Arizona Cardinals, Most Overrated Team in NFL By Dane Moore

The Cardinals lost today 45-14 to the New Orleans Saints and ended this string of a falsified view of success coming out of Arizona over these past two years. The Cardinals have picked on their famished division of Rams, Seahawks and Forty-Niners. For the past two seasons they went a robust 6-0 in 2008 and 4-2 this year. That is more than half of their wins (19) over the past two years. A division that hasn’t had a quarterback throw for more than 3029 yards, when every other division has one or more 4,000-yard passer.

Sure in 2008, the Cardinals went to the super bowl, and yes they did play well. But I challenge anyone to find an impressive win from the 2008 regular season. They didn’t win a game on the road outside of the division. And the three wins they did have against teams out of the division only one was against a playoff team, in the Miami Dolphins. So during the regular season they defeated one playoff team.

They made the playoffs and at home beat a Falcons team who was happy to just be in the playoffs for the first time in a decade. Then their one impressive win of that entire season I’ll give them was their win over a good Panthers team in the divisional round. Delhomme did hand them the game, literally, with five second-half interceptions. Never the less they won on the road, congratulations. They then went on to beat an Eagle team who had EIGHT regular season wins. Not exactly an elite team. And again they beat them at home. They then went to the super bowl and played the Steelers, a team who plays everyone close. Not a real shocker they played the Super Bowl close. No surprise to me.

This year their division hardly improved, and somehow the Rams got worse. This year again they picked on their division and also got a game versus the Lions. Meaning they got three games versus two teams who combined for three total wins. They again only beat one playoff team and again their win over the Vikings was at home. They did defeat the Packers in the first round despite the fact that their defense gave up 45 points. (Another game at home, congratulations.) Saturday they were destroyed by the saints, again giving up 45 points. The Cardinals simply are not anywhere close to an elite team, especially if they lose Warner to retirement. Arizona has only been referred to as a playoff team because they benefit from a God-awful division. Hopefully the Niners have a successful draft and find some pieces in free agency so this pathetic franchise does not wind up back in the playoffs.