RedAlice":36wzrjqr said:
It's becoming annoying the comments about the Cards this year. Even you Kearly must admit that all info from last year is without their QB. Rams had none last year either.
The entire last year the NFC W was Kap and Wilson, and the other two teams. Now AZ has their QB and you act like they are lucky to be good.
You are like one second from me wishing you lose Wilson and then see you talk.
eta: not that my wishes matter. I've just never wished or thought about wishing injury on anyone before. Your arrogance is annoying.
Arizona might be a really good team this year. The facts do not suggest they were a good team last season.
The Cardinals were sitting at a +3.3% DVOA in week 10 last year, before any of Palmer's backups had started a game. Arizona's DVOA at the end of the season was -6.4%, which suggests that while the team was bad after Palmer went down, it wasn't massively worse than the team with Palmer.
For comparison, Seattle finished last season with a +31.9% DVOA, which was almost 10 times further from the median than the Cardinals were WITH Palmer.
Basically, Arizona was a mediocre team last year that got some fluky wins both before and after Palmer's injury. You won't find many teams that post a -6.4% DVOA and get to 11 wins while playing in the toughest division in football. It was a fluky season.
So far this year, Arizona is on a massive tear. But when you look at the 3 opponents they've played, they all look they will be picking in the top 5 next April. Like I said, I think they will probably start 8-0 now that Big Ben is down for the count (already the 2nd time the Cardinals will face a backup QB this season). The Rams traveling to Arizona next week might actually be the best team Arizona plays in the first half of their schedule.
I would feel so differently if Arizona opened up 3-0 with wins over Seattle, Green Bay, and Cincy. I guess it's fitting since Arians is their coach, but even when they rack up good records it feels hollow when those wins all happen against terrible teams or even some decent teams that just fall flat on their face that week. It's just like the Colts the last few years.
I actually grew up and graduated high school in Arizona and have long liked the Cardinals as my 2nd team. I have nothing against them and I think they have played extremely well so far in 2015. I just would like to see them tested by a legit playoff team before I put much stock in their prospects. And the only playoff contender they'll face before week 10 will be starting Michael Vick. They're gonna start 8-0, but it will be 8 straight layups made, not 8 straight jumpers. Maybe they keep it rolling and win the SB. I just think the context demands a degree of skepticism. Especially since Palmer's current passer rating is more than 30 points above his career average. I just don't see that holding up for 16 games.
I think Arizona will stumble at the end of the year when Palmer will likely be less than 100% and they start facing real teams. I'd bet that Seattle is at least 3 games back of AZ at some point this year, but that they'll go into the week 17 game with a chance to win the division.
