Arizona Cardinals: Nothing Special About 2016 Season
The Arizona Cardinals have one of the better defenses in the NFL, their offense has talent, but the special teams have been a disaster.
A year ago, the Arizona Cardinals set a franchise record for regular-season victories. Bruce Arians’ club finished 13-3 and won the NFC West by three games over the Seattle Seahawks.
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With Week 15 on the horizon, the club will now have to run the table to finish with a winning campaign. What’s gone wrong for a team that was a popular pick to represent the NFC in Super Bowl LI?
You could easily level some blame on quarterback Carson Palmer. His numbers this season pale in comparison to a year ago. In 12 games this season, he’s thrown for 3,376 yards and 20 scores, but has been picked off 13 times and lost four of his 14 fumbles.
However, Palmer wasn’t the problem on Sunday in South Florida when their special teams reared their ugly head again.
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Down 21-9 in the fourth quarter, Palmer connected with Brittan Golden on a 9-yard score to narrow the deficit to six points. But Chandler Catanzaro saw his PAT attempt blocked and returned for two points by Walt Aiken, increasing the Phins lead to eight points.
It was just the latest in a season of poor play by the Arizona special teams. Catanzaro missed field goal attempts at home earlier this season that would have beaten the Patriots and Seahawks. Instead, they were handed a 23-21 loss and a 6-6 tie. At Buffalo in Week 3, a botched field goal attempt was returned for a touchdown.
In the aforementioned contest with Seattle, the Cardinals had a punt blocked that led to three points, a score that would eventually force overtime. Back in Week 11, it was the coverage units that failed as Vikings’ wideout Cordarrelle Patterson took back a kickoff 104 yards to the end zone.
What a mess. And while the club hasn’t been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs yet, it seems like only a matter of time.
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The team plays its final home game this weekend when they face the struggling New Orleans Saints. Then it’s off to Seattle and to Los Angeles to face two teams they could not beat earlier this season in Arizona.
And unfortunately for Arians and the Cardinals, they certainly have not got a kick out of 2016.