Carson: The Cardinals Jenga Piece

Article by Robert Newell

 

I am sure by now that many of you will be aware of the work of NFL.com broadcaster Dave Dameshek. One of his more popular theories in recent years is that each team has a Jenga piece that the removal of that player will mean the entire team collapses.  Dameshek would normally look at other positions than QB as that is normally too easy to state that the QB is the most important player on the team.

However, I present the evidence of the 2014 Arizona Cardinals (you can also consider the second half of the 2013 Cardinals) and betide anyone to identify a more important piece of that team that Carson Palmer.  I apologise for the shock that statement must cause to any fans of the Cincinnati Bengals and Oakland Raiders, who have both previously had the Palmer experience to not a great deal of success, but under the tutelage of Bruce Arians, Palmer has managed to go 15-2 in his last 17 starts.

 

At the time of getting injured in 2014, Palmer had managed to clearly establish the Cardinals atop the ultra-competitive NFC West, steering the Cardinals out to a 10-1 start, without a particularly effective running game.  Obviously at that point the Cardinals QB position became a revolving door as the Cardinals spluttered to a premature end, when at one point they appeared to have a shot of being the first team to play at their home field in a Super Bowl.

The news out of Arizona going into training camp ahead of the 2015 season is that Palmer is ahead of schedule in his rehab.  This has caused some players to express to the media that they believe that the Cardinals are looking for a Super Bowl run, and they believe they are on track to appear in Super Bowl 50 next February.

 

What evidence is there to back up their optimism, apart from the returning Carson Palmer and hopefully re-establishing some stability in the QB position.  Well, you have to believe that two time coach of the year Bruce Arians will find a way to get the most out of the Cardinals offence,  nearly all the Cardinals starters are returning to the offence for 2015, including future Hall of Famer, Larry Fitzgerald.  Obviously as I have suggested in previous articles, the Cardinals were strongly linked to Adrian Peterson, who has remained in Minnesota.

The Cardinals will therefore be putting their backfield hopes in a fit again Andre Ellington and hoping that he can find the form that earned comparisons to Jamaal Charles of the Chiefs.  The Cardinals did draft David Johnson in the 3^rd round as well, and there have been many positive stories out of Arizona about the form of the rookie, and both of these will be running behind a stronger offensive line, including new signing at left guard Mike Iapati from San Francisco.  The hope is that the Cardinals will therefore be a more balance offensive team, but you know Arians will still be looking for the big play whenever possible.

The Cardinals defence has seen more turnover, but not many of the players who left were actually starting last year.  Antonio Cromartie is probably the biggest absence, but losing a No.2 cornerback is not really the biggest need for concern.  Defensive co-ordinator Todd Bowles is now the Head Coach of the Jets, and his replacement although he has the full backing of Arians has never been a co-ordinator before, so what impact will this have on what was an impressive defence last year.

The Birdgang faithful may want to hold off on the San Francisco hotel bookings for next February just for now, but there is every reason to hope that if any team can overcome Seattle, it might just be the team from Arizona.