And if the Cards would have won by twenty (which they were a couple poorly timed penalties away from), they would hace gotten serious respect?
'Nice win, but it was just the 49ers' would have been the message. If they beat the Giants at home or the Eagles on Thanksgiving, you'll hear a different tune. Until then, just take the wins and move closer to a higher seed and ignore the criticts.
Or you can stress out over what some guy named Cowherd thinks.
To drive home that point;
First road game against these same 49er's, the Cards dominate, "Well it's the 49er's"
Home against Miami, the Cards embarass the Dolphins. "Well it was just Miami" Hasn't Miami been the darling of the sports world since then?
Second road game against the much heralded Redskins in the mighty NFC East
the Cards play it tight and have a chance to win it but elect to punt. It was all about how good the Redskins are.
Third road game the Cards get blown out by way of turnovers in second quarter. They come back in second half to challenge for the win and all that could be focused on was the second quarter.
Back home to take on the undefeated Bills. Cards win handily. Well it was only because Edwards was knocked out in the first series.
Cards host one loss Dallas. Cowpies make a couple of big plays to get them back in the game and force OT. Cards win it quickly and at first it's a big win but then it transcends into what's wrong with the Cowpies?
Cards go on the road and take on the Panthers and the talk is automatically setup that if the Cards win it was because they played the bad Panthers, if they lose it was because the real Panthers showed up.
Cards win on the road in St. Louis and they actually get respect.
Cards at home against a rejuvenated 49er's team playing with a sense of urgency and they start off flat. The media is ready to bury them, even though they came out with a win unlike the Giants who lost to the Browns.
Bottom line is "Damned if thet do, Damned if they don't!"