Cardinals in Super Bowl 2008 9-7 season

LeonardRachiele
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Cardinals in Super Bowl 2008 9-7 season

Post by LeonardRachiele »

he 9-7 2008 Arizona Cardinals were the worst team ever to be in the Super Bowl.

Here were 5 of the 7 losses:
@ New York Jets 56 to 35; H New York Giants 37 to 29; @ Philadelphia Eagles 48 to 20; H Minnesota Vikings 35 to 14; @ New England Patriots 47 to 7

Their defense was below average and they were last in the Conference in running. Kurt Warner passing to targets such as Tim Hightower, Anquan Boldin, Larry Fitzgerald, and Steve Breaston made this the second ranked passing offense. Arizona defeated the Seattle Seahawks in the final game of the regular season 34 to 29. However, this victory was meaningless. The NFC West was so bad that a .500 record would have put them in first place. The Cardinals were 6-0 against teams in their Division. This meant a 3-7 mark playing the other teams.

Here were the three wins that were outside the NFC West that the Cardinals won. All three were at home. Defeated the Miami Dolphins (11-5) 31 to 10; Buffalo Bills (7-9) 41 to 17, the Bills won their first four games but were 3-9 thereafter; the Dallas Cowboys (9-7) 30 to 24. The win over Miami was their best performance of the season.

in Week 6 the Arizona on the road lost to the 12-4 Carolina Panthers 27 to 23. This was a great passing duel between Jake Delhomme and Kurt Warner. Both quarterbacks put up big numbers. Warner-35 of 49 for 381 yard and two touchdowns. The two big targets were Larry Fitzgerald and Steve Breaston. Delhomme’s number were less impressive but still good-20 of 28 for 248 yards two touchdowns. Muhsin Muhammad was his main target. In spite of all this passing, the Panthers won from their ground game. DeAngelo Williams gained 108 yards on 17 carries and one touchdown. Arizona’s ground game was nonexistent. Final again Carolina 27 Arizona 23.

Wild Card-The Cardinals defeated the Atlanta Falcons (11-5) at home. This was a great passing duel between Kurt Warner and Matt Ryan. Despite the Falcons being two games better, the Cardinals won 30 to 24. Two great defensive plays bought victory. Antrel Rolle returned a fumble 27 yards for a touchdown. Antonio Smith tackled Matt Ryan in the End Zone for a safety. Semi-Finals-As they did in the regular season, Kurt Warner and Jake Delhomme squared off. The combination of Kurt Warner to Larry Fitzgerald was too much for the Panthers to handle. Nevertheless, the defense won this game. The Cardinals intercepted Jake Delhomme five times, sacked him three times, and recovered a fumble. Noone can win with against a defensive performance like the Cardinals made in this game. Easy win. Arizona 33 Carolina 13.

Let’s forget the NFC Championship. It still hurts.
Brian wolf
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Re: Cardinals in Super Bowl 2008 9-7 season

Post by Brian wolf »

The NFL wanted parity once the free agency era started and they have it, which is why a team like the Cardinals in 2008 and the Giants from 2007 and 2011 made the SB. Its about getting hot at the right time. Its hard to declare a worst SB-making team however ... though I understand your point Leonard.
It could be a toss-up between the Cards, 1979 Rams or my choice, the 1976 Vikings, who were aging badly, won a weak division, didnt have to face the younger Cowboys in the playoffs and beat a Redskins team led by a QB in Kilmer who was older than Tarkenton ...
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74_75_78_79_
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Re: Cardinals in Super Bowl 2008 9-7 season

Post by 74_75_78_79_ »

Brian wolf wrote:The NFL wanted parity once the free agency era started and they have it, which is why a team like the Cardinals in 2008 and the Giants from 2007 and 2011 made the SB. Its about getting hot at the right time. Its hard to declare a worst SB-making team however ... though I understand your point Leonard.
It could be a toss-up between the Cards, 1979 Rams or my choice, the 1976 Vikings, who were aging badly, won a weak division, didnt have to face the younger Cowboys in the playoffs and beat a Redskins team led by a QB in Kilmer who was older than Tarkenton ...
IMO, the 2011 Giants are the weakest NFL champ ever as the 2008 Cardinals are the weakest NFL runner-up ever.

'76 Vikings? Not at all in my opinion. They were aging but were still a true-enough conference champ heading into SBXI. Difficult for me to place an 11-2-1 team in such a mix.

