NFL Standings 2014: Arizona Cardinals Take Over NFC West Ahead of Seattle Seahawks & San Francisco 49ers
The 2014 NFL season is already nine weeks complete, and the Arizona Cardinals have the single best record in the entire league.
The division they play in, the NFC West, is widely regarded as one of the toughest divisions in all of football. Either the San Francisco 49ers or the Seattle Seahawks have won this division the last four consecutive seasons. Both the 49ers and Seahawks have represented the NFC in the Super Bowl the last two seasons, with the Seahawks winning it all last year over the Denver Broncos.
But the Cardinals are trying to erase that streak.
The Cardinals are currently 7-1, flying atop the NFL standings. Quarterback Carson Palmer is turning back the clock, playing like he used to with the Cincinnati Bengals. The former No. 1 overall draft pick from USC has 11 touchdowns and just two interceptions this season. Palmer's passer rating this season (99.3) is the highest since the 2005 season, his second year in the league. After struggling with the Oakland Raiders, and a disappointing season last year with 22 interceptions, Palmer appears to have found his groove again.
Palmer is 5-0 as a starter this season. Backup quarterback Drew Stanton is 2-1 as a starter for the Cardinals.
The heart and soul of the Cardinals is in wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who has been one of the best wide outs of the 21st century and continues to make unbelievable catches. Fitzgerald leads the Cardinals in receiving yards with 513 and receptions with 35 catches. Running back Andre Ellington has been a very big bright spot on a team that had a lot of questions at the running back position. This season Ellington has 559 yards on the ground despite being just a sixth round draft pick in 2013.
Bruce Arians has been doing a phenomenal job as the Cardinals head coach. Since taking over the Cardinals last year, the Cardinals are 17-7 under Arians, who also led the 2012 Indianapolis Colts to a 9-3 record with Chuck Pagano out. Most NFL experts believe Arians is the top Coach of the Year candidate so far.
The Cardinals rank 19th overall in defense and 23rd overall in offense. That doesn't sound like a winning formula for a 7-1 team, but there's more to it than that. The Cardinals are a very good red-zone defensive team, forcing a lot of field goals, and they have the No. 1-ranked rushing defense in the entire NFL.
Dallas Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray had run for an NFL-record 100 yards in every game this season. But that didn't intimidate the Cardinals. In Week 9 against the Cardinals, Murray ran for just 79 yards and zero touchdowns.
It's been a rough road for this Cardinals franchise since Kurt Warner retired in 2009. Warner led the Cardinals to amazing Super Bowl run in the 2008 NFL season and another playoff appearance the very next season. Unfortunately, the Cardinals have not made the playoffs since Warner retired.
The Seattle Seahawks are currently 5-3, and their defense hasn't looked nearly as good as last season. Russell Wilson doesn't have a lot of reliable targets to throw to and Marshawn Lynch continues to clash with management. Still, the Seahawks can never be counted out. As for the San Francisco 49ers, they are 4-4 after a home loss against the St. Louis Rams. The 49ers haven't lost more than four games in a season since Jim Harbaugh took over the team in 2011.
The only loss the Cardinals have this season is to the Denver Broncos, which came in Week 5.
No loss is a "good loss" in the NFL, but the Cardinals couldn't have lost a better game. The Broncos don't even play in the same conference, let alone division as the Cardinals, so this defeat won't have a terrible impact on the standings. As for divisional play, the Cardinals have played just one NFC West game this season. In Week 3, they defeated the 49ers 23-14.
Super Bowl 49 will be played at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. What better way to finish a season than to have home-field advantage in the Super Bowl?
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