DESERTED CARDINALS OF ARIZONA

 

         Arizona has always been known for its natural attractions.  The weather there is mostly dry, non-humid heat.   The cuisine is mostly southwestern with its unique Sonoran style of Mexican food with its bold flavors and plenty of chili peppers & spices, especially on the southern border of Arizona.  Other styles of food you can find out there are mesquite barbecued meats because of the mesquite trees that are Indigenous to Arizona.  The Velvet, Honey, and Arizona native mesquite trees can all be found there and are all very useful for their unique dishes.  Another reason people would be intrigued to visit or live in this southwest state is the beautiful natural sites all around including the Grand Canyon, Saguaro National Park, Monument Valley, and then of course the city of Tucson.  The NFL team that calls Arizona its home is about two hours north of Tucson in Glendale, Arizona.

 

CARDINALS FRANCHISE HISTORY:

        The Arizona Cardinals were established as a football team in 1898 as the Morgan Athletic Club in Chicago.  The Cardinals were the first football franchise in the United States and are one of only two original franchises still operating in the NFL.  The other active original team is the Chicago Bears.  Arizona hasn’t always been the home for the Cardinals though, they have moved multiple times and have had several different names along the way.  After they were known as the Morgan Athletic Club (1898), they became the Racine Normals (1899-1900), and then they were known as the Racine Street Cardinals (1901-1906, 1913-1919).  It wasn’t until 1920-1943 that they became the Chicago Cardinals and then again from 1945-1959.  In 1944, the Cardinals merged with the Pittsburgh Steelers and were named Card-Pitt due to a draft that had many players lost for at least a season if not longer. 

        Upon the 1960 season, the Cardinals moved to St. Louis where they played from 1960-1987 before making their way to the state of Arizona to become the Phoenix Cardinals (1988-1993) where they played their home games for 18 years at Arizona State University’s Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona.  It wasn’t until the 1994 season that the Cardinals changed their name yet again to the Arizona Cardinals which is still their name today.  Though the Cardinals are one of the two original American football teams they unfortunately do not boast a good winning percentage. They possess one of the worst in NFL history dating back to 1920 when they first took on the Cardinals name.  From 1920 to 2023, the Cardinals franchise had an overall win percentage of just 42.4%, they own the most losses by any franchise in NFL history with over 800 losses in the regular season, and as Arizona fans already know, they also own the current longest active championship drought in North American sports. (77 years since their last championship) In the Cardinals' entire history, they have won just two Championships that date back to 1925 and then again in 1947.  Since the NFL renamed their ultimate game from the Championship Game to the Super Bowl, the Cardinals have only made one Super Bowl appearance in 2008.

        The Arizona Cardinals are in a group of their own in the NFL, though it is not a group you would want to be associated with, as they are currently one of twelve NFL teams to have never won a Super Bowl Title.  These Cardinals have more than 200 more losses than wins in their respective team’s history.  It may not surprise you that the Cards have only made it to the playoffs nine times since the Super Bowl era was born.  They have had some pretty good teams over the past three decades, they were just never good enough to earn a title.  The division they play in (NFC West) is also considered one of the toughest in the NFL.  The other three teams in their division have all individually either played in or won the Super Bowl within the past 10 years.  In the NFC West, the Cardinals divisional opponents consist of the Seattle Seahawks, who won the Super Bowl in 2014, the Los Angeles Rams won in 2022, then there are the San Francisco 49ers who have been in two of the last five Super Bowls though have lost both of those games coincidentally to the same Kansas City Chiefs team twice.

 

KEN WHISENHUNT ERA:  

        During Ken Whisenhunt's time as the Arizona Cardinals Head Coach, the Cards seemed to be in better spirits.  The Cardinals enjoyed some success under Whisenhunt as he had led the Cardinals to six playoff games in his tenure and they enjoyed a playoff record of 4-2, however, his overall win-loss record was under .500, 45-51.  Most people probably forget that these Cards had one of the best wide receiver tandems in NFL history in future Hall of Famer, Larry Fitzgerald and his teammate of six seasons, Anquan Boldin.  Larry Fitzgerald was a staple for Arizona for 17 years and produced over 17,000 yards and 121 touchdowns within 263 games.  Larry is an 11-time Pro Bowler, 1-time All-Pro, and was voted to the HOF All-2010s Team.  Anquan Boldin was a 3-time Pro Bowler, 2003 AP OROY and a 1-time Super Bowl Champion.

