No Respect from National Media
By Scott Allen
If you take a tour of the week one power rankings, clearly most people outside of Arizona think the Cardinals are nothing but yesterday’s trash.
I realize Kurt Warner has retired. People are going to HAVE TO get over that someday. Just exactly who were the Cards going to replace him with? Matt Leinart was given the chance but failed. Until Derek Anderson proves to be a bust in the regular season, people had better give him a chance. People were giving the Cards better ratings before Leinart was cut. Now that Anderson is the starter, suddenly people think this team is in shambles. Let’s remember fans, Anderson has played in a Pro Bowl. Everyone seems to conveniently forget that because he played horrible last season.
Profootballtalk on NBC Sports sure isn’t giving Anderson any love –
"We’re eyeballing the team’s week 6 bye for (Max) Hall to take the reins in Arizona"
Nate Davis and Tom Pedulla from USA TODAY actually picked the Rams to beat the Cardinals on Sunday. Say what? Holy crap. The team hasn’t turned over THAT much! I mean, really? I think first of all, they are expecting too much from Sam Bradford. Secondly, I think people were just waiting for a reason to hate on Arizona again. Really, I believe that.
Now someone from USA TODAY actually thinks highly of Derek Anderson, so I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that. Scott Zucker thinks Anderson will be the Comeback Player of the Year. Amen!
ESPN.com ranked the Cardinals 20th in their power rankings this week. Really, 20th? They even ranked the Washington Redskins ahead of them. Also ranked ahead of them, the San Francisco 49’ers. The love ESPN analysts have for the 49’ers over the Cardinals has been truly obvious during the preseason. When listening to Cris Carter and Keyshawn Johnson a couple of weeks ago, you’d think they played for the 49ers and the Cardinals were nothing but a bunch of pansies.
"Rookie QB Max Hall could wind up starting games in what looks like a transition season for Arizona – Mike Sando, ESPN"
I love Sando and he is right, maybe Hall does get a start. Maybe they are all right. We need to allow the Cards to prove otherwise on the field though. I don’t buy into the “transition” year either. Sure, there was some roster turnover, but we didn’t become the Kansas Jayhawks in the off-season either. We still have some great players on the defensive line and the secondary. If anything, the Cards may have improved at each of those positions. Yes, they took a step back at quarterback. I get that. Go ahead and rip me to pieces when Anderson has 3 TD”s and 10 INT’s and the Cards are 0-3 to start the season. I’m telling you this though. The 49ers are going to be good, no doubt in my mind. I still believe the Cards are better and that’s just not the fan in me saying that. Trust me, if I thought they’d suck, I’d say that. I’ve always been honest in my opinions.
With the Cardinals having the easiest schedule in the NFL and being in the NFC West, should be plenty enough to propel this team back to the playoffs.