The Falcons can study and learn from what happened to the Cardinals since their loss to the Panthers a little over a year ago.
The Cardinals spent all of last offseason answering questions about their 2015 demise. How did it happen? Are they over it? How do they prevent it from happening again? How do they move forward? The Cardinals also found themselves in a unique position. They returned every offensive skill player from that NFC Championship Game team, which led to Super Bowl expectations. Throughout training camp they were the chic pick to not just make Super Bowl LI but also to win it.
By the time the
New England Patriots arrived in Arizona for Week 1 on Sunday night in prime time, the hype around the Cardinals was at a fever pitch. They didn’t live up to any of it over the next 16 weeks.
The Cardinals turned in one of the most underachieving seasons in recent memory, finishing 7-8-1 after being eliminated from playoff contention with a few weeks left in the season.
Over the course of the season, general manager Steve Keim said he felt the team hadn’t synced up during training. He said the Cardinals were “overconfident” and they believed the season would “fall into place.” Coach Bruce Arians felt, after all the attention heaped upon the Cardinals throughout the offseason and after the loss to the Patriots, a sense of self-doubt began creeping through the locker room. When they fell to 1-3 after losing to the
Los Angeles Rams in Week 4, Arians said his team began pressing.