        Another player that made the Cardinals a legit threat to the rest of the league was the 4-time Pro Bowl, 2-time All-Pro, 1-time Super Bowl Champ, Super Bowl XXXIV MVP, and 1999 PFWA OPOY quarterback Kurt Warner.  Kurt was one of the best overall QBs of the last thirty years with a much different story than most.  I don’t think there is another story in comparison to Kurt’s as he was originally a walk-on for the Green Bay Packers after going undrafted in 1994.  The Packers cut Kurt as he was not good enough in their opinion to even be their third string.  The funny thing is Kurt Warner ended his career with a trip to Canton, Ohio when he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017.  Warner had a few stops along his way to Canton; after getting cut from the Packers he spent a few years with the Iowa Barnstormers (Pro indoor team) before arriving in St. Louis to play for the Rams.  It was this move that helped his career take off.  Fast forward to 2005 when Warner signed with the Cardinals.  Kurt was originally brought to Arizona to be a bridge QB and help develop the USC standout Matt Leinart; however, the opposite became the team’s destiny as Leinart never quite worked out and Warner had the Cards in the Super Bowl in his fourth year there.  For Warner, this was his third Super Bowl appearance, and he became the NFL’s second quarterback to take two teams to the Super Bowl.

        This Cards Super Bowl team had a magical run on their way to the 2008 Super Bowl.  They had an elite offense behind their pass catchers in Fitzgerald and Boldin, but they also had a good offensive line and one of the better running backs of the 2000s in Edgerrin James.  Their defense also had some dawgs with defensive end Antonio Smith, Linebackers, Chike Okeafor and Karlos Dansby, then their defensive backs.  This team posed a major threat with two of the best safeties in the game Antrel Rolle & Adrian Wilson.  En route to their first Super Bowl appearance, they had to play three straight games before reaching their ultimate goal, the Super Bowl, as they had a regular season record of 9-7 and did not lock up a first-round bye week.  In the Wild Card round, they beat the Atlanta Falcons 30-24, and in the Divisional round, they faced the Carolina Panthers and prevailed 33-13.  The NFC Championship Game had the Cards host the Philadelphia Eagles which they were also victorious 32-25.  They had everything going for them until they got to the Super Bowl where they played an unbelievably great coached team in the Pittsburgh Steelers.  We all probably remember how that game ended, however, if the Cardinals had scored a touchdown from only two yards out with 18 seconds on the clock before halftime, then the outcome could’ve been completely different.  Instead, we all watched as Kurt missed Boldin on what looked to be a 2-3 step slant when James Harrison stepped in front of him to intercept the pass and bring it the length of the field back to the endzone.

 

CURRENT 2024 CARDINALS:

           This current Arizona team is much different from the top down.  Their current Head Coach is Jonathan Gannon who was signed to a five-year contract before the 2023 season.  Before Gannon was announced as the Arizona Cardinals Head Coach he made a name for himself as the Philadelphia Eagles Defensive Coordinator during the 2021-2022 seasons.  Gannon is now in his second season as the Cards’ Head Coach, and you must figure this will not be his last regardless of the team’s record at the season’s end.  I firmly believe this is the truth in Glendale, Arizona, as last season was a throwaway year.  Gannon could only watch as his team suffered a terrible season-long defeat after losing their superstar quarterback, Kyler Murray.  Kyler went down in December of 2022 to an ACL tear, but once he returned to full health Kyler looked very good.  Regarding fantasy football, Murray had ranked eighth among all starting QBs from weeks 10-18 last season once he was back under center.  He also ranked sixth in fantasy points per game.  Kyler has a win-loss record of 29-37-1 in the regular season along with losing his only playoff game in his six seasons as an NFL starter.

