 record last year. 

What we saw was a quarterback regress from the prior two weeks to a somewhat rookie-like performance chalked full of mistakes that he should know better than to commit. Even Kolb admits this loss weighs heavily on his shoulders. 

Sure, the defense played better, and that should be acknowledged. However, the Seattle Seahawks are worse than the prior two opponents, and yes, I did say Carolina is better than the Seahawks. The defense should have played better.

Now as you look at the NFC West divisional standings, it's not pretty. San Francisco stands alone at the top of the division, and the other three teams swim in a sea of mediocrity. 

Next Sunday, the New York football Giants come to Arizona. They are fresh off an impressive victory on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles in which they dominated the self-proclaimed "dream team." Eli Manning humiliated the Eagles' defense and looks to continue that trend against a Cardinals defense that gives out yards like Groupon gives discounts.

If I'm the Arizona Cardinals, I know this is an important game. They are undefeated at home, and admittedly, they are a much better team protecting the nest versus being the road team. 

This is a winnable game for the Cardinals. I firmly believe they will step it up a notch, and having the hyphen and Beanie Wells back will propel them that much more. But let's look at their schedule in relation to the division.

They have the Giants at home and Minnesota on the road. If they can win those two games, they will be 3-2 going into their bye week and have two weeks to prepare for the toughest two-game stretch on their schedule.  They have Pittsburgh at home, which we know Ken Whisenhunt has had circled on the calendar for three years. Then they travel east to meet the Baltimore Ravens on October 30. 

After that, the Cardinals next three out of four games are against divisional foes, including two with the Rams and a road trip to San Francisco. 

If you look at the Rams' schedule, I don't see a win on their schedule for awhile. 0-7 is a strong reality for a team that was heralded as the division winner in the preseason.  

Seattle still has a date with all four NFC East teams, and they still have three with the NFC North. Plus, they play the division winners of the other NFC conferences.  

San Francisco has a tough three games coming up with Philadelphia, Tampa Bay and Detroit, along with some other games with Pittsburgh and Baltimore. 

If the Cardinals want to be major players in this division, they have to win their home games, and this game with New York is the first of many crucial home games.  Rest assured Ken Whisenhunt will not let his team take this game lightly. He knows a 1-3 start will be devastating to an organization who spent big money on "big-money" players.

Kevin Kolb has to prove himself better than what he showed the world Sunday. For a guy who is only in his third start for the Cardinals, we can afford him a mulligan. If he can lead this team to a convincing win against the Giants, it will go a long way to assuaging the worry that is starting to creep in on Cardinal nation.