Chris Johnson, Cardinals have NFC West looking topsy turvy

There’s seriously something going on in Arizona with the Cardinals and players like Chris Johnson. I don’t know what exactly it is, how much credit Bruce Arians deserves, or whatever the case may be, but somewhere in the desert of Arizona, the Cardinals came upon the fountain of youth, and they are letting a wide variety of players see career rebirths.

Just look at the box score from Arizona’s (5-2) Monday Night Football victory over the Baltimore Ravens (1-6). Carson Palmer is playing out of his mind MVP caliber football at the age of 35 if you can even believe that. Palmer was the top overall selection in the 2003 NFL Draft, and is looking like the player everyone dreamed he could be once upon a time.

He had a pair of touchdowns on 20-of-29 passing Monday night, but through seven games, he’s already got 16 touchdowns compared to just five interceptions, and he’s hit six different receivers for scores.

Chris Johnson is 30 years of age, which is ancient for a running back in the NFL. He already has 567 rushing yards this year with three touchdowns and six plays of 20 yards or more. He is 2nd in the NFL in rushing after looking like his playing days were long gone.

Larry Fitzgerald, who was the 3rd overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft (1 year after Carson Palmer), has never looked better. He’s tied for the league lead with six touchdown grabs and is 5th in receiving yards.

The intrigue doesn’t end on offense, however. The Cardinals got some major contributions on Monday night from their elders on defense, including a vintage sack from one Dwight Freeney, who used his patented spin move to beat the Baltimore offensive lineman and get to Joe Flacco quickly.

Freeney was picked by the Indianapolis Colts in the 1st round of the 2002 NFL Draft.

Frostee Rucker also contributed a sack on Monday night. He’s 32 and was picked 10 years ago in the 2006 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals.

The crazy thing is, it’s not like these Cardinals are an ‘old’ team. They have youth at every position.

For example, at running back and receiver, the leaders right now might be Chris Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald respectively, but the other guys making contributions are David Johnson, Andre Ellington, John Brown, and Michael Floyd. Those are all young playmakers taken within the last couple of years, and the Cardinals have depth everywhere.

Defensively, the Cardinals are led by my personal favorite player on this entire team — Tyrann Mathieu. Known better as the Honey Badger, Mathieu makes plays all over the field and gives the Cardinals a certain edge defensively. They have plenty of playmakers in the secondary, not the least of which would be Patrick Peterson and Deone Bucannon, former first round draft picks who are playing the best football of their young careers.

It’s awesome to watch this team play, and despite the fact that they have two losses this year, you could argue they are playing as good as any undefeated team in the NFL right now. They have the highest point differential of any NFL team, including the undefeated group. They have not only proven they can score points offensively, but they can make you pay with a mistake on the other side of the ball and score it with their defense or special teams.

This is a changing of the guard in the NFC West. The Cardinals have the whole division topsy turvy as the Seahawks and 49ers, longtime rivals at the top, are now a combined 5-9 this season with the Seahawks two games back of the Cardinals at 3-4.

Seattle is now looking up at what might be the new King of the West in the NFC, and perhaps the best team not named Green Bay in the entire conference. Of course, the Carolina Panthers would have a word to say about that.

The St. Louis Rams, despite some ugly road losses, are 3-3 and find themselves in 2nd place heading into the midway point of the season.

There’s plenty of time to turn things around, but for right now, this Cardinals team doesn’t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon. It looks like they like the view from the top, and are here to stay.

More from NFL Mocks

Home/NFL News