"Please don't shatter into a million pieces. Please don't shatter into a million pieces."
Last Year: 11-5, one of the best regular seasons in Cardinals History, but limped into the playoffs and died.
Key Acquisitions: Mike Iupati (OL), Cory Redding (DL), LaMarr Woodley (DE/LB).
Key Losses: Darnell Dockett (DL), Antonio Cromartie (CB), Ted Ginn (KR).
The Cardinals and the Lions last season were the feel good story of the year, at least until about week 10 or so. Both hard luck franchises came out of the gate like speeding freight trains, dominating the competition with stifling defense. But then they faded in the stretch after several crippling defeats. For the Cardinals, the end was Carson Palmer’s knee exploding. From then on, the writing was on the wall, and they were no longer high favorites. Drew Stanton came in to replace Palmer, but Drew Stanton has the unfortunate drawback of being Drew Stanton. Then Stanton went down, too, and the Cardinals entered the playoffs against the stout defensive Carolina Panthers. The quarterback?
(Trigger Warning)
Ryan Lindley.
The 7-8-1 Panthers took the Cardinals out behind the shed, told them how they were a good boy, then pulled the trigger. One of the best Cardinal seasons in history ended by a team with a losing record.
The Cards enter 2015 with significant questions. Carson Palmer is another year older and another knee replaced. The defense is old. The O-line is still in question. Larry Fitzgerald doesn’t do cool stuff in the Arians system, just blocks a lot, which is a waste for the best butt in football.
The NFC West thankfully is largely in flux. The Seahawks will still be good, but the 49ers have gone nuclear, and the Rams never seem to actually put it together. If the Cardinals can maintain that defense even without defensive coordinator Todd Bowles and keep Carson Palmer healthy, they could compete. At the very least, they still lead the league in players named J. Brown.
Fan Perspective by internet Cardinals fan going by the name Qwijib0.
I am excited to watch the 2016 Super Bowl-Winning Arizona Cardinals, led by Carson Palmer’s Knee III. We successfully renegotiated and kept Larry, backed up by Floyd and Brown—who appears too good enough to be a No. 2. That’s a No. 1 and two No. 2s, for those of you keeping track at home, way better than any of the other scrub franchises in the NFC West.
When Carson’s arm gets tired from throwing all those TDs, we can run out the clock with handoffs to Ellington, or our most recent addition—All-Missouri Valley Football Conference Superstar David Johnson. If you thought the run game was stellar last year, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
True, we did lose Todd Bowles to a performance art troupe masquerading as professional football team, but we’re keeping the scheme, and promoted one of his guys, so I expect the defense to be pretty much impenetrable.
The 2016 Cardinals season will be summed up by noted fictional character Balki Bartokomous’ personal philosophy: “Nothing’s gonna stop me now.”
