With the Sun Devils and the Wildcats taking their talents to Thursday night, all that the Arizona football scene has to look forward to for the weekend are those lovable Arizona Cardinals. In the midst of an outrageous six game losing streak, the Red Birds are completely fulfilling their primary goal this season -- that is, if that goal was to shake off all the pestering bandwagon fans that have been hitching a free ride since January 3, 2009.
This week, the division leading 5-6 St. Louis Rams come into town with revenge on their minds. You just got to love the NFC West.
Arizona Cardinals +3 vs. St. Louis Rams
Three months ago, if I were to tell the optimistic Arizona fan base that in the beginning of December, the Cardinals would face the St. Louis Rams -- by far the worst team in the NFL last year -- at home, and they would still be three-point underdogs, I think the whole state would have self-imploded.
Sure, we all expected the team to lose some steam after such a chaotic offseason, but to be home-dogs to a team that scored only 175 points throughout the 2009-2010 season, while giving up an astounding 436 points, en route to coming away with just one victory out of sixteen attempts?
But that's not even the end of it. You know the sad part? Of course you do. The heartbreaking reality we face is that the Cardinals probably won't even cover that spread. We may not have hit rock bottom yet, but it is fast approaching.
Interestingly enough, the St. Louis Rams present a case of what happens to a team coming out on the other side of the depths. Sure, a 1-15 season has to be just miserable for both players and fans alike, but I'm almost positive the Rams wouldn't trade places with the Cardinals, even for a split-second. What did that lost season get them? A young man who is already the best quarterback in the NFC West. If anything, the Rams should provide a glimmer of hope to the Arizona fan base. They are living proof that, as a late-Gotham D.A. once said, "The night is darkest just before the dawn."
That being said, this game will probably be the catalyst that ends the Red Birds' proverbial "season." The Rams are on their way up, while the Cardinals are riding the down escalator. A revenge win for Sam Bradford against the first team to hand him an NFL loss signals that St. Louis will be a major player in the playoff race. While yet another home loss probably ignites the always-fun "let's just try out everybody and see if we have anything here" phase for the Cardinals.
Bradford -- playing at a much higher level than he was in Week 1 -- will put on a clinic against the mystifyingly bad Arizona defense, while Derek Anderson and the Cardinal offense -- playing at a much lower level than they were in Week 1 -- will toil away, stalling drive after drive with complete ineffectiveness. And the rout will be on.
Intern Prediction: Rams 32, Cardinals 13
Last week's record: 2-1
Total record: 18-10