Major network predicts Arizona Cardinals to miss playoffs
By Sion Fawkes
At 4-6, it’s tough to see the Arizona Cardinals going anywhere fast this season, and ESPN’s FPI rankings predict a rough final seven outings.
Fan Nation recently used ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI) rankings to project how the Arizona Cardinals will finish the 2022 season, and the results were not good. However, these are merely rankings-based projections, so let’s not get too downtrodden over them.
But if you find rankings-based projections fun to follow, then by all means, keep reading. Below, I’ll go through each of the remaining games, and reveal whether the Fan Nation predicted a win or a loss. Again, these results aren’t good, so if you’d like to save yourself a few minutes, then by all means, stop reading the article here. If curiosity got the best of you, carry on. To provide a bit of hope, however, I also included my own projections.
Arizona Cardinals not rocking the final seven games of 2022
FPI has the Cardinals at #16, while the San Francisco 49ers currently rank seventh. Combined with the fact the Redbirds are underdogs in this matchup, FPI is projecting the Cardinals to lose this one. However, Arizona ranks higher than the Los Angeles Chargers (26th), so place another one in the win column for the Redbirds.
The New England Patriots currently rank one slot above the Cardinals at #15, so per FPI, the projection is that the Patriots will take it. However, this is one game where I feel the Cardinals could sneak up on them, so while FPI has the Cards at 5-8, I got them at 6-7 here.
The Denver Broncos (28th) have been a wreck all season, so the projection is the Cardinals take this one, too, which places them at 6-8 per FPI and 7-7 for my own projection. Arizona then squares off with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who rank 9th, so put another in the loss column. They do, whoever, have the Cardinals taking one against the Atlanta Falcons (19th), and so do I, so that’s 7-9 per FPI but 8-8 where I currently stand.
And of course, FPI has the Cardinals losing in the finale to the 49ers, putting them at a final record of 7-10. Call me biased, but the Cardinals haven’t lost to the Niners on the road in a while, so I’m projecting the upset, giving the Redbirds a winning record, but missing the playoffs at 9-8.
Word of note…
These projections of mine did have FPI influence, as I was previously projecting the Cardinals to finish no better than 8-9. Now that I saw the rankings, as you can see, I made a few changes. But despite the projected winning record, there still needs to be a heavy evaluation process here regarding the likes of Kliff Kingsbury, Steve Keim, and Kyler Murray.
Related Story. 3 reasons Colt McCoy needs to start against 49ers. light
Some say wins are wins, but 9-8 is certainly regression from their 11-6 outing in 2021. Further, the Cardinals will need to dig deep and continue to monitor not just how well Kliff runs the offense, but whether Murray can execute much in the same way Colt McCoy did against the Los Angeles Rams.
Article Source: Predicting Rest of Cardinals Schedule Using ESPN FPI Rankings by Donnie Druin
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