Arizona Cardinals can beat the NFL’s bad teams but not the good ones
By Jim Koch
Beating bad teams has not been an issue, but the 2022-23 Arizona Cardinals have yet to defeat a squad with a winning record.
For anyone out there who’s wondering whether the Arizona Cardinals will win this coming Sunday, there appears to be a sure-fire way of determining how the team will fare. Take a look at the win-loss record of the latest opponent, and it should be fairly easy to forecast the outcome for this week’s Cardinals game.
All four of Arizona’s victories this season have come against squads with losing records. On the flip side, all but one of the franchise’s seven losses have been to clubs that have won more than they’ve lost thus far in 2022. With that degree of consistency, could the Cards be any more predictable?
The Redbirds have suffered defeats to the top three teams (based on win-loss record) in the National Football League. In the regular-season opener, Kliff Kingsbury’s squad was beaten 44-21 by the 8-2 Kansas City Chiefs. There was also a Week 5 loss to the 9-1 Philadelphia Eagles (20-17), and a 34-26 setback against the 9-2 Minnesota Vikings in Week 8.
The Cards also fell short two times versus the 6-4 Seattle Seahawks. In Week 6, Arizona lost 19-9 to Pete Carroll’s group, and were then upended by Seattle once again (31-21) three weeks later.
This past Monday, the Cardinals were thoroughly embarrassed by the 6-4 San Francisco 49ers (38-10) in Mexico City. The only defeat against an organization with a losing record came back in Week 3, when “Big Red” dropped a 20-12 decision to the 3-7 Los Angeles Rams.
Formula for predicting Arizona Cardinals games has been fairly obvious
Back in Week 2, the Cards rallied to beat the 3-7 Las Vegas Raiders in overtime by a score of 29-23. A couple of Sundays later, Kyler Murray and company inflicted a 26-16 defeat on the 3-8 Carolina Panthers.
On a Thursday night in Week 7, Arizona recorded a 42-24 triumph over the 4-7 New Orleans Saints. In Week 10, the Colt McCoy-led squad registered a 27-17 victory in the rematch with the 3-7 Rams.
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This coming weekend, the Redbirds will play host to the 5-5 Los Angeles Chargers. Unfortunately, there’s no data to refer to when it comes to predicting what the team will do against an opponent that currently owns a .500 record. Could a dreaded tie be on tap for the 4-7 Cardinals?
(Information provided by ESPN’s NFL Scores)
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