An End Both Depressing And Unsurprising

The first time I checked in on Cardinals-Panthers, Arizona was down 10-0. The next time, they were up 14-10. I was confused. As it turned out, the defense had forced two turnovers deep in Carolina territory, enabling Arizona to score two touchdowns while covering only 47 yards. Once Carolina stopped turning over the ball, things fell apart, and Carolina won, 27-16.

Arizona had 78 yards of offense. Seventy-eight. They had 8 first downs, and averaged 1.7 yards per play. Lindley threw two INTs, and went 16-28 for 82 yards. Oh, but then you subtract the 31 yards he lost on 4 sacks.

I don't even care about the defense's day. Yeah, they gave up a shitload of rushing yards, but I'm not surprised. The defense has to keep trotting out there basically every three plays, and the Panthers can stay balanced because there's no pressure to score. Arizona isn't going to pull away, not unless Carolina helps them immensely.

This is the first time I've seen Arizona make the playoffs and not win at least one game. Of course, I've only seen them make the playoffs three times previously, twice with Kurt Warner, once with Jake Plummer. Either of whom would be 20 times better than Ryan Lindley, and I mean as they are right now. Hopefully, this is the last we see of Ryan Lindley.

Unfortunately, it might also be the last we see of Larry Fitzgerald, since the Cards' front office is making rumblings that Larry needs to restructure his contract, or he'll get cut. I want Larry Fitzgerald to finish his career with the Cardinals, but he should not restructure his deal. The Cardinals have consistently failed to find good QBs, considering Palmer is easily the best non-Kurt Warner QB Fitz has played with, and Palmer a) missed two-thirds of this season, and b) was throwing 2 INTs a game for the first half of last season. The Cardinals have failed to build a running game, they haven't built a decent offensive line. All that is on the front office, not Larry Fitzgerald, and for me, it's on them to improve this team. Losing Larry Fitzgerald does not sound like a way to do that.