Arizona looks like (gulp) playoff contender
By Scott Bordow, Tribune Columnist
EAST VALLEY TRIBUNE (Mesa, Ariz.) Where's the key? Oh, there it is. Top row, right-hand corner.
I've used the letter P before when writing about the Cardinals. But usually I have to buy a vowel after hitting it.
Pathetic. Putrid. Pitiful.
Playoffs?
Yeah, way back in 1998, when Jake Plummer was still the darling of Arizona sports fans.
Since then, however, I've avoided the wishful thinking that comes with a Cardinals victory.
If they can win next week they'll be right back in it. Look at their schedule.
They can win those games.
Then, of course, Arizona loses that winnable game, and the elevator lands with a thud. Or, to put it in football vernacular, the Cardinals 49er it. So, with full awareness of how fragile the limb is that I'm climbing on, I hereby proclaim that the Cardinals are — oh, goodness, am I really saying it? — playoff contenders.
Someone get me a drink to calm my nerves.
Yes, it sounds crazy. Arizona is 4-5 after its 17-14 victory over the New York Giants on Sunday. That's not playoff material. That's a Las Vegas lounge act.
But in the low tide pool that's the NFC, the Cardinals can spread their wings and take flight to parts unknown.
Arizona is one game out of the final wild card spot. More amazingly, it's just one game out of the lead in the NFC Worst, er, West.
If the Cardinals can beat 2-7 Carolina this Sunday, they'll be a .500 team and . . .
Hey, Bordow, didn't you read what you wrote a few paragraphs up? Quit dreaming. These are the Cardinals.
Yeah, I know that.
But at some point, we have to acknowledge coach Dennis Green is onto something.
The Cardinals have gone 4-2 since starting the season 0-3.
They're 3-1 at Sun Devil Stadium and have won three straight at home for the first time since 1999.
Of their final seven opponents, only three — the New York Jets, St. Louis and Seattle — have winning records.
It's enough to make an overgrown man get too big for his britches.
“Winning two straight games is nothing to get excited about,” said nose tackle Russell Davis. “We'll look back on that after our playoff game and say that's
where the streak got started.”
OK, this may be a good time for a few rational thoughts:
- The Cardinals are 4-5, not 6-3. Who isn't 4-5 in the NFL?
- Had Arizona not successfully navigated the game-winning, fourth-quarter drive in Miami last week, we'd already have written its obituary.
- The Cardinals were 4-2 in 2002 and 6-6 in 1999. They finished 5-11 and 6-10, respectively.
“Man, anything can happen,” said tackle...
-11-16-2004, 07:38 AM
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