Arizona Cardinals’ Larry Fitzgerald: ‘We believe in each other’
Nov 4, 2014, 3:38 PM | Updated: 3:38 pm
Larry Fitzgerald has been to the Super Bowl.
The receiver, along with quarterback Kurt Warner, carried the Arizona Cardinals to an appearance in Super Bowl XLIII, which ended in a heartbreaking 27-23 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2009.
With the Cardinals owning the best record (7-1) in the NFL at the midway point of the 2014 season, some are starting to compare that NFC Championship team to this year’s squad.
Fitzgerald isn’t one of them.
“We very rarely talk about the playoffs when coach (Bruce) Arians addresses the team,” Fitzgerald told Doug and Wolf Tuesday on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. “He doesn’t say ‘Hey, this is a playoff team.’
“He says ‘We’re playing the St. Louis Rams, we’ve got to put together four quarters of good football to go out there and be able to execute our assignments and be able to win.’ That’s what we talk about. And if we take of the St. Louis Rams and we take care of the Detroit Lions and we take care of Seattle and keeping on just taking it one day at a time, one week at a time, respecting the process, good things are going to happen.”
Good things have happened to this point. The Cardinals have overcome their fair share of injuries on their way to a 7-1 mark. Starting quarterback Carson Palmer missed three games with a shoulder injury. Defensive stalwart Darnell Dockett has missed the entire season with a knee injury. Defensive end Calais Campbell was out for two-and-a-half games with a knee injury and linebacker Matt Shaughnessy is out until Week 14 with a knee injury.
None of it has mattered for the Cardinals, who have not only repeated their mantra of “next man up,” but lived it.
“We believe in each other. We have that bunker mentality,” Fitzgerald said. “All the things that have happened to our team to change it, the guys have stepped up.
“We believe in each other and our coaches believe in us and we know that we can go out there and play with anybody any given Sunday if we play our brand of football. That’s been on display thus far, we just have to continue it.”
The Cardinals begin the second half of their schedule Sunday when they host the Rams at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale. Kickoff is at 2:25 p.m. and the game can be heard on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM with Dave Pasch, Ron Wolfley and Paul Calvisi on the call.
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