Why The Arizona Cardinals Can Still Make The Playoffs

In Atlanta the ArizonaCardinals played a bad game once again , losing to the Falcons 29-18. The offense was no where last night, they could barely stop the Falcons at times and they looked just awful on special teams. I know a lot of people (including me) picked this game to be a blowout but the Falcons play a lot better at home than on the road and the Cardinals aren’t all that impressive on the road either.

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The Cards have looked bad in these last three games but they can still make a playoff push. When you think of the top teams in the NFC (minus the Seahawks and the Packers) the Arizona Cardinals have beat them and for the Seahawks, they get them again in three weeks at University  of Phoenix Stadium to make the matchup 1-1. Thanks to those wins, all the Cards have to do is get the same record as them and they will get into the postseason as a wildcard team.

For the Cards to make it, they will have to get at least to 10-6, maybe 11-5 to tie with either the Cowboys or the Lions for the wildcard spot (12-4 to take the division from the Seahawks but that looks a bit out of their reach).  They still have the Chiefs, the Rams at St. Louis, Seattle and for the season finale, they head to Santa Clara to play the Niners. That could be only two more wins for the Arizona Cardinals down the stretch.

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Another thing they got going for them is they have will have Larry Ftizgerald coming back soon in the lineup and that should help out immediately. Whether you think he is or isn’t the same receiver as previous years, he gets special attention just because he can make big plays happen when he doesn’t get double coverage.

Michael Floyd and John Brown will also receive help when Larry comes back, due to the fact that they won’t get the special coverage from the defense. They aren’t good enough to beat that type of coverage but they are good enough to beat one on ones or zone coverages. This will help Drew Stanton out immensely. With Larry Ftizgerald back, he can not only play smarter football, but also his security blanket will be there to help him out. The loss of Ellington will hurt them but they never really had a running game to begin with, plus they just signed Michael Bush, who should give this offense some toughness in those short yard situations.

The Arizona Cardinals can use the next two games to get their defense back on track after the Atlanta game as they play the Chiefs and the Rams, two teams in the bottom part of the total offense stat line. The Cards will use this opportunity to figure out some of the problems in the back end of their team, and if what happen to them on the ground was just a fluke.

This Cardinal team isn’t good enough to make a Super Bowl run, but after starting the season 9-1, they have to much of a lead to blow a playoff spot, particularly due to the fact they have beaten every top team in the NFC. They can still make the playoffs, they just have to win their next two games and they’re in the clear.