Cardinals 8.5 wins O/U

What say you about the Arizona Cardinals season win total of 8.5? 

Last year they won 8 games with a few chokes. They filled defensive needs in the offseason and the run defense improved from 32 to 20 from 2023 to 2024. Add in a new defensive line and Will Johnson at corner, and their GM appears to finally have gotten Jonathan Gannon "his guys." 

The offense gets Kyler Murray, Marvin Harrison Jr. back for his sophomore season, Trey McBride at TE, James Conner and Trey Benson at RB, and perhaps most importantly, an offensive line that has gelled and improved year over year. The offense could be better, but the OC's style is to set the tone with the run and bully defenses in an effort to protect Murray more than the Kingsbury regime. 

That's worked better than before, but still the offense did stall out after the bye with a few lackluster games in a row. 

I say they've improved the 2-3 games to make it to the playoffs in 2025. What say you?

Tough division with McVay always getting the most out of his aging Rams, SF being resurgent with a good scheme and dumping some veterans to get younger, and Seattle being optimistic about MacDonald and Darnold and crew.

i can see the cardinals improving this upcoming season. especially on defense, where on that side they drafted heavily with six picks. that might help with adding two or three more wins if the defense can keep them in games. 

I liked that they added Josh Sweat, Calais Campbell, and Dalvin Thompson to that defensive line before the draft too. The subpar starters of the last few years are now clearly the backups.

I cant trust Murray and as much as I like Campbell he is 38, I think that 8' is just about right. I don't do futures but if I did I would have to consider back up QB's, who is theirs ?

Yeah to me Kyler is the weak link and I am not overly impressed with Harrison vs the media hype attention he gets.

Murray is not a game elevator or leader I dont think they can be as successful with him as the QB.

Campbell was signed to retire after this year, they only intend on playing him a portion of the snaps. They have young guys behind him they want him and Dalvin to mentor.

Jacoby Brissett is the backup QB, their OC had him back in Cle a few years ago so they know each other.

I hear you on the 1-2 passes a game where he throws bad picks, but they went 8-9 last year and lost a game on the road in Min by one play. That was with the 20th ranked run defense.

This year the defense is much stronger. I take it you would say Kyler didn’t elevate the team in 2024 - ok, so he didn’t and they still got to 8 wins with a bottom half defense.

Regarding MHJ:

MHJ’s rookie season was on par with what Larry Fitzgerald did in Year 1 of his career. Not a world-beater, but incremental improvement.
MHJ aside, they have Tre McBride and James Conner who get big volume.  

Not saying you have to agree with me, but the contractual situation always gave this team the best chance to win in 2025 versus the last few years.

@Sidehatch

@Sidehatch

 btw I really like the coach and the way he stays out of drama and the media, I hope they dont send him packing if this year isnt good. My beef is and always has been Kyler, I thought they made a mistake drafting him and he has this massive contract with little results or success given how decent the team is. I think he is the weak link and especially in crunch time and when the team needs someone to step up and motivate, inspire and lead others. Kyler would rather sit on the bench with his headphones on than work on developing others around him. I'd rather have a gutsy old guy like Flacco as QB than Kyler and if they succeed it will be in spite of his flaws and pretty crappy passing skills.

I hear ya. The Kyler opinion is an opinion that has some fire underneath the smoke.

I don’t see them firing the HC anytime soon. They love him and he’s cheap.

The OC may be another matter, though. I appreciate his bully-ball approach that makes the most of personnel like Paris Johnson and James Conner, but his route trees and misuse of skill players like MHJ and Dortch and Benson could have been better. Can’t come out of the bye and put up 6 against a division rival. The offense actually was much worse for multiple games after the bye.

Gannon doesn’t tolerate subpar results, the staff was proud of their 2023 season and he responded by lighting a fire under them about how the 32nd run defense was unacceptable. They improved to 20th the next season.

Back to Kyler, I feel like he has been limited by poor O-line play, lazy Kingsbury who mailed it in late in the season with predictable play calling, and the current OC who uses boring route trees from 2001 Madden. All of those areas should be non factors this season as the OC knows he’s on the hot seat, the OL is better, and Kliff’s in DC.

This is the most exciting discussion I've heard about the Cardinals in quite some time... 

... and yet , somehow,  Kyler Murray will bring us all back down to earth w his lackluster play when he is needed the most.  The guy just doesn't inspire confidence in your most important playmaker on the field . 

That makes sense based on past performance, but I suspect things will be different this year if the OL remains healthy. The way this team is built, they don’t need Lamar Jackson to win. I think they can win 9 with 23 ppg, and last year they averaged 23.5 ppg. 

Remember, I am not saying they are a superior contender, just saying they can hit a low bar of 9-10 wins when they won 8 last year with a much worse defense.