Arizona would have .5 edge over Green Bay in the event of a victory over Atlanta in conference records, after that their major test is a home game against Detroit. Seattle pretty much has the same schedule with the exception that St. Louis & San Francisco are home games. They fly out to Arizona in two weeks.
The injuries & suspensions this team has endured and still turned in a season like this, not just the overall record, they faced a very difficult road--they have the highest strength of victory % in the NFC. They have head-to-head tiebreakers over every NFC team in the playoff race except for Green Bay & Seattle. KC was yet another second half shutout.
I never had high hopes for back-to-back road games in Seattle & Atlanta in any scenario. I never have high expectations for QB performance against Seattle but Stanton played well last 2 games. The 2 picks on the stat sheet jumped out to analysts but the first one just ended the drive, didn't lead to any points. The second was late in the 4th down by 2 scores, neither effected the outcome. Stalling in midfield was a problem but a Michael Floyd fumble at the Atlanta 32 after a first down reception was a bigger problem. The game featured un-charactistically bad game by Patrick Peterson who took the blame after the game, he said his teammates reassured him saying it is a "team game" but said that he can't help but notice the yards Julio Jones racked up and feel it would have been a different game without them which the local media transitioned from the clip of Peterson blaming himself for the loss to themselves blaming Stanton for the loss. The narrative when it comes to this team baffles me sometimes.
Anamolies like Peterson don't concern me and he & the overall team seems to have the right attitude & approach. What does is more injuries to more key contributors, Andre Ellington was a major blow. The speculation that the Cardinals might sign Ray Rice was odd considering they have Jonathan Dwyer on roster who they deactivated for reasons very similar to Ray Rice. Part of the reason why they are desperate for options at running back, their scout team running back gained a 100 yards against KC -- I don't know how they do it. Fitzgerald returned after missing 2 games but other starters were out such as Tyrann Mathieu. Cromartie also went down in the 3rd quarter but luckily depth in the secondary is not an issue.
Stanton going down would end the season as their third stringer is a rookie run first QB from Virginia Tech who Arians didn't even use the playbook for the 4th preseason game. There were actually calls to bench him from Cardinals fans which is ironic because benching Palmer in favor of Stanton was a popular sentiment early last season. St. Louis is who injured Carson Palmer after one of several sacks, who also forced a red zone interception under duress. Arizona ended up winning with a 48-yard pass to John Brown with 4 minutes remaining which was followed by back-to-back defensive touchdowns which is why Shaun Hill is playing today and not Austin Davis.
Cardinals have never had a serious shot at a #1 seed but I'm somehow desperate for any sort of advantage Arizona can gain going into the post-season. If Arizona was a wild card last season with a 10-6 record I'd feel fairly comfortable with Daryl Washington(PED), Karlos Dansby(Cleveland), John Abraham(concussions), and Darnell Dockett(season ending IR). Not to mention the losses on offense I already mentioned.
I have to remind myself they sit on 1st place every time I hit the panic button.
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