Dealing Cards: Playing the spoiler role, playing close to home

TEMPE, Ariz. – For the second straight year, the Arizona Cardinals will not play in the postseason. And for the second straight year, they are staring a sub-.500 record in the face.

Now there is nothing the Cardinals can do about the former — that outcome has been decided for quite some time — but there is something they can do to avoid the latter and that’s beat the Seahawks in Seattle on Sunday.

“This is our playoff game,” wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald said.

An 8-8 record certainly looks and sounds a lot better than 7-9. Neither, of course, was the desired outcome prior to the season.

Many experts had predicted the NFC West would come down to a two-team race: the Cardinals and the Seahawks, with the winner perhaps decided here in Week 17.

Instead, it’s the L.A. Rams who sit atop the division, and they will be making their first playoff appearance since 2004.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals just hope to finish out the year strong.

“It’s our last game of the year, just put a signature on the season and for us just to try and get better as a whole,” safety Budda Baker said.

Aside from an eighth win, there is another incentive for the Cardinals, and that is to play the role of spoiler.

“We’re definitely preparing with a sense of urgency. We have an opportunity to do something that most teams relish for, kick a team out of the playoffs,” cornerback Patrick Peterson said.

Seattle enters the game needing to beat the Cardinals and have Carolina win in Atlanta in order to clinch the sixth and final playoff seed in the NFC.

The Cardinals would prefer the Panthers-Falcons game not come into play.

“I don’t think it changes our approach. That might motivate you a little bit more, but at the end of the day, we’re professionals. We’re paid to do a job, and we need to go out there and fulfill that,” quarterback Drew Stanton said.

“Now, the icing on the cake might be trying to spoil them and their chances to go to the playoffs, but at the end of the day, I don’t think that’s the biggest thing that we’re playing for.”

50 wins

Not only would a victory eliminate the Seahawks from playoff contention, it would give Bruce Arians 50 wins as Cardinals head coach, including postseason, which would establish a new franchise record.

Arians is currently tied with Ken Whisenhunt for the franchise lead.

“It means we’d be 8-8, and that’s about it,” Arians said, when asked this week about the 50-win milestone. “The rest of that stuff, I don’t put much stock in. It’s nice to be 8-8 because we’re 7-8, but it isn’t what we wanted when we started this journey this year.”

Interesting enough, Fitzgerald has played for both Arians and Whisenhunt.

“That’s pretty cool. To say I played for the all-time winningest coach and the second all-time winningest coach,” he said. “That’s not really that good but it’s saying I was part of the best era of Cardinals history. That’s pretty cool, I can say.”

Baker’s homecoming

It’s about a 20-minute drive from Baker’s hometown of Bellevue to CenturyLink Field, so expect to see plenty of support for Baker with many in attendance perhaps wearing Baker’s No. 36 Cardinals uniform.

Baker mentioned 10-12 family members will be at the game. And no, he didn’t need any extra tickets.

“People know not to really ask me,” he said, smiling. “A lot of people don’t really have my number, so that’s good. And then social media, I just ignore it.”

The game marks Baker’s first trip back to Seattle since starring at the University of Washington.

“It’s going to be like playing at UW again, just now I’m on the Cardinals and I’m going against a lot of the guys I knew,” he said. “It’s definitely going to be fun playing [in front of] my family and friends and all that type of stuff.”

Bowl game prep

Already Baker has enjoyed a bit of a homecoming this week.

On Tuesday, his day off, Baker caught up with his former Washington teammates as they practiced ahead of their Fiesta Bowl matchup with Penn State.

“It was really cool seeing all my old teammates,” he said. “All those guys, they’re all my good friends still because I came out early so I would be a senior so all those guys are still there. It was definitely fun watching them practice and messing around.”

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