Arizona Cardinals hearing a lot of rhetoric from Seattle
By Scott Allen
Seattle’s ESPN 710 was busy this week creating and airing an anti-Cardinals promotion
The Seattle Seahawks are the defending NFC West and NFC Champions. They have a much better recent history than the Arizona Cardinals. All of this we know. No debate.
This week Seattle’s ESPN 710 decided to ratch the “rivalry” up a bit this week with a promo depicting the Cardinals as a team that can’t keep its mouth shut and calls them overrated. You have to wonder if they’ve really been paying attention?
The promo, if you haven’t seen or heard it yet, says the Cardinals have a sense of entitlement. It says the Cardinals are 6-2 thanks to a cupcake schedule. Really?
To be fair to start, none of this is coming from the Seahawks themselves. From everything we’ve heard this week, they have much respect for the Cardinals. Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett said he’d absolutely play for Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians. He is happy where he is at but likes what Arians brings to the table.
However, do the Cardinals exhibit a sense of entitlement? Not even close. The Cardinals have never even uttered one word about being the best, being better than the Seahawks. Only winning the game on the field proves that. Just winning on Sunday night won’t prove that but it is a start.
The Cardinals have exhibited nothing but respect for the Seahawks. Now, I can’t speak for the entire fan base but I personally have not seen anyone say how much better the Cardinals are despite the current 6-2 record of the Cardinals and 4-4 of the Seahawks.
No, what this comes from is Seattle sports media. It comes from a small fraction of the Seahawks fan base. I know some really good Seahawks fans. I know they don’t believe the crap Seattle’s ESPN 710 touts in their promotion.
I have no problem with them depicting a Cardinal being beaten to a pulp on the turf in their radio spot. I really don’t. That I like. It’s all part of a rivalry. Is it really a rivalry though? I think you need both sides to win with regularity in order to call it that. Clearly the Seahawks have the upper hand here when it comes to that. The Cardinals have only two wins over the Seahawks in the Russell Wilson era and one of them was his first game in 2012.
All of this doesn’t tell me the Seahawks are better than the Cardinals. It doesn’t tell me the Cardinals are better than the Seahawks certainly. I’ve never thought that way. They are still the champs. What it does tell me though is that some of the Seahawks fan base is scared. Scared that their run could be coming to an end, at least for one season.
The Cardinals might, might, still not be good enough to win, despite their improvement and their record, although this game should be a lot closer than last December’s affair in Glendale. So in the end, none of us know what really will happen Sunday night. I have hope though and lots of it. This is why we play the games. Go Cardinals!