Don’t look now, but the Arizona Cardinals are beginning to resemble an NFL team that can compete. In San Francisco on Sunday, they played the best team in the NFL and gave them all they could handle. The 49ers won 35-16 to solidify their top spot in the NFC West. As for the Cardinals, they showed progress in a loss that shows promise inside the division.
49ers running back Christian McCaffrey blistered the Cardinals defense, carrying the ball 20 times for 106 yards and three touchdowns. Quarterback Brock Purdy was steady under center. Purdy would connect on 20 of 21 passes for 283 yards, one touchdown, and zero interceptions.
The Cardinals Show Progress Despite 1-3 Start
The Cardinals seemed up to the task however you interpret the final score. Arizona was smart with its possessions, showed some risk-taking, and stayed relatively close. Josh Dobbs, who is playing more and more like a seasoned veteran starter, is showing some skills not seen before. He is assertive. And on a day where he would complete 28 of 41 passes for 265 yards and two touchdowns, he looked like he would find a way to will Arizona to a win.
Arizona fans should take note of rookie wide receiver Michael Wilson. Wilson had two touchdown catches likely solidifying his role as an up-and-comer. The Stanford pass-catcher was second in yards to Marquise Brown. Brown had seven receptions for 96 yards, while Wilson also had seven receptions for 76 yards. The biggest difference between the two was the touchdowns Wilson had.
FIRST CAREER TD FOR 1️⃣4️⃣@mikewilllyy x #BirdGang pic.twitter.com/DBmxm16LrU
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) October 1, 2023
As for the Cardinals defense, only some will have a lot of luck stopping the 49ers’ offensive attack. San Francisco looks primed for a championship run and it’s only the first week of October. Meanwhile, Arizona is a team finding an identity week to week and game to game. Rookies are making their presence known. If there’s one weak link, it’s head coach Jonathan Gannon who looks too much like he’s trying to prove he’s a head coach.
General Manager Monti Ossenfort has done a solid job in year one putting together a team on the verge of not being terrible. His draft picks have been solid, and the players he’s managed to shed for the organization have been smart choices. Put simply, the progress the Cardinals have made this year would not be possible without Ossenfort.
After San Francisco, The NFC West Could Be Up for Grabs
One last thing to keep in mind is the tenuous nature of the NFC West. Clearly, San Francisco has a lock on the top spot and is the odds-on favorite to win the division. Both Seattle and Arizona have yet to win a game in the West, and the Los Angeles Rams are sitting at 1-1 with a beat-up quarterback in Matthew Stanford. If you take the Niners out of the conversation, it’s developing into a three-horse race with Seattle, LA, and Arizona. The Cardinals will see the Seahawks and the Rams as two teams in Week 6 and Week 7, respectively.
If the Cardinals keep playing as they are and continue to progress week to week, Arizona could win anywhere from four to six games.
What many thought coming out of preseason has been tempered by an Arizona Cardinals team that has had the audacity to play hard and threaten to win games. It’s conceivable they could be a 3-1 team heading home for a suddenly winnable game against the Bengals. To take it one step further, Arizona could be sitting at 5-7 heading into December.
Would anyone have thought of that when Josh Dobbs started against Washington?
The Cardinals will be a lot of things in 2023. They won’t be quitters and they won’t go down easily. The downside is they also might be out of the running for a generational type of quarterback like the one at USC.
Main Photo: Cary Edmondson – USA Today Sports
