Big Red Blog: Cardinals … A team of destiny?

The Cardinals managed to avoid being upset in a letdown spot against Miami and are now 11-2 in their past 13 games. Is Arizona a team of destiny this year? It's certainly starting to look that way.

A team of destiny?

Posted by Brad Wilbricht
Tuesday, October 2 - 9:30 AM

The Cardinals managed to avoid being upset against Miami and are now 11-2 in their past 13 games – a mark which is best in the NFL over that period. Sunday’s contest against the Dolphins was a classic letdown spot but Arizona overcame that and a 13-0 deficit and continues to prove itself as a legitimate playoff contender.

Familiar storylines took place Sunday afternoon – the Cardinals running game struggled, Kevin Kolb continued to gain momentum as the starting quarterback and the defense always has a big play or two up its sleeve. The Cardinal faithful have been spoiled by Roy Horton’s defensive unit and has come to expect that by now, making the emergence of Kolb the most promising development from this weekend.

Not only did Kolb play an efficient game under center, but he put the team on his back during a relentless second-half rally. While that comeback was aided by big plays on the defensive side of the ball, the Dolphins offense also rose to the occasion with game-changing plays of its own that Kolb and company answered to.

After Arizona went ahead 14-13 and had the ball deep in Miami territory, a rare Kolb mistake resulted in an interception that led to an 80-yard touchdown from Ryan Tannehill to Brian Hartline. Kolb, however, came back to manufacture the game-tying drive in the final minute of regulation. The Cardinals proceeded to win in overtime thanks to a 46-yard field goal from Jay Feely.

Arizona’s knack for winning close games so far has led to a surprising 4-0 start. The Cardinals have capitalized from the ball bouncing their way on several occasions, sparking the question: are they a team of destiny this year? If things continue this way, it would be easy to consider the Cardinals a team of destiny, but as fortunate as they’ve been, they’ve also created a lot of the breaks they’ve benefited from.

An opportunistic defense that constantly put pressure on its opponents to make mistakes has been the team’s biggest beneficiary thus far. And while John Skelton’s injury certainly wasn’t ideal, it’s been a blessing in disguise to give Kolb another opportunity to seize the starting job. To Kolb’s credit, he’s taken the reins as the starter and hasn’t looked back.

A team of destiny is probably a bit premature just a quarter into the regular season but it certainly is shaping up to be the case this year for the Cardinals. Another victory on a short week in St. Louis this Thursday and that trend would continue, proving to be just another hurdle that Arizona has cleared this season.

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Questions or comments? Contact Brad Wilbricht at

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Questions or comments? Contact Brad Wilbricht at

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