Brad Cesmat
Four straight seasons without a playoff appearance for the Arizona Cardinals. A 23-39-1 record over that span after Sunday’s 31-24 loss to the Rams. The whole “Protect the Nest” campaign was shown the door when the Pittsburgh Steeler fans took over the Cardinals home field earlier this month. Lot’s of talk about getting things figured out, but the scoreboard is the only metric that matters. Having a pro franchise that loses much more than it wins is not what the fans deserve. The message from the Owner and GM will be the usual, “we’re not happy, we will figure this out”. There will be the narratives about the growth of Kyler Murray(he was the first pick in the draft, he should produce), plucking Kenyon Drake out of Miami(will he be in Arizona in 2020?),
Do I see progress? Sure. Whoever doesn’t believe Chandler Jones should be considered for Defensive MVP just isn’t paying attention. Budda Baker has turned into a very good draft pick and several others. But the perennial playoff teams have very good players littered throughout their roster. Not just a handful. Murray is worth the price of admission. Kliff Kingsbury got better as the season progressed.
But unless there are some major purchases in free agency or hitting on a several players in the draft, the Cardinals will be picked to finish third or fourth in the NFC West next season. In this market, where the sports dollar is spread wafer thin, the Coyotes are on their way to the postseason. The Diamondbacks and Arizona State football look like they’ll be more than a little bit interesting in 2020. Sure, the NFL fans in Arizona will buy tickets when Philadelphia, Buffale, .and the NFC West come to the Valley.
Two playoff seasons in the last nine is what the record shows. One can only hope that the 20’s will be kinder to the hometown hero’s on the football field.
