Of the top 6 teams in the NFC by best record, Arizona has wins over 4 of them. If Philadelphia finishes this season 6-0, Arizona would need to go 4-2 to grab one of the top 2 seeds which is crucial. Same story for the threats for the #1 seed - Detroit & Dallas.
The Cardinals would have to finish 1-5 in order to be leaped by those 7-3 teams. Green Bay remains a decent chance due to possible tiebreaker in their favor.
Importance of seeding
http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/29/week-17-n-f-l-probabilities-importance-of-seeding/?_r=0
It cracks me up when the national media labels them "not contenders". Just having the #1 seed makes them a contender regardless of ability.
On of that, the reasons given are flawed. They point to no Carson Palmer, Stanton probably knows the offense better than him. He has tendency to get rattled in the 2nd half if his right reads are slightly off target or throws it to a defender who abandoned his assignment to jump the slant.
When analysts say their pass defense isn't very good, they point to yards per game. They started the season against Rivers, Eli Manning, Colin Kaepernick, Peyton Manning (they pass D did bad but so many plays.. Manning visualized the throws before the defense could even react). Washington is one of the better pass offenses due to playmaker Desean Jackson -- no other receiver gave their D fits more than him -- his speed makes NFL players look slow. Foles had 411 yards but on 62 attempts.
Arizona is currently allowing 7.3 yards per pass attempt which is tied for New England(13th). It is lower than typical, they were tied with San Francisco last season at 5th at 6.5. Regression to the mean implies that Arizona will drift back to overall form, they have the same plus more talented defenders as last season. They're also the only team that has recorded more interceptions than pass touchdowns given up.
If Arizona manages to either win a NFC crown or Super Bowl -- it will because of Andre Ellington (analysts downgrade him because of his 3.4 and few TDs but his ability as a receiver cannot be overstated. Besides, his speed gives him the potential to easily turn a few missed tackles into a 200-yard game. One thing that helps opponents his Arians has tendency to go away from Ellington inside the 30 and 10 yard lines. One thing, Ellington has been fighting an ankle injury this entire season.
The finishing blow would be Andre Ellington going down. He is match-up nightmare for opposing defenses.
Ellington & Secondary will be the reason Arizona wins a Super Bowl if they manage to do so.
(different story if Stanton goes down leaving third string fastest QB -- class of 2014)
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