Scottemojo":2khtkn49 said:
Right now, I think the Cards are 50/50 to win the West in 2014.
That seems high. Considering that SF and SEA would have a big chunk, and the Rams would have a tiny slice, 50% would make AZ a huge favorite to win the division.
I'm not quite as high on AZ as you are. Palmer isn't getting any younger. Ellington IMO is kind of a paper tiger because so far his success has come almost exclusively on runs outside. Teams that schemed for him made him a non-factor pretty easily. Letting Dansby go was understandable, but many have said he was their most valuable defender last season. Cromartie could be an awesome addition or it could be a terrible one. They really leaned on a #1 run defense and as the 2011 49ers proved that's a tough pinnacle to stay atop of.
I think Arians and his coaching staff deserve a lot of credit for attacking Seattle's weaknesses in week 16. However, if not for a fairly miraculous play on 3rd and long for a TD, AZ would have trailed late in that game and probably lost, and if they had, they would have been 0-4 against Seattle and SF. Even with that win, they were just 2-4 overall in the division last season.
And remember, we did not have Harvin in either of those Cardinals games last year.
I get why you like AZ though. The coaches and FO appear to be pretty smart, and upgrading the left side of their line with two potential pro-bowl players is pretty huge for them. Last season was their best ever by weighted DVOA, and their 10 win total has only been eclipsed by 3 other Cardinals teams in the last 84 years. And they are actively drawing up plans to attack Seattle's weaknesses, though their WR group still doesn't scare me. If they draft Marquise Lee or a similar stud early I will start to feel a little nervous.
Gonna be interesting to see what SF and STL do. SF has 6 picks in the first three rounds in a loaded draft compared to Seattle's two. Rams will likely ransom Clowney if he reaches them and have two high firsts. I get the feeling the Texans are going to sell Clowney before the Rams can though.