ARco said:
I'm sorry man, i see that you are a fan but you need to face the fact that Carson is old. His season will suck given the fact that the O Line simply not good and his WR corps is not as reliable as it used to be a couple of seasons ago. Mark my words: 7 wins at best and that's only thanks to D. Johnson.
Bleh.. quit that "you are a fan" crap. I love the Cardinals, but I have no problems betting against them if the situation arises. That comment implies that I only look at Cardinals through rose-colored glasses, and I am as a harsh of a critic of the Cardinals as much as anyone, as my previous posts will detail.
To say Carson is "old" without having the data to back it up, well, it's old. I've seen players look "old".. but Carson played well enough last year to the point this team could've easily been 10-6 instead of 7-8-1. Actually, Carson for the most part played well enough to win throughout 2016, minus a few bad games. Had AZ's kicker and punter actually performed JUST average and not blow games in the most amazing ways possible, they'd have another 3 wins under their belt.
As for the WRs not as reliable, they still went 6 deep last year, and their "dropsies"/"alcoholic" WR Floyd is gone, so that's basically addition by subtraction. I will admit their WRs are not as reliable as they used to be, but a lot of that has to do either Floyd not being able to catch a 7 yd pass on key downs or the WRs going down for injuries (ACL, sickle-cell anemia).
As for the O-line, it wasn't very good last year but one can easily argue it will be much better next year. I'd much rather have Veldheer manning RT than any other RT tackle AZ has had in a very long time. DJ Humphries looks the wait was worth it as he looks like AZ's starting LT for the next 10 years. In addition, Iupati is still manning the LG, and whoever the Cards drafted, at the VERY worst case scenario, can't be worse than Earl Watford. My only complaint is their starting center, AQ Shipley, as he seems to be undersized, but at least Evan Boehm played decently at RG late in the year against tough competition and can take center if needed (since that's the position he played in college).
The only real Q mark AZ has: who is going to play the CB opposite Patrick Peterson? But that alone shouldn't account for a 7-win season.
Meanwhile, for the folks that like the u7.5, look at the schedule:
Sunday September 10th – @ Detroit Lions – 10:00 a.m.
Sunday September 17th – @ Indianapolis Colts – 10:00 a.m.
Monday September 24th – Dallas Cowboys – 5:30 p.m. (MNF)
Sunday October 1st – San Francisco 49ers – 1:05 p.m.
Sunday October 8th – @ Philadelphia Eagles – 10:00 a.m.
Sunday October 15th – Tampa Bay Buccaneers – 1:05 p.m.
Sunday October 22nd – @ Los Angeles Rams (London) – 10:00 a.m.
Sunday October 29th – Bye
Sunday November 5th – @ San Francisco 49ers – 2:05 p.m.
Thursday November 9th – Seattle Seahawks – 6:25 p.m. (TNF)
Sunday November 19th – @ Houston Texans – 11:00 a.m.
Sunday November 26th – Jacksonville Jaguars – 2:25 p.m.
Sunday December 3rd – Los Angeles Rams – 2:25 p.m.
Sunday December 10th – Tennessee Titans – 2:05 p.m.
Sunday December 17th – @ Washington Redskins – 11:00 a.m.
Sunday December 24th – New York Giants – 2:25 p.m.
Sunday December 31st – @ Seattle Seahawks – 2:25 p.m.
Bottom line: barring an injury to Carson or *maybe* Patrick Peterson, the Cards are too talented to get only 7 wins - and it's not "only thanks to D. Johnson." I don't see how they cough up 9 losses against this schedule... esp. when they'll get at least 4 wins from the NFC West alone.