ARIZONA CARDINALS

Arizona Cardinals off to fast start, but team knows it has much work left to do

Sep 29, 2014, 11:48 PM | Updated: 11:51 pm

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TEMPE, Ariz. — Since 1990, 121 NFL teams have begun their season with three straight wins.

Of those 121, just 30 failed to parlay their fast start into a playoff appearance.

The 2012 Arizona Cardinals were one of those 30, as their record reached 4-0 before the team suffered losses in its next 10 games. That team finished with a 5-11 record, and following the season head coach Ken Whisenhunt and general manager Rod Graves lost their jobs.

In short, nothing has been won yet.

“Don’t believe it,” Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said of how the team can avoid getting caught up in the hype and feeling too good about itself so early in the season. “It’s a short elevator ride back to the ****house.”

How true.

In 2012, the Cardinals began their season with a home win over the Seattle Seahawks before going on the road and knocking off the New England Patriots. They then cruised to a home victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, and the next week they beat the Miami Dolphins at University of Phoenix Stadium.

Quarterback Kevin Kolb got hurt the following week and the rest, as they say, is history.

“Hell, we played with five different quarterbacks, and this league is predicated off quarterback play. And when you can’t get solid play with a quarterback it’s going to be pretty hard winning ball games,” cornerback Patrick Peterson said.

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