        Kyler is a very talented player who shows special abilities.  He is a dual-threat QB who can extend plays using his legs, even behind somewhat less desirable O-line play.  Kyler is very accurate with his deep ball throws; he has great awareness both in and outside the pocket.  He has speed that most quarterbacks do not possess and can take off when the pocket crumbles around him.  He is also like Lamar Jackson given his vision as a runner, which he has shown through his ability to make tacklers miss with his natural, God-given athleticism and agility.  He also always makes sure he never takes a big hit in the process.  Murray always leaves it all out on the field every Sunday.  Now he has some shiny new toys that the Cardinals have brought in the past couple of off-seasons through the Draft and free agency.

        General Manager of the Cardinals Monti Ossenfort has taken some swings in the NFL Drafts that have been major hits.  When you see the Tight End Trey McBride accumulate over 1,100 yards on 90 receptions for Colorado State you don’t think twice about drafting him if he were to fall to your team.  Monti did exactly that and in his rookie season, he showed some flashes but shared snaps with veteran TE Zach Ertz.  McBride’s second year he caught fire catching 81 passes for 825 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns, while only starting 12 games.  Now Trey is in his fourth year and is the sole number-one Tight End for the Cards.  Ertz is now a part of the Washington Commanders, and I project McBride to have a fruitful statistical season.  I project Trey McBride to have 88 receptions, 1,050 yards, and 8 TDs.

        Another major draft pick that will help change the trajectory of the Cardinals’ offense and team, in general, would be, none other than Hall of Famer and longtime Indianapolis Colt’s wideout Marvin Harrison’s son.  Marvin Harrison Jr. looks to be every bit of a franchise receiver.  At Ohio State, he wowed Buckeye fans in his sophomore year when he caught 77 receptions for 1,263 yards and scored 14 touchdowns.  He nearly repeated this production his junior year with 1,211 yards and 15 total TDs minus 10 receptions (67 rec as a junior).  With Marvin Jr. as the Cards' true number-one option in the passing game, I can see him producing at a high level for the next several years with Kyler Murray at the helm.  I like Marvin Harrison Jr. to record about 98 receptions for about 1,280 receiving yards and around 12 touchdowns this season.  In his first game as a pro, he had a dud, but in his second game, he showed up and showed out, scoring twice in the first half against the division-rival Los Angeles Rams.  Marvin's final stat line for week two was 4 rec, 130 yards, and 2 TDs.

        When it comes down to it, I certainly believe that this team is now in a good place, under good management, and has a good coaching staff.  The Cardinals are full of untapped potential and young talent on offense and defense.  Kyler Murray in my opinion, is an immensely talented quarterback, though maybe not a top-ten QB at this given time.  Having James Conner in the backfield is also very helpful as he is a hard runner with good vision and doesn’t turn the ball over.  Then you add in Harrison Jr., Trey McBride, wideouts Michael Wilson, and Greg Dortch and that is an offense that can wreck even the best of defenses.  Through the first two weeks of the season the Arizona Cardinals are now 1-1.  In week one Arizona lost to Buffalo 34-28 and in week two the Cards shredded the Rams 41-10.

VIKTOR THE VIKING'S VITAL VICTORIES

 

PURPLE PEOPLE EATERS:

            Long ago, a Professional American Football team destroyed every one of their opponent’s offenses every single week.  This was because of the Minnesota Vikings' lethal defensive linemen which consisted of five of the most feared men in professional football.  If you don’t know what I am referring to, I am talking about Alan Page, Gary Larsen, Jim Marshall, Carl Eller, and Doug Sutherland.  Their constant dominance between 1967 and 1977 put the Vikings on the map and would become one of the best defenses in football history.  The Minnesota Vikings quickly became a popular team because of their fearsome defenses.  Their nickname at the time was “The Purple People Eaters”.  This group of men that turned the Vikings into every opponent’s nightmare was heavily predicated on this team’s successful decade of defense.  During their decade of defensive dominance, Minnesota won ten NFC Central division titles within eleven years.  Minnesota never won the Super Bowl with The Purple People Eaters, although they still managed to do something special in that era.

