This year's Cardinals kind of remind me of the 2011 49ers

[RolandDeschain]

The 2011 team took the league by storm and nobody had an answer until the next season.

This literally happens every single year in the NFL. Sustaining success is infinitely harder than "bursting" success. You might say you have sustained success, and if it's defined by winning a lot of games and going deep into the playoffs, then absolutely three years running; but, your defense was figured out to an extent and not as amazing the following year in 2012, but your offense stepped up to compensate. 2013, your defense was quite a bit worse than in 2012, but still good, make no mistake.

Regarding Cowboy to Watt, well, I have watched a fair number of the Niners games each year since Harbaugh arrived in S.F., and let's just say that I don't think Cowboy was Watt-level in 2011. Plus, Watt is sustaining his level of play.

Just...take it easy there, bro.

 

[Hasselbeck]

I don't trust Drew Stanton to turn the Cardinals into a playoff team as they start to hit the real meat of their schedule. Because Carson Palmer isn't playing any time soon. His injury compares a bit to Peyton Manning's when he had to shut it down for the year. He literally can't grab a football. That's not a good thing for a quarterback.

That said, their running game is meh at best, and they do have nice weapons in the passing game (I think John Brown will become the next T.Y. Hilton for them in time) .. I just don't see Drew Stanton beating the likes of Seattle (2x), Denver, Philly, and even pesky opponents like Dallas, Atlanta (in the dome where they are a completely different team), Detroit, Kansas City or St. Louis will give them fits.

I think their best case still is a 10-6 season.. and that's if Palmer's injury winds up finally healing somehow (again, which does not seem like a very safe bet right now)

That annoying team that keeps winning games they probably shouldn't and will hang around all year is probably Santa Clara and not Arizona.

 

[Popeyejones]

To put it simply, when I see the Cards shutting teams down, getting turnovers week after week while relentlessly running the ball down opponents throat that results in numerous 12 play, 60 yard, 8 minute drives for the entire season I will think the Cards look like the 2011 Niners.

Arians likes to gamble on offense and when it pays off he looks like a great coach, but those gambles are very Rex Grossmanesque. Honestly, I had the Cards at 2-1 right now with the Niners game being a loss. A win for the Cards that had a lot more to do with the Niners than it did the Cards.

I just haven't seen anything that leads me to believe the Cards are poised for a season like the Niners had in 2011. Not in 3 games.

Very nice summary. This is where I sit too. The only thing I'd add is that they gamble on defense just as much as they do on offense, and I don't think they have the pieces in place for it to be as effective this year as it was last year.

 

[Popeyejones]

The 2011 team took the league by storm and nobody had an answer until the next season.

This literally happens every single year in the NFL. Sustaining success is infinitely harder than "bursting" success. You might say you have sustained success, and if it's defined by winning a lot of games and going deep into the playoffs, then absolutely three years running; but, your defense was figured out to an extent and not as amazing the following year in 2012, but your offense stepped up to compensate. 2013, your defense was quite a bit worse than in 2012, but still good, make no mistake.

Regarding Cowboy to Watt, well, I have watched a fair number of the Niners games each year since Harbaugh arrived in S.F., and let's just say that I don't think Cowboy was Watt-level in 2011. Plus, Watt is sustaining his level of play.

Just...take it easy there, bro.

On the first point, IIRC the defense was third in DVOA in '11 and fourth in '12, which was surprising to everyone because they weren't feasting off of fluky turnovers. Then they regressed in '13.

Agreed on the second point. Saying anyone has ever compared to Watt's 2012 season is pretty foolish, IMO. It was definitely the most complete and dominant season by a defensive player since I started watching the NFL in the mid 1980s. Justin Smith had an amazing year in '11 and was massively fun to watch as a 9ers fan, but saying he wasn't Watt really isn't an insult. Watt's year was that great.

 

[Popeyejones]

But yeah, with Stanton it's not been the prettiest. Hence the point I was making, which is that they are 2-0 when he starts despite his suckiness. And it's not like Arizona was beating the Jags or Raiders those weeks either.

FWIW Stanton played pretty well against the 9ers. He looked like a different guy from the week before. I might even go so far as to say that he played as well as the 9ers played poorly.

I don't think there's any chance at all of him having a Josh McCown like season for them (McCown just isn't particularly great at anything, whereas Stanton is downright bad at some things and the Cardinals don't have the other pieces on offense that the Bears have), but he has had a nice outing. That's not going to last though. His two starts have come against two of the worst teams in the league at generating pressure, and he completely folds under pressure (as we saw in the Bears game).

 

[RolandDeschain]

Justin Smith had an amazing year in '11 and was massively fun to watch as a 9ers fan, but saying he wasn't Watt really isn't an insult. Watt's year was that great.

Exactly. Watt is a generational player, and depending on how his career shakes out, it's POSSIBLE he might one day be considered the best defender to ever play the game.

 

[theENGLISHseahawk]

I think they'll come down to earth a bit over the next few weeks.

Drew Stanton is still Drew Stanton. Their O-line still has issues. They've lost key players on defense. The best thing they have is a monster of a Defensive front and some weapons on offense.

 

[ringless]

Looks like we will also be missing our starting LG for this game, I just dont see anyway we win with what we are going through and it keeps going from bad to worse on injuries.... I had high hopes for this year, and had we stayed healthy we would have had a chance at the division, 2nd place would've be ours for sure...

 

[Popeyejones]

Looks like we will also be missing our starting LG for this game, I just dont see anyway we win with what we are going through and it keeps going from bad to worse on injuries.... I had high hopes for this year, and had we stayed healthy we would have had a chance at the division, 2nd place would've be ours for sure...

IMO it's one of those years to think long term. In that spirit, I think Jonathan Cooper getting some run is better than him sitting around and waiting. I also think the Cards have really hit on some picks on both sides of the ball (Floyd, Ellington, Buchanon and Mathieu) and they're well coached and play good schemes on both sides of the ball. I know I've been down on them and don't think they're as good as last year, but given what they've lost in the last six months I still think they're darn impressive.

To be totally honest, you guys were never going to win a Super Bowl (or likely even the NFCW) during Palmer's run, and in the long run if Stanton stinks it up and the Cards have more draft capital to get a QB they're going to be MUCH better off long term. If things fall right they'll be in a really strong place to compete in a couple years after the 9ers have aged out and the Hawks have been ravaged by FA and paying their stars at value.*

*One or both of these things could of course not happen, but it's the Cards' best shot IMO.