With record even, Cardinals confident more wins will come
Oct 18, 2016, 2:14 PM | Updated: 3:22 pm
Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald (11) runs after the catch as New York Jets strong safety Calvin Pryor (25) defends during the first half of an NFL football game, Monday, Oct. 17, 2016, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
(AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Consecutive victories over the San Francisco 49ers and New York Jets are not enough to warrant declaring things turned around, as those teams have combined for just two wins nearly halfway through the 2016 season.
However, the Cardinals beating both of them — handily — and improving their record to 3-3 in the process is, if nothing else, a step in the right direction.
Supplementing a dominant running game and defense with enough of a passing threat, the Cardinals have started to look more like a team that could make a deep playoff run than the one that, just a couple weeks ago, seemed destined to be a colossal disappointment.
“I don’t think we were lacking confidence,” receiver Larry Fitzgerald said after the team’s 28-3 dismantling of the Jets. “I think this group of men are very confident in our ability. We understand the talent and the potential that we have, but we weren’t putting it on the field.
“I think that once you get a taste of winning, you remember what it feels like, you remember how hard it is to get and you want to do the things that are necessary to make sure you have sustained success, and I think guys understand that now.”
To some, the idea that a team made up mostly of players who reached the NFC Championship Game last season may seem a bit off. Then again, no one really expected the Cardinals to start the season with three losses in their first four games, either.
And all around the NFL some of the projected favorites are struggling, with the Bengals at 2-4, Packers at 3-2 and the Panthers, who represented the NFC in the Super Bowl last season, languishing at 1-5.
So while the Cardinals are not in great shape by any means, they are still in the running, and with 10 games left in the regular season still have a chance to be special.
More performances like the one they had against the Jets would help.
Arizona limited New York to just 230 net yards of offense while forcing two turnovers. The Cardinals had the ball for 36:02 minutes, converted on 6-of-11 third downs, and while they weren’t flashy, imposed their will on an overmatched opponent.
Beating bad teams does not a good team make, but good teams beat up on bad teams. And the last two weeks, the Cardinals have done exactly that. Monday night, Arians said the team is finally playing the way it should have to begin the season and that he likes where they are at.
Tuesday, the coach explained what’s changed.
“It’s better focus,” Arians said. “Better focus for 60 minutes. We’ve played very, very well in the first game, for spurts, but there was always that busted coverage that gave up a touchdown or something that there was a mental error here or there that messed it up.
“Last night, offensively, we overcame a couple of those. A botched snap, an offside penalty; a formation penalty, but we were able to overcome it. Didn’t let it bite us like it has in the first few games.”
Pressed on why the focus has improved, Arians cited where the team was at just a couple weeks ago, when a season that began with so much promise was teetering on the brink.
It also does not hurt that the Cardinals faced two of the worst teams they will see this season. However, most would have said the Cardinals were better than the Patriots, Bills and Rams, and yet they still found a way to lose to each of them.
All wins count the same, and the Cardinals could not get above .500 without reaching the mark first.
“I don’t think anybody is really thinking about our overall record,” QB Carson Palmer said. “They are thinking about one thing in getting a win. There is so much football left and there are so many big games coming up, starting next week, next Sunday night.
“What your overall record is doesn’t matter with the teams coming in, what their overall record is doesn’t matter. It’s so early in the season. These games are starting to really be important and we are so focused. That’s Coach Arians’ motto. It’s one game at a time, one day at a time, and that’s what we have been focused on.”
On Sunday night, the Cardinals will host the 4-1 Seahawks in a game that will not decide their season, but give a solid indication of where it might be heading. The Cardinals have not beating their division rival in Arizona since 2012, and for the most part, the losses have not been close.
Emerge with a win, and the Cardinals will be squarely back in the conversation as one of the NFC’s best teams, a legitimate Super Bowl contender. Lose and, well, that would make for three losses in five home games, and likely leave being a Wild Card team as the most reasonable hope.
When the season began, a 3-3 mark through six games would have been seen as a disappointment. Four games into the campaign it was the best-case scenario, and while still not great, the way the Cardinals have reached that mark provides reason for optimism.
“Yeah, it feels better, but you can’t forget about the three losses,” safety Tyrann Mathieu said. “We’ve got a long way to go. We’ve got to continue to fight, continue to tune out the outside noise, continue to play for one another, and really just be consistent.
“I think every game we lost it was just little bitty inconsistencies here and there; that’s why we lost the football games. If we could just be consistent, stay consistent, we can continue to win football games.”
