How do you think the Arizona Cardinals finish their final nine games? Predicting the Cardinals final nine games

When the season started I thought this team was... average.

You saw some hope with a young defense, but wondered how long it would take to gel together, and the offense was led by a dynamic running back and a reliable, veteran quarterback.

Now, the defense is one of the worst in the NFL through seven games, the running back is on injured reserve with no expected return date and the quarterback joined him on IR with no known return date as well.

In other words, what looked like a team that could win seven games again if they didn’t get improvement on defense, nine games if they did, and 11 games if everything fell exactly right now... Well who the hell knows.

Let’s have some fun and take a guess at the rest of the season.

Week 9: Cardinals at 49ers

Cardinals 24
49ers 17

The 49ers offensively are... awful. In C.J. Beathard’s two starts they have scored 20 points and the defense has been shellacked as they lost both by a combined 73-20.

The Cards will get enough from Stanton and be good enough against a very bad 49ers team.

Record: 4-4

Week 10: Seahawks at Cardinals (Thursday Night Football)

Seahawks 27
Cardinals 10

Seahawks get a home game against the the Redskins before coming to Arizona on a short week, the Cardinals haven’t shown nearly enough offensively to have too much confidence.

Record: 4-5

Week 11: Cardinals at Texans

10 days to prepare for the likely rookie of the year in Deshaun Watson. This defense hasn’t done enough to inspire confidence, but the Texans defense is hurting and getting gashed.

Texans 31
Cardinals 23

Record: 4-6

Week 12: Jaguars at Cardinals

Could David Johnson be back here?

Either way, this will be an interesting game. The Jaguars love to run the ball. The Cardinals defense isn’t awful at stopping the run. Teams that make Bortles beat them tend to play it close. However, the Jags defense is the best in the NFL. Without Johnson back (even if this is his first game) and with Stanton at the helm, I begrudgingly see a Jags win.

Jags 13
Cardinals 10

Record: 4-7

Week 13: Rams at Cardinals

Cardinals 24
Rams 21

DJ back and in the fold for a second game, Stanton playing for his career, desperation for the Cardinals and a bit of over confidence from LA.

Record: 5-7

Week 14: Titans at Cards

No... Idea. The Titans look awful one week, and then like contenders the next. Just because the Cardinals haven’t won back-to-back games in forever.

Cards 17
Titans 14

Record: 6-7

Week 15: Cardinals at Redskins

Too much talent in DC for the Cards.

Skins 31
Cards 17

Record: 6-8

Week 16: Giants at Cardinals

Palmer back?

The only team that looks consistently worse that people thought could be good this year is the Giants. That won’t change by week 16.

Cards 24
Giants 16

Record: 7-8

Week 17: Cardinals at Seahawks

The Seahawks will be playing for something... The Cardinals will be playing to be the spoiler.

Either way, I think Palmer’s undefeated streak at the Clink ends.

Seahawks 27
Cardinals 14

Final Record: 7-9

What do you think?