The '79 Rams? Yes, 6 losses going into a meaningless finale is still 6 losses going into a meaningless finale, but I place them above the Cards by a distant-enough margin. They rallied into the playoffs as Arizona fell hard into them. Yes, they were 'only' one game better outside their division (4-6 instead of 3-7) but after that 4-5 start they really were back to being that team they were all decade long - as well as the 1980 regular season ahead - if not actually better. Cards were oh-so razor-close to beating the 'Burgh, but Rams' performance vs the '79 Steelers a greater accomplishment than what 'Zona did against the significantly lesser '08 Steelers.

What other NFL runner-up besides the '08 Cards do you place the '79 Rams ahead of? I say that '36 Boston team who finished atop their weak division at 7-5. Sadly, and as much respect I have for them, there really is no other. So '79 Rams are 3rd-weakest runner-up, I guess, if only because they were...9-6 going into that finale.
Brian wolf
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Re: Cardinals in Super Bowl 2008 9-7 season

Post by Brian wolf »

There is no doubt the 1979 Rams were a talented team that got hot at the right time but they were lucky also ...

*Atlanta and NO should have challenged them better for the divisional title but their defenses collapsed that season. Both teams had good offenses.

*Ferragamo was still young and unknown. He did a great job but the team wanted Haden to lead them but was injury prone and a magnet for good pass rushers.

*They put it together against Dallas in the divisional round but Dallas also had a letdown after beating Washington for the division and once Staubach had that concussion in the 4th quarter, it was over for them but Landry and the coaching staff werent fully aware of his injury. Staubach wanted to finish.

*Then the Rams beat the Bucs without ever needing a TD. The Bucs defense was excellent that year but still basically a handing the ball to Ricky Bell offense.

*The Rams luck ran out against the Steelers, who they had on the ropes but they never could cover Stallworth and Ferragamo made his only mistake at the wrong time which helped the Steelers put the game away ...

Another candidate is the 1982 Dolphins ... Tough team with an excellent pass defense coached by Arnsparger but could be ran upon and a vanilla offense that could be streaky at best. QB Woodley was still learning the position ...

Possible Worst SB Teams

1976 Minn
1982 Mia
2008 Ariz
1979 LA
2011 NY -- won
7DnBrnc53
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Re: Cardinals in Super Bowl 2008 9-7 season

Post by 7DnBrnc53 »

Possible Worst SB Teams

1976 Minn
1982 Mia
2008 Ariz
1979 LA
2011 NY -- won
Some other candidates:

1. The 1980's Bronco teams: Their offense was mediocre outside of Elway, as they only had three other offensive Pro Bowlers on those SB teams. G Keith Bishop made it in 1986 and 87, and RB Sammy Winder made it in 1986 as an alternate despite only rushing for 789 yards. Elway was held back by Dan Reeves' antiquated offensive system and a lack of supporting cast. RB Gerald Willhite was the team's leading receiver in 1986 (64 catches. Steve Watson was next with 45). In 89, Vance Johnson led the team with 76 catches, but the next highest total was Mark Jackson with 28. They were rated 15th in total offense in the NFL in 1986 and 89.

Defensively, they were third in total yards and first in points in 1989, but they didn't give up less than 20 points in any playoff game, and Wade Phillips' standard 3-4 with two-high safeties was exposed in the SB because they left the middle open all game: https://goldenrankings.com/SuperBowl24-A.htm.

The other two years, they were more of a smoke and mirrors unit under Joe Collier. In the SB, they got pushed around against the Giants and Redskins.

2. 2001 and 03 Patriots: Both teams were below average on offense, ranking 19th in yards in 2001 and 17th in 2003. In 2001, they had a below-average schedule, and in 2003, they won several games that they probably should have lost (@Houston, @Denver, @Miami, @Indy, Tennessee in the playoffs). Also, both teams had seven combined Pro Bowlers.
JohnH19
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Re: Cardinals in Super Bowl 2008 9-7 season

Post by JohnH19 »

Brian wolf wrote:There is no doubt the 1979 Rams were a talented team that got hot at the right time but they were lucky also ...

*Atlanta and NO should have challenged them better for the divisional title but their defenses collapsed that season. Both teams had good offenses.

*Ferragamo was still young and unknown. He did a great job but the team wanted Haden to lead them but was injury prone and a magnet for good pass rushers.

