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Power rankings. We love to hate them, but we all read them. With the play of the Arizona Cardinals, they are starting to get noticed. In this week's power ranking roundup, we see a team that is now a consensus top-five team and one that is nearing the top of the league.
Let's see where people have put our Cardinals.
Arizona is all the way up to second in SB Nation's rankings.
The Cardinals' signal caller, coming off a torn ACL, is hitting 9.1 yards per attempt with nine touchdowns to two interceptions and is finally getting some help from his run game. It doesn't hurt that Larry Fitzgerald is having a career renaissance. These are the two hottest teams in the NFL right now.
ESPN's rankings have the Cardinals sliding up one spot to second place, right behind the world champions.
The Cardinals have scored 126 points in their first three games. That's tied for the fourth-most points in NFL history through three games.
Pete Prisco's rankings at CBS Sports also has Arizona moving up one slot. They are No. 3 here.
They are playing as well as any team in the league right now. The defense dominated against the 49ers with two picks for scores.
Moving up one spot to fourth overall were the Cardinals in the list put together by Fox Sports.
What the Cardinals lost this offseason with their pass rush has been replaced by the improved play of their secondary -- namely defensive backs Tyrann Mathieu and Patrick Peterson, who claim to be healthier than they were in 2014. With Carson Palmer locked in and Larry Fitzgerald turning back the clock, the Cardinals are legitimate title contenders.
USA Today? The theme is consistent. Arizona moves up a spot and is third.
Arizona offense 31, Arizona defense 16, 49ers 7. No one comes close to matching Cards' plus-77 point differential this season.
Even Yahoo! Sports' Shutdown Corner can't help but put Arizona in the top five anymore. However, they are still the site to rank the Cardinals the lowest at fifth.
They're still a hard team to figure out because they're like the Big 12 team that plays an FCS team and the two worst FBS opponents it can find and blows them all out to start the season. That's not the Cardinals' fault, but when you've beaten the Bears, Saints and 49ers it's tough to gauge how good you are.
Lastly, FanSpeak's rankings put the Cardinals third.
Larry Fitzgerald is playing like he's in his early 20s and he & Carson Palmer seem unstoppable right now. Add to that a scary defense and this is the team to beat in the NFC West, maybe the NFC.