It all started with Tom Brady blowing out his knee.
From there, the NFL season only got weirder.
The 2008-09 campaign had it all: the Dallas Cowboys turned into football’s New York Yankees, two doormats (Miami and Atlanta) won 11 games, an NFC finalist tied the Cincinnati Bengals, Kerry Collins revived his career — again, Brett Favre choked — again, the Detroit Lions tanked worse than the economy, and two No. 6 seeds snuck into the conference championships.
Arizona is in the Super Bowl.
And now, the Arizona Cardinals are in Super Bowl XLIII.
That’s right, the Cardinals, a team that’s made the playoffs just twice in the last 25 years with a 155-258-2 record during that span.
It seemed Arizona’s tradition of futility would continue this year. Matt Leinart and Edgerrin James both rode the bench, star receiver Anquan Boldin whined about his contract, and the team ran the ball worse than the Indianapolis Colts.
The ‘08 Cardinals made the postseason by finishing 9-7, but that record is a little misleading. Arizona went 6-0 against the pathetic NFC West, 3-7 against the rest of the league.
But this isn’t college football. Having a tough schedule doesn’t earn you any points.
Despite having an unimpressive regular season, the Cardinals got this far by fixing their mistakes in the playoffs. Arizona’s defense — ranked 19th in the regular season — gave up about six fewer points per game in the playoffs. The Cardinals’ rushing attack finished dead last this year, but Edgerrin James and Co. have averaged 111 yards per game in the postseason. Last but not least, Kurt Warner has been playing like it’s 2001 — the year he last took the St. Louis Rams to the Super Bowl.
Who saw this coming? Warner’s career has seen more ups and downs than the stock market. Just four years ago, Warner absorbed a career-high 39 sacks during a miserable season in New York, and it appeared he was about done. But this year in Arizona, he exploded for 4,583 passing yards and 30 touchdowns on his way to being the third-highest rated passer in the league.
A big part of Warner’s resurgence has been Larry Fitzgerald. After having a career regular season, the receiver carried the Cardinals through the playoffs with 419 yards and five touchdowns. His 419 yards broke the NFL record for yards in a postseason previously held by Jerry Rice. Even without much of a run game, Fitzgerald and the Cardinals’ passing threat have been too much for teams to overcome.
And that’s why the Cardinals (seven point underdogs) are going to surprise us once more, and pull an upset over Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl … even though common sense would say go with the Steelers.