           During the Minnesota Vikings' years of defensive supremacy coached by their Head Coach Bud Grant, they were known for having a powerhouse defensive line that both restricted their opposing teams and also constricted the offenses on the other side of the line.  As one of the NFL’s best defenses to ever play, The Purple People Eaters set some highly, unlikely repeated feats.  In 1969 the Vikings gave up only 3.4 yards per attempt, while only allowing the second-lowest total points per game (9.5 ppg) in NFL history.  In 1970 this same defense only yielded 10.2 ppg, in 1971 the purple and gold ended the season second in the fewest yards allowed while also ranking first in the NFL in ppg (9.9).  1971 was a special year for their defense, allowing twenty or more points only once that season.  Minnesota had reached yet another benchmark with their suffocating defense in 1975 by becoming the first NFL team to end the season leading the league in total defense, pass defense, and rush defense. 

     Indeed, The Purple People Eaters had a fantastic decade-long run and appeared in four Super Bowls (1970,1974,1975,1977) though unfortunately for the Vikings and Minneapolis, Minnesota they lost all four games.  Their reward didn’t exactly come in the results that they and their die-hard fans of Minneapolis would have hoped for, yet they did get something out of it.  While not everyone was recognized for the purple and gold through their defensive golden years, four men had received the best possible honor you can outside of hoisting the Lombardi.   Alan Page, Carl Eller, Jim Marshall, and Gary Larsen eventually all ended up in Canton, Ohio when they were inducted into the Hall of Fame.  Though they may not have ended up with those prestigious Super Bowl Championship rings that could’ve been passed down for generations through loved ones.  They instead got some of their player's faces sculpted into busts that will live on forever in the NFL’s Hall of Fame.  

 

KEVIN O’CONNELL ERA:

           When the 2022 NFL season approached, the previous Offensive Coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams (2020-2021) Kevin O’Connell along with, at the time, Washington Redskins (2019) coaching various other positions such as quarterbacks coach, (Cleveland Browns, 2015, San Fran, 2016, Washington 2017-2018) special projects, and passing gamer coordinator was hired to replace the Minnesota Vikings previous head coach (Mike Zimmer) of several seasons.  Before O’Connell arrived in Minnesota, he came fresh off a Super Bowl victory with the Los Angeles Rams who beat the Cincinnati Bengals in a closely contested 23-20 win.  In Kevin O’Connell’s first season as the Vikings' Head Coach, they won the NFC North with a surprising 13-4 record, however, what was even more surprising was that they ended up losing to the New York Giants in the NFC Wild Card game at home 31-24.  For both Kevin and the Vikings to win the division in his first year was crazy, especially because Aaron Rodgers was still on the Green Bay Packers at the time plus the Detroit Lions were on the start of an upswing, just barely missing the playoffs due to a tiebreaker to the Seattle Seahawks that had beat the Lions earlier that season. 

 

2024 MINNESOTA VIKINGS:

           Some of Minnesota’s top familiar faces have been shipped out of town in the last few seasons, like superstar wideout Stefon Diggs.  In 2020 Diggs was the first big name that left the Vikings after being traded to Buffalo and since has been traded again this past offseason to the Houston Texans.  They also decided to release their old running back Dalvin Cook plus yet another Pro Bowler, wide receiver, and hometown hero Adam Thielen.  After Thielen’s ten seasons as a Viking, he was signed by the Carolina Panthers as a free agent just a few seasons ago.  Still, with all those missing offensive pieces, they continued to be very good on offense because of Head Coach & offensive guru Kevin O’Connell and quarterback Kirk Cousins.  In with the new out with the old right?  That’s exactly how the Vikings handled their business, even with Kirk Cousins.  Kirk was injured last year as he suffered a torn Achilles back in week eight of last season.  As heartbreaking as it was seeing Kirk’s last season as a Viking cut short due to such a grueling injury, it was pretty much assumed before the injury that it would’ve probably been his last one there regardless.  Kirk turned 36 years old in mid-August and he never quite brought Minnesota to the promised land, so this is the business side of things in the NFL. 

