Welcome A Cardinal Back To The Mad Playoff Rush

Arizona crushed the Rams 30-10 yesterday, moving to 8-5 on the season. Carson Palmer didn't practice this week, due to a sore elbow, but he played really well. 27-32, 269 yards, 1 TD. No INTs, no fumbles, only sacked once. Considering how Robert Quinn practically set up residence in Arizona's backfield in Week 1, major kudos to the O-line. Or the coaching staff. Or both. Palmer seems to have stuck to mostly short passes - Fitzgerald had 12 catches, but only 96 yards - which could have been an acknowledgement of either his elbow, or the the Ram's pass rush.

Arizona ran the ball 32 times. Only for 107 yards, but the commitment to the run is encouraging. Keeps the pressure off Palmer. Between rushes and catches, Andre Ellington had 13 touches for 63 yards and a TD. Nice to see him back in the lineup.

The defense did its usual fine job, outside of that one 56 yard run by Tavon Austin. Besides that, the Rams had 44 yards on 18 carries. I'll take that. They sacked Kellen Clemens 4 times, including a safety by John Abraham, and intercepted him twice, with Karlos Dansby returning his for a TD. That's 2 TDs in the last 3 games for Karlos. Anyway, the Rams had 257 yards of total offense, and the lost 90 yards on penalties. Arizona lost only 31, though there's video evidence of Darnell Dockett stomping on the hand of a Ram. That'll draw a fine, maybe a suspension depending on how Goodell's feeling. I wouldn't expect a suspension, but you can't tell with the Ginger Hammer.

The defense did get some bad news, as Tyrann Mathieu may have torn his ACL. If they thought it was that bad an injury on the field, I doubt it'll turn out to be something he can come back from before season's end. This stinks. Mathieu made a few mistakes, but there was real promise, and I'm not sure how many safeties can also be their team's nickel cornerback. I'm not sure what this means for Arizona's secondary. Rashad Johnson takes over at safety, I guess, but I'm not sure who the third CB is now. I feel bad for Mathieu, who I feel like got a bad rap because of how things went at LSU. So he smoked some pot, big whoop. Hardly seems like an offense worthy of being booted from the team, but Les Miles is a man known for questionable decision making skills, so perhaps no surprise he did so again. Anyway, to whatever extent things were going wrong in Mathieu's life, he seemed to be doing fine, his career was off to a good start, and now this.

At this stage, Arizona's still on the outside of the playoff picture. Let's say Dallas wins tonight. No guarantee, given Dallas' defense, but the Bears' run defense is even more pitiful, so let's work from that assumption. That puts Dallas in the lead for the NFC East, because they beat Philly the one time the teams played so far. Which makes Philly 7th in the seeding, ahead of Arizona because they beat the Cards last week. Carolina and the 49ers would be the two wild cards.

I would say what the Cardinals need is for one of the two East teams to collapse, allowing the other to win the division, while ensuring Arizona has a better record than the collapsing team. Given Dallas' D, and their past history of December swoons, they're the more likely candidate. Plus, if Philly's winning the division, their tiebreaker over Arizona is irrelevant.

The other thing is for either Carolina or San Fran to go into a swoon. The Panthers still have a game against the Saints, although it's in Carolina. But if Arizona can keep winning, they only need to make up one win. Then they have the same record as the Panthers, and Arizona has the tiebreaker over Carolina, from curbstomping them back before the Panthers started their winning streak. The Cardinals do get to play the Niners, so they could actively shape their fate there. But that game isn't until Week 17. It may be too late by then.

And none of it will matter if Arizona loses to the Titans next week. That's the closest thing to a gimmie the Cards have left on their schedule, and it's no cakewalk. The Titans gave the Broncos all they could handle for a half, and that was in Denver. Arizona has to go on the road to play the Titans. Granted, Arizona's defense is considerably better than Denver's, but the gap between Arizona and Denver's offenses might be even larger. I joke about Ryan Fitzpatrick, that's he just good enough so his teams lose close, but not good enough to win. Problem is, if you're a good enough QB to keep your team close, then all it takes is a fortunate bounce or bad call by the refs to take the team the rest of the way. So I'm concerned. Arizona's not nearly good enough to consider this a sure thing.

Still, them having a chance to make the playoffs, and for the offense to be actively helping it happen, is more than I might have expected at the beginning of the season.