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With week 10 of the 2018 NFL season in the books we head into week 11 with quite a few unknowns.
First, are the defending Super Bowl champs a one and done team?
Who are the 2018 New England Patriots, a team that has beat everyone but the lowly Detroit Lions and the hot and cold Tennessee Titans?
Finally, is this weeks Monday Night Football matchup a preview of Super Bowl LIII?
We also have a number of questions on the Arizona Cardinals.
In this weeks Power Rankings roundup, we take a look at the questions the public has about the Cardinals in the immediate and the future.
29. Arizona Cardinals 2-7 (last week: 29)
The Cardinals have had more positive vibes of late with David Johnson and their defense, but Josh Rosen will be taking many more rookie lumps.
Can the Cardinals keep Rosen from having to take those lumps, or is inevitable in 2018 because of the team around him?
31. Arizona Cardinals
Defining stat: 19.3 percent. The Cardinals are second in the NFL with a 19.3 disrupted dropback percentage, which measures sacks, interceptions, batted passes and passes defended divided by the number of opposing quarterback dropbacks. It’s a gauge for how effective a defense is, especially up front.
How is a team so good at getting pressures on the opposing quarterback and still such a bad team?
29. Arizona Cardinals
Say what you want about the Cardinals, but they gave the Chiefs a ballgame Sunday at Arrowhead. Despite the loss, a few bright spots emerged for Arizona. David Johnson scampered his way to 183 yards from scrimmage with two touchdowns. About time, huh? Chandler Jones sacked the elusive Patrick Mahomes twice to push his season total to 8.5.
The Arizona Cardinals have key pieces on offense and defense, the question becomes is Josh Rosen the real deal and are Steve Keim and Steve Wilks the right guys to oversee the comeback?
30. Arizona Cardinals
The NFL’s top teams continue to dominate and have the same thing in common: They average more than 33 points per game. That’s the Saints (36.7 ppg), Chiefs (35.5 ppg), and Rams (33.5 ppg), who rank one to three respectively in that category. Defense in 2018 has become far less important than offense as the NFL’s top defenses in terms of points allowed per game are the Titans, Ravens, and Cowboys — none of which would make the playoffs if the season ended today.
That’s the biggest question. Are the Arizona Cardinals built to compete in today’s NFL or are they building for a championship that happened a 5-10 years ago? Have the rule changes created too much pressure on defenses and now going the opposite direction is the best and really only way to compete.
Sure, you don’t completely give up on defense, but what matters in defensive rankings now?
What do you think?