Arizona Cardinals

That is it. Without him they are a bottom feeder team. That is how important a great QB is. They elevate the team. His ability to extend the play is what brings in the win and empowers his team.

Evaluate talent better through the draft and free agency. They know when to cut bait from players who haven't got anything left or who doesn't fit their scheme. In other words they have a competent management team in place who knows their shit. The exact opposite of the current Giants regime.

In comment 15408008 BigBlueJ said:

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That is it. Without him they are a bottom feeder team. That is how important a great QB is. They elevate the team. His ability to extend the play is what brings in the win and empowers his team.

Fact.

It's really that simple.

The same can be said for Buffalo when they got Allen.

performing coach and OC. That whole organization is humming. Not a good comp.

In comment 15408057 cosmicj said:

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performing coach and OC. That whole organization is humming. Not a good comp.

How many light years are the Giants behind Buffalo?

Are we entering the realm of infinity?

and took advantage of a lame duck Texans GM to get arguably the best WR in Football. It's a team with lots of speed and athleticism. Only Giant who fits that mold is Toney who is finally showing his potential.

1. Kyler Murray (he's been more steady than exceptional this year)
2. Kingsbury's system/fit with Murray
3. The defense has stepped up this year (surprising turnaround, held opponents to 20 points or less in 4/5)

they are playing like a confident team and winning in a lot of different ways.

#1 is for real. #2 and #3 still have to prove it over a full season.

In comment 15408138 Eric on Li said:

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1. Kyler Murray (he's been more steady than exceptional this year) 2. Kingsbury's system/fit with Murray 3. The defense has stepped up this year (surprising turnaround, held opponents to 20 points or less in 4/5) they are playing like a confident team and winning in a lot of different ways. #1 is for real. #2 and #3 still have to prove it over a full season.

Yup #3 is because the offense gets out to big leads and teams have to abandon the run, which is their biggest weakness. Let's see when they are playing upper echelon teams.

and they're not trying to recreate the 70s Steelers and 3 yards and a cloud of dust.

It's a high octane modern offense.

(drafting Rosen) and not letting it prevent them from going back to the well for Murray the next year. They've also drafted well, they are fast on both sides of the ball.

Obviously Kyler Murray makes a huge difference, but that defense is playing really well.

Last year their defense DVOA was upper half of the league. The offense was below average, around 19 or so iirc.

Their defense this year is still producing at a high level and turned up creating turnovers more, too. Chandler Jones is still an elite rusher and Byron Murphy has elevated his game.

They keep that that up and limit offensive turnovers, they will be in contentions for a while. Any team like that is.

has replaced Wilson as the premier improvisational QB, at least in the NFC West. He makes some unreal throws off his back foot or backpedaling. Hit some crazy sideline throws yesterday that would be tough enough for many QBs with a clean pocket.

The Cardinals I must say have the best/luckiest trade transactions, value wise:

Chandler Jones
DeAndre Hopkins
AJ Green

All for relatively nothing (compare each of them to say Jamal Adams). Nobody knew these guys were available and suddenly people are asking "why didn't we pull the trigger on them??".

I feel that the Cardinals are a very good team, but will need to continue doing what they're doing for awhile more to transcend into say a top 3 NFC team. A high flying passing offense and a good pass rushing defense wins you lots of regular season games, but harder in dog fights.

But yeah, I think it's safe to say Murray is for real. No longer just a scrambling type QB. Much improved over his rookie season.

He's not perfect though, and when he goes down for a sack it's almost always 10+ yards a clip the way he tries to evade them.

In comment 15408057 cosmicj said:

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performing coach and OC. That whole organization is humming. Not a good comp.

Yes....agreed. Allen is dynamite, but that entire team has talent which makes Allen that more effective.

With the Cards, it seems to be all the QB. Not totally sold on his passing yet - but the element of pass/run/scramble out of trouble is huge.

not really sure what the surprise is here. They also have for more imagination on offense than we do. Flip QB's and we are likely a playoff team and Arizona is looking for another GM/HC.

Good for them, sucks for us.

In comment 15408184 Section331 said:

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(drafting Rosen) and not letting it prevent them from going back to the well for Murray the next year. They've also drafted well, they are fast on both sides of the ball. Obviously Kyler Murray makes a huge difference, but that defense is playing really well.

This is huge. I doubt many teams would have done the same...

a couple of years, Keim wasn't liked here any better than Getty is in NY. Fanned on Rosen, fanned on Troy Nicklas. Let Campbell and Honeybadger walk. Murray looks more and more like a good pick. Traded for Hudson at C. The OL is doing a good job in the run game the last few weeks and Connor has really come on. Hopkins, especially, and Green, the last few weeks, have really played well. Kirk had made some really big catches, and Moore has been a nice spark. At this point, I'd say Toney is the better player. The kicking game has been strong, after years of being lousy. I don't hear Watt's name called a lot, and Chandler has slowed after a huge start, but they're both playing well. The right side of the DL is probably the weakness on D. Simmons is coming into his own at ILB and Collins, the rookie #1 pick, is also big and fast. They should be set there for a while. And even without Peterson, who I thought was overrated, the defensive backfield is really holding their own or more, including some young draft picks.