Arizona Cardinals
Nick Todd
Three weeks into the NFL season is far too early to speculate who will be competing for the Lombardi Trophy Feb. 7 in Santa Clara. However, it’s not too early to acknowledge who the biggest surprise is thus far.
In my opinion, the Arizona Cardinals strike me as the biggest surprise. Despite beginning last season 9-1 and clinching a wild card berth, the Cardinals hobbled through the end of the season after losing quarterbacks Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton, to injury.
This season, many pundits expected the Cardinals to greatly regress as they lost Pro Bowler Antonio Cromartie via free agency, and many expected former Pro Bowlers Carson Palmer and Larry Fitzgerald to continue their steep decline along with the team.
Three games in and “decline” has not been a word synonymous with the Cardinals.
Carson Palmer’s nine touchdown passes are tied for the league lead with Tom Brady, and his 117.8 passer rating ranks fourth among starting quarterbacks. Fitzgerald has also been spectacular, sporting his league-leading fifth touchdown reception, as well as a robust 333 receiving yards. Overall, the offense ranks first in the NFL.
Their defense has not been slacking, either. The group currently ranks third in the NFL.
In essence, the Cardinals early season success of 2014 should be viewed as no fluke as this season progresses.
Indianapolis Colts
Austin Shone
Usually, I like to stay positive and focus on the good things football teams are doing.
Unfortunately, the biggest surprise for me through the first two weeks of NFL play is how one of the preseason favorites, the Indianapolis Colts, have been struggling to get anything going.
Andrew Luck and the team, which many analysts dubbed the strongest offense in the league coming into the season, went winless in their first two games. Indy was throttled by the Bills in Buffalo and then proceeded to lose the next week to the Jets at home.
The offense failed to score any points in the first half of both games, and they’re the only team in the league to do that through the first two games.
Luckily, the Colts escaped with a 35-33 win against the Titans on Sunday, but that’s not a whole lot to be proud of. The offense scored just enough to outlast Tennessee, but the defense was still terrible as they gave up 367 yards in the air to Marcus Mariota.
Regardless of their struggles, they are still knotted in a four-way tie for the division lead at 1-2. I expect the Colts to rebound and take advantage of being in the weakest division in the NFL, and be right in the middle of things when the playoffs heat up.
