Cardinals: Looking at the Positives of 2015

Although the Cardinals season has come to an abrupt end in the NFC Championship game, there are multiple positives to take away from this terrific season.

Yes, you read that right.

You might be wondering how that can even be possible after that disaster we call an NFC Championship game that took place this past Sunday.

It may be difficult to think anything positive that could’ve came out of that game, but there are some silver linings.

For starters, the Cardinals had an amazing season despite the outcome, they came out of the 2015 season at a record of 13-3, NFC West Champions as well as the second seed in the NFC, and fought their way to an NFC Championship. It didn’t end with the ultimate goal, the Lombardi trophy, but there is a lot to be proud of.

Secondly, the Cardinals have a good percentage of returning players coming back next season with the exception of a few, there’s no need to fear having to deal with new players and a new team next season.

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Thirdly, injuries, yes the Cardinals’ worst nightmare. The Cardinals fought through countless injuries this season, in fact, their third-string running back ended up being first string for a long duration of the season due to injuries, luckily for the Cardinals, that ended up working out as rookie David Johnson ended up putting up phenomenal numbers.

They lost Chris Johnson for the season when he was having a breakout season rushing for 814 yards and scored 3 TDs in 11 games. Additionally, the Cardinals had been battling with health issues with running back Andre Ellington.

Wide receiver John Brown battled a lot of shoulder problems during the last few weeks of the regular season, as well as receiver Michael Floyd, who dealt with hamstring difficulties.

Lastly, one of the biggest losses, safety Tyrann Mathieu. Mathieu suffered a torn ACL that put him out for the remainder of the season after having a defensive player of the year type season. The Cardinals’ secondary struggled a lot in his absence. While Tony Jefferson did an amazing job in covering, there is no other honey badger.

It’s an understatement to say the Cardinals did a great job this season despite injury problems. It’ll be interesting to see this Cardinals team with everyone healthy, if possible.

Carson Palmer, takes blame for Sunday’s meltdown although coach Bruce Arians thought otherwise.

“It’s just one of those things you’ve got to break through,” Palmer said, “and I will.”

Palmer had an MVP-like regular season as he threw for 4,671 yards and 35 touchdowns, leading the Cardinals to being the number one scoring offense in the league as well as a Cardinals’ franchise high 13 wins.

A lot of players go through games such as these as a way to become stronger and fight back even stronger the next season. I guess we’ll have to stay tuned to see how Palmer will bounce back.

Frostee Rucker had some positivity to spread after the game.

“…We know we have a great core of guys. We’ll be able to do some great things. We’re growing, we’re jelling together, and it’s just one step at a time. We got to the NFC Championship game and came up short, but if you look at our track record, the next one should be the Super Bowl.”

Next: Cardinals v. Panthers: 60 Minutes

The Carolina Panthers were the number one seed in the NFC, and they definitely showed that Sunday. However, this doesn’t mean the end of the road for these Arizona Cardinals, don’t count them out!

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