After a Week 1 win over a tough New Orleans Saints team, fans of the Arizona Cardinals feel pretty good. And with the weekly power rankings that everyone has (this site included), the Cardinals are getting some early love in the season. Only one set I found has Arizona outside the top 10, while most have them in their top five.
Take a look:
SB Nation has the Cardinals fourth.
Carson Palmer threw for 305 yards and three touchdowns to help the Cardinals hold off the New Orleans Saints. They look poised to take the NFC West.
ESPN's rankings put the Cardinals sixth, which is a four-place jump.
Carson Palmer threw two touchdowns in the fourth quarter in Week 1. Palmer has an 88.0 Total QBR in the fourth quarter the past two seasons, best in the NFL.
At NFL.com, the Cardinals sit fifth, four places higher than previously.
Andre Ellington's knee injury hurts. The guy was banged up all last year. Sure, David Johnson scored the clinching touchdown in Sunday's win, but that came late, with the Saints trying to keep Arizona from getting a first down. The Chris Johnson signing now looms large, as the artist formerly known as CJ2K will have to pick up serious slack for however long Ellington is out. Carson Palmer performed well running that offense; he looked pretty mobile on that rollout touchdown pass. #encouraging
Over at Fox Sports, Arizona is also fifth, which is a new high in those rankings.
The Cardinals defense hasn't skipped a beat despite losing defensive coordinator Todd Bowles. If Carson Palmer can stay healthy, there are few quarterbacks outside of the NFL's elite who are a better fit for head coach Bruce Arians' offensive scheme.
Pete Prisco at CBS Sports has always been one of the more supportive members of the national media towards the Cardinals. In his rankings, Arizona comes in fourth.
Carson Palmer looked impressive in his return to real game action against the Saints. If he can play like that, they will be a Super Bowl contender.
USA Today has the Cardinals among the lowest of all the rankings I found. They still rank the Cardinals 10th.
From 'did you know?' file, Carson Palmer is 14-2 over past 16 starts with Arizona and has won seven straight.
Who ranked Arizona the lowest? Yahoo's Shutdown Corner rankings did. They are 11th. But can we trust them in their judgement? Probably not. They still have the Seahawks at No. 1, despite their loss to the Rams.
The Cardinals appear convinced that Chris Johnson can be the lead back while Andre Ellington is out for perhaps a few weeks with a PCL sprain in his right knee. Maybe Bruce Arians sees something that wasn't apparent in Johnson the past few years.