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The full NFL season makes for a tough evaluation. You’re working off of a (relatively) small sample size, making it hard to learn something concrete to work with going forward. Attempting to make something off of an even smaller sample size, well... you get the picture. But I think we just might have a bead on what to expect as we approach the final quarter of the season.
The Arizona Cardinals have shown great potential, at times looking like one of the big boys and also at times, over-performing the limitations of the roster - both when healthy and not so. Especially in regards to the much maligned Vance Joseph, who has rung much out of a depleted unit.
But more often than that, they are a middling team. The one constant being that they can’t get out of their own way. Plagued by sloppy decision making, a league-high in penalties and held back by poor personnel construction. Some of that can certainly be attributed to growing pains and misfortune, but we’re seeing a concerning lack of progress in the areas that cannot be attributed to that.
Week 13 Consensus Power Rankings
OUTLET | RANK | PREV. RANK |
---|---|---|
OUTLET | RANK | PREV. RANK |
Bleacher Report | 14th | 11th |
CBS | 15th | 15th |
ESPN | 13th | 12th |
NFL.COM | 14th | 13th |
Sports Illustrated (MMQB) | 14th | 14th |
Sporting News | 14th | 14th |
The Ringer | 14th | 11th |
USA Today | 16th | 11th |
Yahoo Sports | 15th | 14th |
CONSENSUS AVG. | 14th | 13th |
This is as about a consistent ranking across the board as we’ve seen all season, and I don’t find it to be an inaccurate reflection.
The team faces a very critical schedule if they want to make something of the season with three divisional matches in final month(ish). It’ll be interesting to see how it unfolds.
What do you think?