Holy Crap, Cardinals

Arizona went into Seattle and beat the Seahawks 17-10. It wasn't pretty; Palmer threw 4 INTs - two in the end zone - and had less than 200 yards passing. 6 of Arizona's 16 first downs were off Seattle penalties. Arizona may have gotten some favorable calls on a possible Mendenhall fumble and that interception Wilson threw. In both cases, if the refs' initial ruling had been different - meaning, that Mendenhall did fumble, or the pick bounced off the ground and not Baldwin's arm - those rulings likely would have stood. But the initial rulings were different, and they went in Arizona's favor.

Which isn't to take away from Arizona's victory. They earned that win. Seattle has a heck of a defense - just look at those stats I mentioned above, then throw in Arizona's 6-for-19 on 3rd down -  but Arizona's defense bested them. Handily.

Arizona only had 16 first downs? Seattle had 10. Arizona goes 6-19 on 3rd down? Seattle was 2-13. Arizona manages 307 yards of offense, at 4.4 yards per play? Seattle only gets 192 yards, at 3.8 yards per play. Seattle sacked Palmer twice? Arizona got Russell Wilson 4 times. Arizona gave up 60 yards on 11 carries to Marshawn Lynch in the first half, then held him to 11 yards on 7 carries in the second half. And they enjoyed some Skittles on the sidelines. Sorry, Beast Mode.

Arizona's offense wasn't entirely useless, either. They ran the ball 43 times for 139 yards, which helps explain why Arizona won time of possession by almost 15 minutes. Much like last week, the yardage was split fairly evenly. Mendenhall had 63 yards on 21 carries, Andre Ellington had 64 on 15. I know the Cardinals aren't going have a 1,000 yard back this season, but they have 2 guys each with an outside chance at 700 yards, which isn't too shabby.

And I need to give a nice nod to the special teams. Jay Feely's been killing it all year (I think he's missed one field goal, and had another blocked), added 3 more FGs yesterday. Dave Zastudil averaged 49 yards per punt, and had 3 of them downed inside the 20. That helps a defense out a lot, when the other team has to march a long way against them to score. It's why I get so frustrated when the offense turns the ball over in their own territory, because it puts the squeeze on the defense. And Justin Bethel recovered a fumble for Arizona. Glad he's in there, making plays.

Unfortunately, Carolina beat New Orleans. I don't have anything against the Panthers; but Arizona had a tie-breaker over them and not the Saints. So it was in the Cardinals' favor for the Panthers to lose, where the Arizona could edge them out for a wild card. Now Arizona, in addition to needing to beat the 49ers next week, need either for the Niners to lose to Atlanta tonight, or for the Saints to blow it against Tampa next week. Both the Saints and the 49ers will be at home for those games, so that's a tall order.

It won't mean anything if Arizona can't beat San Francisco, though, which I'm sure will be a tall order. The Niners have an outside shot at the division now, so they'll be fired up. Arizona let Vernon Davis go for 180 yards last time, and now the Niners have Patrick Peterson's personal Kryptonite, Michael Crabtree, back in action.

But at least there's a chance.