Cardinals Gameday: Time for Talk is Over

The Arizona Cardinals are 3-5 for whatever reason you can find.

Injuries. The lack of DeAndre Hopkins. A tough opening to the regular season. Starters not playing enough in the preseason. Play-calling. Execution. Whatever your heart desires.

The actual reality? The Cardinals are a perfect mixture of all the aforementioned reasons.

In the NFL, you are what your record is. Moral victories don't translate to the scoreboard, and the Cardinals have yet to piece themselves together as consistent winners. Arizona hasn't won in back-to-back weeks since Week 11 and 13 (12 was a bye) in 2021.

That's absurd given the talent on both sides of the ball and alleged offensive mastermind running the show in Kliff Kingsbury.

The Cardinals, more than anything, could be labeled as dysfunctional and perhaps are the perfect team for a series such as Hard Knocks to follow this season.

All season, with each progressive loss, we've heard the same things from continuous talkers in Kingsbury and quarterback Kyler Murray: We need to get better, we need to improve, etc.

Time is running out for such talk.

Arizona now faces a Seattle Seahawks team that tops the NFC West in the first of three consecutive games against divisional opponents. We've now entered put up or shut up territory at State Farm Stadium.

"Obviously, there’s not a lot of wiggle room left with three division games and where we’re at record wise. Our guys understand that, and we’ve got a great locker room. They’ll continue to push each other, and the sense of urgency will pick up," Kingsbury said earlier this week.

"I think if you look at it, if you are able to win all three [divisional games] there’s an opportunity to be right there, or at least have a piece of first place at the end of this deal. Our guys understand after starting the way we did that that’s a great carrot out in front of you, so let’s take it one week at a time and try to get better.”

Murray echoed that sentiment, saying, "The sense of urgency’s got to be at all the time high. A lot of guys understand that. They know what’s at stake and they know where we can take this thing or we can let it slip away, but everything is right there for us. We’re focused on this week, so we can’t really look too far ahead, but we understand what’s ahead.”

The Seahawks are riding a three-game winning streak that first began with a 19-9 victory over Arizona less than a month ago. They've won their last three-of-four against the Cardinals.

According to Pro Football Focus, the Cardinals' chances of making the postseason jumps to just about 30%. A loss puts them at less than 10% chances.

Just like each week, time for talk will be over shortly when the ball rests on the tee for kickoff. Yet the ramifications are now bigger, as talk throughout the season of getting better will no longer be valid as of 2:05 p.m. in Glendale.

The Cardinals are running out of both time and excuses. We'll see if they can handle any of the two properly in what's quickly become a pivotal moment of their season.

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