It has been debated much this offseason media is still mixed on the Arizona Cardinals chances in 2018
More debate was had this week whether the Arizona Cardinals can beat the over/under in Las Vegas, currently set at 5.5 wins. We touched on this subject earlier in the offseason.
Now that we are a week into training camp and still have all the major pieces in place, for now, we re-visit the topic. There were even new polls on the subject this past week by arizonasports.com after ESPN reporter Bill Barnwell saw the Cardinals “on the decline”.
A nicely written piece by New York Post’s Sam Panayotovich this past week on former New York Giants and current Cardinals offensive linemen Justin Pugh gave him as a reason why the Cardinals can finish on the over.
The offensive line improvement is a great place to start on the subject. Pugh for one, is a veteran, and as long as he is healthy, should help provide protection for quarterback Sam Bradford better than what the Cardinals offered up last season.
D.J. Humphries returns as does one of the more underrated centers in the game in A.Q. Shipley. A healthy Mike Iupati returns and should help in the run game.
Of course much of this reverts back to the health of the players. That was a huge reason for the decline of the line last year. Talent had something to do with it only because players were being moved into spots on the line they weren’t the best or most comfortable at.
Then there is Bradford. He stays healthy, and upright most of the time, along with a healthy David Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald, this offense can go places.
The defense, this defense for the most part, got the Cardinals to 8-8 last year with Blaine Gabbert and Drew Stanton, both dropoffs from Bradford and Josh Rosen from where I sit. Don’t sleep on the Cardinals.
I truly believe they can win 10 or 11 games. That doesn’t mean because I believe it that it will happen. Of course not.
However what it does mean is the Cardinals have plenty enough talent on the field to do better than the 0-4 wins some are predicting. Remember some of those 90’s teams that won just 3-4 games? C’mon, this team is so much more talented.
However, you have to play the games and anything can happen on any given Sunday. For now though, have some belief in this team winning until they prove otherwise on the field.