UPDATE: WHUTTA GAME, HUH? Came down to the last play!
How about them Cardinals?! 6 AND 1!! And how about John "freakin' I run a 4.3" Brown from Palmer?! (Cards fans who have been watching Palmer the past year and a half knows he good enough to win games in the 4th - well, at least in AZ.)
CONGRATS TO ALL THE CARDS BACKERS.. CASH THE 2ND HALF AND CASH THE OVERALL GAME! OHHH YEAAA. LIKE I SAID - GOY!!
Pop quiz: If you looked at the two schedules of team A and team B and both teams had a 5-1 record, which team would you say played the tougher schedule?
TEAM A
TEAM B
There is no question Team B played the tougher schedule (which is the Cardinals) and Team A is Philadelphia.
On that note, have you noticed when NFL teams consistently lose, there are all kind of valid reasons people say on why they lose, such as:
* No QB
* Bad offensive line
* Can't close out in 4th/no killer instinct
* Make too many mistakes (read: beat themselves)
* Defense is poor
* Too many turnovers by offense
* etc. etc. etc.
However, when people don't believe what they see (e.g. - the Cards being 5-1), they tend to come up with all kinds of excuses, such as:
* The Cardinals got lucky (every team gets lucky - the real question is - is the team mainly winning by luck?_
* I still don't believe they're that good (I love hearing that.. gives Cards more value for betting)
* They're the weakest 5-1 team (my big toe they are)
* Their offensive line still stinks (even though the sack level is much, MUCH lower this year, but oh well - to heck with facts, right?)
* They're 31st in pass D (well, if you can't run it, throw it!)
* etc, etc. etc. (they barely beat teams, Carson Palmer sucks even though he's been pretty good the past 1.5 years, and feel free to add another canned excuse here)
Folks, it's given that every team has some luck throughout the season, but I can guarantee you that the Cardinals have not been winning with luck being the main factor! They are consistently executing in the 4th (with the exception in Denver, where the Cards were down to their rookie 3rd string project at QB in the 4th), they are playing pretty good D overall, and make very few penalties offensively. Despite the Cardinals injuries on D, I have mentioned at the beginning of the year they have a lot of depth on D and can plug and play folks in most positions on D. No, they are not the same team defensively without D Washington and K Dansby but they are still an effective run stopping team!
If you haven't noticed, the Cardinals play EXTREMELY WELL at home.
I could care less what Vegas says about how good the Cardinals are from a power rating. My eyes see that the Cardinals are a top 5 team this year compared to their competition. They are not 5-1 by accident!
Meanwhile, the pundits have Eagles a 2.5 to 3pt favorite on a neutral field? HOGWASH. Last year's spread was between -2.5 and -3.5 Eagles, the the Eagles won by 3 last year. This Cardinals team has improved on offense overall, and while their front 7 is not as strong as they used to be (but they still have the best run D in the league), I'll take this year's secondary (despite the 2014 stats) over last year's secondary in a heart beat.
Last year's starting secondary - Y. Bell, Rashad Johnson, Patrick Peterson, Jarraud Powers
This year's starting secondary - D. Buchanan, T Mathieu, Patrick Peterson, A. Cromartie
It would not surprise me to see AZ light up PHI for 40+ today - IF they can get an offense together for 4 quarters (BUT that is a big IF).
The lack of respect the Cards are getting from the bookmakers and general public reeks of 2008 in the NFC Championship game when the Iggles visited AZ. PHI was favored by -3 in AZ, and I bet big on the ML like white on rice! I guess this usually happens when a major east coast city wins, it's major news, and everyone believes the hype. However, if the Cardinals win, it's just a highlight reel on ESPN, and it's yesterday's news in an hour.
On that note, I would've taken AZ -2.5 in a heartbeat. However, now that the books have made this a pickem, THIS IS OFFICIALLY MY GAME OF THE YEAR and I will take the Cardinals ML for the win! If I lose, I'll eat the crow - but damn!! There is too much value to be had here to not be backing a team that is 3-0 at home this year and 6-2 SU last year with an improved offense, a better secondary, and a team that has proven that they can consistently win in the 4th quarter.
Cardinals 28-24