If you believe the Arizona Cardinals’ 3-0 start was only due to the team’s “cupcake” schedule (Cardinals first three opponents have a combined 3-6 record thus far), we’re about to see if there’s any icing left for the Cardinals.
Arizona struggled all the way until the fourth quarter against a Jacksonville Jaguars team that has yet to win a game this year. After scraping by the Minnesota Vikings via a missed field goal and having difficulty navigating a Jaguars team still in the deep stages of their rebuild, not many have been sold on Arizona’s undefeated start.
NFL.com released its Week 4 power rankings, and left the Cardinals out of the top 10 with this explanation:
“The worst moment of Sunday was obvious: Kliff Kingsbury’s misbegotten decision to let Matt Prater try a 68-yard field goal in the final seconds of the first half, a bold move rewarded with a 109-yard touchdown return by Jacksonville. Luckily for Kingsbury, the Cardinals have a superstar quarterback who can cover up for the sins of the head coach and others. Kyler Murray threw for 316 yards, and Arizona had two 100-yard receivers — neither named DeAndre Hopkins — in a 31-19 win over the hapless Jaguars. After the game, the Cardinals neatly spun the special teams catastrophe into an opportunity to display their apparent team growth. ‘The last two years,’ Murray said, ‘we would have lost that game for sure.’ OK.”
On Monday, Kingsbury addressed the media and admitted that the team had plenty of work left to do.
“We have a lot to get better at, first and foremost. We know the last couple of weeks wasn’t good enough moving forward and we have to continue to work to get better,” said Kingsbury. “But the fight, the effort, all the things you want to see as a coach were there. We just (think) execution isn’t at the level it’s got to be at as we roll into division play and really the meat of our schedule.”
While there’s no room to look ahead at the professional level of football, Arizona fans and other pundits have had the upcoming stretch of games for the Cardinals circled since the schedule was fully released, starting with a road trip to take on another undefeated team in the Los Angeles Rams.
Arizona knows what awaits them, starting with perhaps one of the best defensive players of his generation in defensive lineman Aaron Donald.
“They’re really good,” said Kingsbury on the Rams’ defense. “You’ve all watched them play the first three weeks and Aaron Donald’s as good a football player as I’ve ever seen in my life. He’s really been dominant in previous games that we’ve had with him. We got to find a way to try and slow him down. You’re not going to stop him, but you try to slow him down as best you can.
“They have a host of others that are playing at a really high level. I think they’ve done a great job with (defensive coordinator) Raheem (Morris) coming in and building off what they started last year with the new scheme. It’s a real challenge.”
Following that game, the Cardinals travel back home for a Oct. 10 home date with the San Francisco 49ers, who were 37 seconds and one Aaron Rodgers drive away from remaining undefeated heading to Week 4.
Tough meetings continue to follow after Arizona’s opening weeks of NFC West action, with a road trip to Cleveland (Oct. 17) and two home games against the Houston Texans (Oct. 24) and Green Bay Packers only four days later on Thursday, Oct. 28 to complete their next month’s worth of games.
With next month’s opponents possessing a combined 10-5 record, the upcoming slate of games will provide the ultimate litmus test for where the Cardinals are at as a team.
The NFC West division has surely lived up to its hype as the best in football, while teams such as the Browns and Packers are other tough opponents looking to make deep playoff runs of their own.
Daunting? Perhaps. Yet if the Cardinals consider themselves as contenders, these are the stretches that separate the good from the great teams.
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