Bruce Arians is confident in his team’s ability to make a playoff run in 2014, and why shouldn’t he be? Last season, the Cardinals struggled to find their footing early in the season, getting off to just a 3-4 start. They closed strong, however, eventually making it to 10-6 and just missing the playoffs in a tough year for NFC teams.
Following the 2014 season, the Cardinals will have an opportunity to do something that no team in the Super Bowl era has been able to accomplish – host a Super Bowl in their home stadium.
Super Bowl XLIX (49 for those of us that hate Roman numerals) will be played at the University of Phoenix Stadium, the Cardinals’ home stadium. In many cases, the host city’s team, for whatever reason, struggles to make a playoff run, but the Cardinals appear to have a number of factors moving in their favor.
First and foremost, they have a confident head coach that knows the importance of putting enough pressure on his players to at least challenge them. That’s exactly what Arians did on Wednesday during the NFL owners meetings. “There’s no reason we can’t be the first team to play a home Super Bowl,” Arians said via ESPN. “Absolutely no reason.”
The way Arians put that statement was perfect too. Arians didn’t come out, as many players would do without thinking, and say, “We’re gonna be the first team to play a home Super Bowl next February.” Instead, he essentially issued his players a challenge without insulting any of the other high-caliber teams in the NFC, not that trash talk has much value in the offseason.
The Cardinals are also working with a rejuvenated Carson Palmer at quarterback. Like his team around him, Palmer struggled in the early portion of the season, but once he found his footing, he was one of the better quarterbacks in the league. During the Cardinals’ 7-2 streak to close out the season, Palmer threw just nine interceptions, compared to the thirteen he threw in the first seven games of the season. That may not sound like a great deal, but also consider that four of his late season interceptions came in one game against the Seahawks, meaning he was nearly perfect down the stretch for his team with one glaring exception.
There’s little to suggest Palmer won’t pick up right where he left off a season ago. Last year, the Cardinals’ offense was explosive, but also inconsistent. Down the stretch, much of that inconsistency was worked out, leaving a high-octane offense that is difficult to contain, even by divisional rivals such as the staunch defenses in Seattle and San Francisco.
Right now, the Cardinals’ biggest hurdles in making a deep playoff run, or even a Super Bowl run, are the teams they have to play in their own division. The NFC West is the most stacked division in football, and winning the division could give Arizona the playoff advantage they’d need to make a Super Bowl push.
Are the Cardinals going to be many people’s favorite to win the Super Bowl heading into the season? Probably not, but they’re not a team to take lightly either. Arizona has a lot moving in their favor heading into the 2014 season, and Bruce Arians is absolutely right. There’s no legitimate reason the Cardinals can’t be the first team to play at home in a Super Bowl.
