12. Arizona Cardinals
I had pegged the Arizona Cardinals as a team that was guaranteed to win in Week 9 against the Chicago Bears, and they made me look good with a rather dominant victory over the Chicago Bears. The Cardinals might not have the most impressive pieces of any team in the league right now, but they have enough pieces to make a run in the very wide-open NFC West.
The Cardinals looked very balanced against one of the NFL’s better defenses so far this season. The Bears have been stingy allowing teams to throw against them, so the Cardinals really pounded them on the ground and did their best to make life miserable for #1 overall pick Caleb Williams.
Remember, the Cardinals have a #1 overall pick of their own.
And Murray wasn’t flawless in this game, by any stretch, but when your backs are ripping off big gains like we saw from Arizona on Sunday? Well, you have a little more margin for error. Now at 5-4, the Cardinals have quickly become one of the most interesting teams in the NFC with a little head of steam at the beginning of November.
11. Houston Texans
The loss to the New York Jets on Thursday night football was an ugly one for the Houston Texans. We already know that the Texans are going to be without Stefon Diggs for the remainder of the season but not having Nico Collins out there on top of it has been detrimental for this team.
The Texans have gotten “lucky” a number of times this season but their record says they are 6-3 and that might be enough of a cushion already to really take the AFC South this season. The Colts are obviously going to be hopeful that the change to Joe Flacco can really help them make a second-half push, so maybe the Texans can’t get too comfortable.
With CJ Stroud seemingly going through a bit of a sophomore slump, how can this team really break through without its top targets in the passing game? That loss on Thursday night was a tough one for Houston and things aren’t going to get any easier with the Detroit Lions on deck for them.