As Cardinals fans, we've all got to be feeling great about having a winning record and having an outside chance to win a playoff berth, but like the old adage says "give them an inch and they'll take a mile" the Cardinals gave their fans a winning record and now we want a playoff berth. Considering how far the Cardinals have come from last year's 5-11 performance you'd think we'd be happy, and we are, but now we want more. So let's rant about it.
Playoff berth - The Cardinals may still make it into the playoffs, if they win out and get some help by teams who are higher in seeding losing a few games. It's maddening to look back and see two big games that stick out as winnable that the Cardinals lost, being the Rams game to open the season and the Eagles game which was definitely winnable. We can also look back at the 49ers game in which the Cardinals were leading and it felt like a victory was within reach before a 4th quarter melt down and costly fumble by Larry Fitzgerald. The Cardinals could be at 10-3 with the "shoulda, coulda, woulda" record, or even 9-4. But instead they sit at 8-5 staring up at the 49ers and Eagles with only one thing they can do to try to make the playoffs ... win. This team is built to win now, remember all of those one year contracts *cough* Dansby *cough*? They gave up any slack they had with the loss to Philly, it's win now and hope these last three games include some upsets to the Panthers, 49ers, and Eagles to open the door to the Cardinals to get lucky and earn a ticket to the post season tournament where anyone can get hot.
TM32 injury - Tyrann Mathieu went down with what may be an ACL injury and could be out for the rest of the year. We know injuries happen, but the Cardinals have been lucky for the most part and avoided many costly injuries. TM32's injury would definitely be costly during these next couple of weeks against Seattle and the 49ers. His skills have been incredible and he's being mentioned for Defensive Rookie of the Year honors, and possibly a Pro-Bowl slot in his Rookie year! Bah! Well I want to say it out loud, many thought he'd be a risk after being drafted but he's proven he's a team first player, this is the right environment for him, and he's thrived as a professional and in his personal life. How can we know that his personal life has been going so well? Simply because no one is talking about any off the field issues, and he seems genuinely happy in everything you read, see, or listen to him say. Here's to wishing our future Pro Bowler back as soon as possible.
Larry Fitzgerald - Finally, Mr. Fitzgerald ... THIS IS WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT FITZ! Where the heck was this guy? Making catches, attacking the ball like he wants to prove to the world he's relevant and he wants to lead this team to the post season. The game plan was short quick passes to beat the pressure, so Fitz made a statement with his play that he was going to catch every one of them sent his way. His statement was that he was done dropping passes, even with three defenders hanging off of him. Did you see his stat line? Larry was 12 for 12, perfect, and he scored a touchdown. You'd think Fitz read a certain ROTB article about whether or not he should be in the Hall of Fame same day, and decided he wanted to end that discussion with his own comment. Someone tell the Japanese Fighting Fish "Good game" and get him ready for the next one. If he can continue to play like this we'll be seeing more Larry, and that just makes everybody happy ... except the other NFC West teams.
What's your rant?