I do like the setup of this contract a lot. It’s worth 8.2 million base, but up to 20 million after incentives and only 3 million guaranteed. Basically, if he becomes a starting quarterback for them, he’ll be paid like one and if not, he’ll be paid a reasonable salary for a backup and they [...]
The Cardinals started this season 4-0 and everyone hoped on the bandwagon. Idiots like Michael Silver put them first in their Power Rankings, overlooking their general lack offensive of talent. Apparently everyone forgot that the Bills and Redskins did a similar thing just last year before falling back down to earth. Having a strong stretch [...]
Arizona Cardinals (5-10) at San Francisco 49ers (10-4-1) It’s usually a smart thing to take well coached teams off a loss. They’re generally extra focused in a bounce back game the following week. Bill Belichick is 35-20 ATS off a loss since 2000. Mike McCarthy is 22-13 ATS in that spot since 2006. Mike Tomlin [...]
Last week: 27 (+0) Record: 5-10 Net points per drive: -0.34 (25th) DVOA: -16.5% (26th) Weighted DVOA: -23.8% (28th) Studs RE Calais Campbell: 1 sack and 3 quarterback hurries on 27 pass rush snaps, 1 batted pass, 6 solo tackles, 1 assist, 6 stops Duds QB Ryan Lindley: 17 of 30 for 141 yards and [...]
Chicago Bears (8-6) at Arizona Cardinals (5-9) The Bears started the season 7-1 and looked primed for a first round bye, but now stand at 8-6 and need help to even get into the playoffs. How did this happen? Well, the simple answer is that they started playing tougher competition. In their first 8 games, [...]
Last week: 29 (+2) Record: 5-9 Net points per drive: -0.31 (23rd) DVOA: -14.7% (26th) Weighted DVOA: -21.6% (27th) The Cardinals ended a 9 game losing streak last week and avoided the 4-0 to 4-12 collapse, but they did it almost purely on returns, returning two interceptions for touchdowns and returning a muffed punt to [...]
Detroit Lions (4-9) at Arizona Cardinals (4-9) One of the most powerful trends is known as the six and six trend. This says that teams that finish 6-10 or worse struggle to cover as favorites of 6 or more, going 23-64 ATS since 2002. The Lions are currently 4-9 and need to win out to [...]
Last week: 28 (-1) Record: 4-9 Net points per drive: -0.43 (28th) DVOA: -18.5% (27th) Weighted DVOA: -24.6% (28th) Will the Cardinals complete the 4-0 to 4-12 transition? I think so. Their remaining games are against Detroit, Chicago, and San Francisco and they don’t really look close to having things together, especially offensively. Studs None [...]
Arizona Cardinals (4-8) at Seattle Seahawks (7-5) The Seahawks were able to get a rare road win in Chicago last week after face planting in Miami the week before thanks to the road dogs after a road loss trend. This week, it could potentially hurt their ability to win at home because the Cardinals are [...]
Last week: 28 (+0) Record: 4-8 Net points per drive: -0.18 (22nd) DVOA: -9.4% (24th) Weighted DVOA: -10.8% (25th) Studs RT Bobby Massie: Did not allow a pressure on 34 pass block snaps LG Daryn Colledge: Did not allow a pressure on 34 pass block snaps, run blocked for 5 yards on 3 attempts CB [...]
Arizona Cardinals (4-7) at New York Jets (4-7) I’ve started using net points per drive to compute real line. It makes sense. Net points per drive measures how much you outscore opponents by on a given drive and if you take the difference between the two team’s net points per drive and you multiply that [...]
Last week: 22 (-6) Record: 4-7 Net points per drive: -0.19 (22nd) DVOA: -7.9% (22nd) Weighted DVOA: -8.7% (22nd) Tier 7: Terrible Studs LG Daryn Colledge: Did not allow a pressure on 55 pass block snaps RG Adam Snyder: Did not allow a pressure on 55 pass block snaps, 1 penalty CB Patrick Peterson: Did [...]
St. Louis Rams (4-6) at Arizona Cardinals (4-6) The rule of thumb in NFC West divisional matchups is to take the home team. Since 2007, no division covers more often at home than the NFC West, going 106-79 ATS at home, and conversely no team fails to cover more often on the road, going 74-102 [...]
Last week: 23 (+1) Record: 4-6 I’ve watched a lot of football, but I saw two things I’ve never seen before in the Falcons/Cardinals game this week. First, Matt Ryan won despite throwing 5 interceptions and no touchdowns, the first time that’s happened since the merger (Bart Starr did it last). Second, the Cardinals benched [...]
Arizona Cardinals (4-5) at Atlanta Falcons (8-1) The Falcons are 9.5 point favorites here at home, but they’ve struggled to blow teams out this year, winning 5 of their 8 games by a touchdown or less, including 4 against teams who, like the Cardinals, currently have a sub .500 record. 4 of those 5 close [...]
Last week: 23 (+0) Record: 4-5 On bye.
Last week: 23 (+0) Record: 4-5 Well, at least they’ll always have the memory of being 4-0 right. Well, unless someone tries to delete the history of it. Michael Silver proclaimed them the best team in the league after their 3-0 start and I wrote about how he was an idiot for doing so because [...]
Arizona Cardinals (4-4) at Green Bay Packers (5-3) This is what I said about the Cardinals after their 3-0 start. “Almost every year, there’s a team that gets off to a good start and then fades away and misses the playoffs and makes their believers look dumb (“This Ryan Fitzpatrick is the real deal.” “Rex [...]
Last week: 23 (-2) Record: 4-4 I wish Dennis Green was still the Cardinals’ coach. Then he could shout “we are who they thought we were!” I never believed in them. They’ve never been ranked higher than 15th in these Power Rankings, even when they were 4-0. This is what I said about the Cardinals [...]
San Francisco 49ers (5-2) at Arizona Cardinals (4-3) In NFC West matchups, the rule of thumb is to pick the home team. Since 2007, no other division comes close to covering at home at a rate as high as the NFC West, which is 103-74 ATS at in that time period. San Francisco, St. Louis, [...]
Last week: 21 (+0) Record: 4-3 After going 10-1 in an 11 game stretch in games decided by less than a touchdown, the Cardinals have lost 2 straight games of that nature. They must have “forgotten how to win.” Well, before that 11 game stretch, they were 2-8 in their last 10 games of that [...]
Arizona Cardinals (4-2) at Minnesota Vikings (4-2) Wow. Who would have thought when these two teams met week 7, it would be a game of 4-2 teams with potential future playoff ramifications. In a year that has once again been full of surprises, these two are probably the league’s two most surprisingly good teams. However, [...]
Last week: 16 (-5) Record: 4-2 It was also a matter time before Kevin Kolb broke. An injury prone behind that offensive line with an offense that passes that often, it was inevitable. Fun fact about that offensive line (or not so fun if you’re a Cardinals fan): offensive tackles D’Anthony Baptiste and Bobby Massie [...]
Buffalo Bills (2-3) at Arizona Cardinals (4-1) Last week, I called the Arizona Cardinals one of the worst 4-0 teams ever. With Kevin Kolb as their quarterback, no offensive line, and no running game, last week’s offensive catastrophe was inevitable and I don’t think it’s the last one. There’s a reason I frequently ranked them [...]
Last week: 15 (-1) Record: 4-1 Last week, I called the Arizona Cardinals one of the worst 4-0 teams ever. With Kevin Kolb as their quarterback, no offensive line, and no running game, last week’s offensive catastrophe was inevitable and I don’t think it’s the last one. There’s a reason I frequently ranked them lower [...]