Sunday Night Football Notes
Can the Cards take the West?
This past offseason, there weren’t a whole lot of changes made in the Arizona desert, at least not to the nucleus of the offense that led the team to Super Bowl XLIII. With quarterback Kurt Warner re-signed and ready to return for another the run, it appears the Cardinals will once again have the pieces needed to take down a second consecutive division title or do they.
Probably the team in the division that made the biggest move during the offseason was Seattle who signed free agent wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh. The addition of the All-pro receiver should greatly improve the team’s offense from a year ago. The Seahawks finished with a 4-12 record and ranked 28th on offense last season, but this team had too much talent to be this bad. Injuries decimated the passing game early on and the team never recovered.
The Cardinal’s will have to worry about a healthier 2009 Seahawk team challenging this season, as well as a much improving Niner team that finished 4-1 down the stretch last season.
One of the keys for the Cardinals offense this season will be keeping a happy Anquan Boldin in town. The team is loaded with talent at the receiver position with Larry Fitzgerald and Steve Breaston, but there’s no question that Boldin makes the offense better. Warner finished the 2008 season very strong and certainly looks capable of another repeat season, but he’s going to need some help from the backfield this season to continue his success.
The Cards addressed this need right away in the 2009 NFL Draft with the selection of Ohio State running back Chris “Beanie” Wells. Wells will give the backfield a much needed lift with durability, youth, and fresh legs. Added the 2nd year Tim Hightower and the running game should be more effective in 2009.
One area the Cards may not have necessarily improved much this past offseason is the defense. It’s still a work in progress, but the team managed to keep some of its’ main anchors; Adrian Wilson (re-signed) and Karlos Dansby (franchise player). The team did add some secondary help with the signing of free agent cornerback Bryant McFadden, but there is little doubt that the Cards success this season will come from its’ offense.
When you break down the West, there is still too much of a gap between the Cardinals and the rest of the division. The only team that could really threaten to close that gap could be the Seahawks, but even if there offense is better they hardly have the defense to contend with the Red-birds. Seattle surrendered 60 points and 915-yards in two games.
If you’re a betting man, you have to love the Cardinal’s chances at repeating. If they can remain healthy, they look strong to win the weak NFC West division and a second consecutive playoff berth. If they can manage that, then anything is possible as we have already seen.
By David Ortega
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