*They put it together against Dallas in the divisional round but Dallas also had a letdown after beating Washington for the division and once Staubach had that concussion in the 4th quarter, it was over for them but Landry and the coaching staff werent fully aware of his injury. Staubach wanted to finish.

*Then the Rams beat the Bucs without ever needing a TD. The Bucs defense was excellent that year but still basically a handing the ball to Ricky Bell offense.

*The Rams luck ran out against the Steelers, who they had on the ropes but they never could cover Stallworth and Ferragamo made his only mistake at the wrong time which helped the Steelers put the game away ...

Another candidate is the 1982 Dolphins ... Tough team with an excellent pass defense coached by Arnsparger but could be ran upon and a vanilla offense that could be streaky at best. QB Woodley was still learning the position ...

Possible Worst SB Teams

1976 Minn
1982 Mia
2008 Ariz
1979 LA
2011 NY -- won
Brian, no offence but calling the ‘76 Vikings the worst SB team ever is ridiculous. There were signs of regression but they had enough left to win two more division championships and they were coming off of a run of dominant seasons almost unmatched in league history. They were no one-hit wonder. I’ll leave it at that. The 1969-76 Vikings have a record that speaks for itself.
LeonardRachiele
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Re: Cardinals in Super Bowl 2008 9-7 season

Post by LeonardRachiele »

The Cardinals in 2008 were in a class by themselves. In 07 & 11, had the Eagles won one close game against the Giants each year they would been in the playoffs. Especially in 011 there record would have been 9-7 to the Giants 8-8.
Brian wolf
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Joined: Wed Nov 27, 2019 12:43 am

Re: Cardinals in Super Bowl 2008 9-7 season

Post by Brian wolf »

Sorry Leonard, this SB loss was worse than the 2008/09 loss to the Cardinals. Eagles outscored 24-11, in the second half ... not enough defense.
Zero26
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Re: Cardinals in Super Bowl 2008 9-7 season

Post by Zero26 »

I disagree. The Cardinals were better than their record.

First offensively Anquan Boldin meant teams couldn't double Fitzgerland(who went on a tear and got all the credit). Also the Cardinals had Edgerrin James which meant teams couldn't ignore the run. 4 of their starting skill players are going to be HOFers. Offensively that team was great.

But the main reason the team is underrated is the defense particularly the secondary. While the Cardinals had the 28th rated defense in the league if you look at that roster it's full of future multiple time pro bowls and great players. The secondary had young Adrian Wilson, Rodgers Cromartie and Antrel Rolle and in the playoffs the Cardinals had 9 picks. The pass rush wasn't as good as the secondary but still underacheived during the regular season you even had Calais Campbell riding the bench. It was a statistically bad and inexperienced defense not an untalented one.

I will admit Cardinals could have faced tougher competition in the playoffs they benefitted from Plaxico Burress shooting himself and the Buccaneers collapse as for much of the season those were the 2 best NFC teams and at the end the gates did kind of clear for the Cardinals in the NFC. And they did play the 9-6-1 Eagles in the NFC CG. But the Panthers and Falcons were not bad playoff opponents. And of course the Cardinals almost beat the Steelers.

The Cardinals skill positions and secondary(in the playoffs) was too good IMO for the Cardinals to be the worst SB team. I don't have a strong opinion about who the worst would be but the 80s Broncos and 79 Rams are better picks IMO. Another thing in the Cardinals favor is they might have had the worst HC to appear in the SB. Ken Whisenhut never had a winning season after this core broke up. Not many coaches who almost win the SB go back to the coordinator ranks certainly not as quickly as Whisenhut did .
RRMarshall
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Re: Cardinals in Super Bowl 2008 9-7 season

Post by RRMarshall »

There is no doubt the 1979 Rams were a talented team that got hot at the right time but they were lucky also ...

*They put it together against Dallas in the divisional round but Dallas also had a letdown after beating Washington for the division and once Staubach had that concussion in the 4th quarter, it was over for them but Landry and the coaching staff weren't fully aware of his injury. Staubach wanted to finish.
If I recall that 79 Divisional Playoff Game was where the Rams unveiled a 7-defensive back scheme that totally stymied Staubach and the Dallas offense. I'm sure the concussion was a major factor, but even earlier in the game Roger would hold the ball and look uncertain where to throw; I remember in this his last game the Rams seem to totally befuddle him.
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