          Now we start the J.J. McCarthy era, actually, we will have to put that on pause until next season.  McCarthy ended up on IR (injured reserve) and needs a complete Meniscus repair.  This dreadful injury came in a preseason game where McCarthy oddly enough threw a touchdown.  On the play in which he got injured, there wasn't any contact, and J.J. walked off the field without showing any signs of an injury.  J.J. McCarthy was drafted in the first round of this year's NFL Draft and is fresh off his National Championship Win, where he played under now ex-Michigan Head Coach Jim Harbaugh who signed a massive deal to be the Los Angeles Chargers' new Head Coach.  J.J. was very efficient as the Michigan Wolverines quarterback in his junior year, he completed over 72% of his passes.  However, his numbers do not reflect that of a top-caliber quarterback as he threw for 2,991 passing yards, 22 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions.  J.J. may not have had the greatest stats but fortunately for him, he was not asked to produce at a high level given Michigan’s stout defense alongside their efficient ground game. 

          When Michigan’s Head Coach needed to rely on the passing game, he knew that McCarthy wouldn’t turn the ball over, which is apparent as he only threw 11 total interceptions in his collegiate career.  In J.J.’s sophomore and junior seasons, he averaged about 200 yards through the air per game and had a passer efficiency rating of 155.0 or higher.  Like I said above McCarthy may not have had eye-popping statistics in Michigan, but he did end up finishing tenth in Heisman Trophy Voting in 2023.  That alone shows how good of a player he was when you think about how many teams and players there are in the nation.  I know that McCarthy will be itching at the bit to get back out on the field as soon as he is healthy again and I figure he must be dying to be able to throw some darts to the Viking’s incredibly talented wide receiver Justin Jefferson.

         Justin Jefferson is an elite standout player not just for Minnesota but is also highly regarded throughout the league as one of one.  You have Ja'Marr Chase, Tyreek Hill, and Justin Jefferson at the top of the list of wide receivers in the NFL.  There are a couple of other great receivers, but most people in the league would tell you that they are the top dawgs right now.  Justin Jefferson started his dominance as an LSU Tiger in 2019 as a junior when his ex-QB, now Cincinnati Bengal Joe Burrow helped him achieve insane numbers in just 15 games (111 rec, 1540 yds, 18 TDs).  From that time on, a star was born.  During Jefferson’s rookie NFL season fans watched him ball out, grabbing 88 receptions, 1,400 yards, and scoring 7 touchdowns.  In his second season, he continued to further elevate his game once again hoisting in 108 passes, 1,616 yards, and 10 TDS.  In 2022 Justin made it to his third consecutive Pro Bowl while receiving a First Team AP All-Pro nod.  That season he was targeted 184 times, caught 128 balls for 1,809 yards, and brought in 8 touchdowns.  He averaged 106.4 receiving yards per game in his third year before missing seven games last season.  Jefferson recently made NFL history this week for tying a record as the fastest player to reach 6,000 receiving yards in only his sixty-second career game.  This benchmark matched Jefferson to an all-time great Hall of Fame NFL receiver Lance Alworth who set this incredible record in the 1960’s while playing for the San Diego Chargers.

         There are a lot of unknowns for the Minnesota Vikings and their fans for this season.  What is known is that they have a hell of a Head Coach, a great Defensive Coordinator in Brian Flores, a very reliable backup quarterback Sam Darnold, and a top wideout in Jefferson.  They pose a threat both on offense and defense with a very talented roster plus they brought in some good veterans like ex-Packer’s runner Aaron Jones alongside a slew of defensive vets.  Even in one of the toughest divisions in football, the sky is the limit for these Minnesota Vikings.  Throughout the first two weeks of the season Minnesota finds themselves in sole possession for the division lead in the NFC North at 2-0.  Week one may come as no surprise as they beat the lackluster New York Giants 28-6, then this past Sunday the Purple & Gold hosted last year’s NFC Champs and came out on top with a massive upset winning 23-17 against the San Francisco Forty-Niners.