ARIZONA CARDINALS

Arizona Cardinals ranked 11th in Pro Football Talk’s preseason power rankings

Jul 17, 2014, 11:40 PM | Updated: 11:51 pm

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People love football.

People also love lists.

So in order to fill the void of actual football on the calendar from February to September, there are a lot of football-related lists published online.

ProFootballTalk.com is rolling out their preseason power rankings one team at a time, and finally, we’ve got an appearance by the Arizona Cardinals.

The Cardinals check in just outside the top ten, coming in at No. 11.

The Arizona Cardinals finished the 2013 season as one of the hottest teams in the league. The Cardinals finished 7-2 over the final nine games with their only two losses coming by a field goal to a pair of playoff teams in Philadelphia and San Francisco. In addition, Arizona is the only team in two seasons to defeat the Seattle Seahawks at home with a 17-10 win in Week 16.

It’s not all sunshine for the Cardinals, as we know locally. PFT also points out the humongous losses in the linebacking corps caused by Karlos Dansby’s free agent exodus to Cleveland and Daryl Washington’s year-long drug suspension.

But overall, they’re pretty optimistic.

The Arizona Cardinals should be legitimate contenders for a playoff spot this season if they can recapture the momentum they finished with in 2013. The Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers will enter the season as the favorites to win the division, but the Cardinals aren’t far behind.

The Cardinals will report to training camp in Glendale July 25 and open their preseason schedule against the Houston Texans Saturday, Aug. 9 at University of Phoenix Stadium.

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Arizona Cardinals ranked 11th in Pro Football Talk’s preseason power rankings