If I had asked you a month ago to guess which two NFL teams would be unbeaten by October, how many guesses would it have taken before you picked the Arizona Cardinals? If you know much about the NFL, chances are you would have guessed Seattle, Denver, San Francisco or maybe Philadelphia before you would have correctly guessed Cincinnati. Chances are that after that you would have guessed New England, Indianapolis, San Diego, Kansas City, Green Bay or Pittsburgh before you even considered that the Cardinals would be unbeaten and leading what is most likely the toughest division in the league.
Even more remarkable is adversity the Cardinals had to overcome to be undefeated so far:
In week one, the Cardinals opened the season on the second game of the Monday Night Football double-header. Despite home field advantage, most experts considered the visiting San Diego Chargers to be the favorites to win the game. The Cardinals were trailing by eleven points at the end of third quarter, but rallied to score twelve unanswered points to win the game. Impressive for a team with a notorious history of collapsing on prime time television. The Cardinals won the game, but lost last season's sack leader John Abraham to a season ending concussion, and starting quarterback Carson Palmer to nerve injury that has kept him on the sidelines since.
In week two, the Cardinals went on the road to play the New York Giants. With Palmer on the sidelines, the Cardinals were forced to start back-up quarterback Drew Stanton, who hadn't started an NFL game since 2010. His stats weren't terrific, but Stanton played well and didn't commit a single turnover. The Cardinals struggled, but once again were able to come from behind and win on the road. While the Giants weren't the strongest opponent, the Cardinals, like many west coast teams have a difficult time when playing early games on the east coast. Later the next week, Cardinals running back Jonathan Dwyer, the team's go-to-guy near the end zone, was arrested for aggravated assault on his wife (for an incident which happened last summer). Despite being released on bail, the team wasted little time and deactivated him indefinitely.
In week three, the Cardinals were back home to face the San Francisco Forty-Niners. Once again, the Cardinals were the underdogs, justifiably so considering the Cardinals had only beaten them once in their last ten meetings. Once again the Cardinals had to come from behind to win the game. Rookie wide receiver John Brown caught two touchdown passes to lead the team to victory, and lead the team in TD receptions ahead of Larry Fitzgerald (0) and Michael Floyd (1).
If you had told me before the season started that the Arizona Cardinals would be unbeaten in October, with Drew Stanton starting two games, with John Brown leading the team in TD receptions, and a defense that was missing Karlos Dansby (free-agency) Daryl Washington (substance abuse), Darnell Dockett (injured reserve), John Abraham (injured reserve), from last years' squad I wouldn't have believed you. I probably would have told you that I have a better chance of winning the lottery, getting struck by lightning, surviving a plane crash, and attacked by a shark in the same hour.
Sadly, it was only two years ago that I was writing about the Cardinals going into October undefeated. Back then I thought that the team wasn't as good as their record was, and they were using smoke and mirrors. Unfortunately I was right. The 2012 Cardinals would go on to lose nine straight games, and finish the season 5-11. That monumental collapse would end up costing head coach Ken Whisenhunt, and general manager Rod Graves their jobs.
I was on a cruise last July and saw a really good magician live. I really enjoyed his first show, so I went to the second show the following night. The first show was good, but the second show was so much better. I can suspend belief enough to enjoy the illusion without knowing how it's done. I'm just hoping that with this second show, head coach Bruce Arians, and general manager Steve Keim can extend the Cardinals unbeaten streak and keep the magic going.
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