The Arizona Cardinals Can Make The NFC Conference Championship Game, Here’s How | Ben Garcia Show

The Arizona Cardinals Can Make The NFC Conference Championship Game, Here’s How | Ben Garcia Show

I kind of want you to buy into what I’m going to say before I dive really deep into it. The Arizona Cardinals have a clear blueprint to continue to follow in their third season under the Jonathan Ganon regime. It’s the 2023 Detroit Lions. The team that went to the conference championship game and should have downright went to the Super Bowl, but they didn’t because of blunders, because they’re the Lions, because they couldn’t get out of their own way. But to be fair, if the Cardinals made the divisional playoffs, that would be outkicking the coverage when it turns to when it comes to expectations for the Arizona Cardinals this year. But if I were to tell you just two years ago, or I guess I should say if I were to tell you just three short years ago, hey, in the years 2024, the Lions will be one game shy of making the Super Bowl. And in the year 2025, the Washington Commanders would be one game shy of making the Super Bowl. You would think I was absolutely insane. You would think I was just some hot take artist, but both of those things have been true. And here’s why. Because the NFL season is different every single year. It’s why when fans continue to talk about, well, don’t get go get Trey Anderson. Don’t go get cheat TJ Watt because you want to build up strategically. The buildup and the taking step by step idea of moving on to the next chapter of the rebuild. So, you know, this year you go to the playoffs, you lose in the first round. Next year go to the conference championship game, you lose there. Next year you go to the Super Bowl and you win it. That idea of this stepbystep progression in your head does make sense, but it’s not reality. This is usually what happens in the NFL. Get really good, get the or you get the quarterback, you get really good, you realize that you were uh that you overshot your coverage, you assume the next year you’re going to be even better, and you plateau. The Cardinals are go moving into their third year with Jonathan Ganon and they are eerily similar to the 2023 Detroit Lions. Let me paint you a picture. This is how the Cardinals can play in the conference championship game this season. And it’s by channeling their inner 2023 Detroit Lions because those two teams are eerily similar. Look at the quarterbacks. both former first overall picks that years into their career teams had given up on or was seen around the league as a player that was probably never going to get you to a Super Bowl or have a long playoff run. Look at the head coach kind of seen as an unorthodox hire talking about biting kneecaps and Dan Campbell or Jonathan Ganon being tampered with to come to the Arizona Cardinals. a young pass catcher leading the offense, Trey McBride, Amandra St. Brown, or Amandra St. Brown, Marvin Harrison, Marvin Harrison Jr., look at the similarities. A young elite level pass catcher, Amandra St. Brown, Trey McBride, with a younger wide receiver right there with them. Jameson Williams, Marvin Harrison Jr., the running backs, Cardinals have two of them, Detroit Lions had two of them. They had Jir Gibbs, David Montgomery, the Arizona Cardinals, James Connor, and who a young and upcoming running back in Trey Benson. The only difference between the Lions and the Cardinals in 2023 was the Lions had a better offensive line than the Cardinals did. And the Cardinals have a much better defense than they did. My guy Ivan in the chat, thank you for the dono, brother. I haven’t felt this excited about a Cardinal season in a decade. Foundation has been set by JG and Monty. Time to exe execute and cash in. Couldn’t agree with the guy more here on this on this uh uh on this super chat here because that’s what happened and it feels like they followed the model of that 2023 Lions team. Both quarterbacks who had been written off the Jared Goff Jared Goff more so he was traded to another team. Both former number one overall picks Kyler Murray Jared Goff both kind of written off by the NFL. Elite level tight end Sam Leaporta, Trey McBride, a young and upcoming wide receiver running things, Amandra St. Brown, Marvin Harrison Jr., two capable running backs with kind of a change in pace style. James Connor kind of run it down your throat. Trey Benson a little bit more finesse. Hello David Montgomery. Jir Gibbs. The Lions offensive line is better than the Arizona Cardinals was in 2023, but the Arizona Cardinals defense is light years better than that Lions defense. If there’s a blueprint the Cardinals should be following, it’s the 2023 Lions where the Lions were eight and nine. Cardinal I’m sorry, the Lions were nine and eight. The Cardinals were 8-9. The Lions shot up to the first in their division. Shot up to the conference championship game. And the Cardinals have a chance to do the same thing. I know when you start to mention conference championship games or Super Bowls, people start to lose their minds. But what I continue to try to say every single year, but no one believes me, is no NFL season is the same. They are not the same. The Commanders were just in the conference championship game. The Lions were just in the conference championship game. Now, they lost those games, but those were seen as uberly successful seasons. So to act like the Cardinals can’t be a NFC conference championship team, can’t be a 2023 Lions and shock the world from an incompetent franchise to a conf to a franchise this close to the Super Bowl is malpractice. If I would have told you just a couple years ago, hey, by the way, the Lions and the Commanders are both going to be playoff teams. And not just that much so, but they’re going to be one game short of the Super Bowl. And you’d say, “Wow, those teams must have really figured it out.” No. No. Group of misfits with the Lions that align really well with the Cardinals. And the Commanders were led by a star rookie quarterback. Ultimately, at the end of the day, that’s what it comes down to. Not every season is the same and they shouldn’t be treated as such. And yesterday when I was coming up with the show, I was thinking of, you know, what teams kind of fit this same mold? How can the Cardinals do something similar to what the Lions did just a few years ago? And you say to yourself, well, it’s not that difficult, right? The Cardinals aren’t that far away from competing, and they’re not. And you look at the Detroit Lions as a team that you follow step by step because you look at their roster, but it’s not just their roster. You look at their head coach. That’s what it looks like. My guy Ivan in the chat. Why not us? I don’t know. Why not? This is where it comes from at this point for the Cardinals. They have a chance to come in, shock the world, be ready for it. And there’s no excuse. The Lions were the same way. First year in the rebuild, second year in the rebuild, third year in the rebuild, conference championship game. And the next year, divisional playoffs. And who’ they lose to in the divisional playoffs? Oh, just another misfit team led by a rookie quarterback and a gross defense, the Washington Commanders. So to act like the Cardinals can’t be a team that shocks the world this year because you don’t believe in Kyler Murray. Did anyone believe in Jared Goff when he got traded to the Lions? No. It was seen as a heist that they stole Matt Stafford from the Lions and gave them Jared Goff. Like we can’t continue to sit here and moan and groan that the Cardinals didn’t do enough or there’s not a chance for them become a real potential playoff contender because I just laid it out for you in two different instances and those instances weren’t 10 years ago because the recipe now is you don’t need to have an elite level quarterback. Put a bunch of talent around them. Put a strong running game around them. and let them cook as well as let there be a real leader at head coach and defensively be stout, be physical. We’re talking about biting kneecaps with Dan Campbell. We’re talking about Jonathan Ganon’s expression and love for violence in football. That’s the new team. That’s the new realm. So, I just want the reason why I want, you know, the reason why I want people when they watch this show, although, you know, we’re having a not as many viewership today, which whatever happens. I’d do the show if there was no one watching. But I want people to see like on this show like yeah, when I go after Kyler, when I go after def the defense, it’s it’s all out of love personally because for me, I want it to be known as well like I believe this team can win. And ultimately at the end of the day when I look at some of the pasts of what happened the NFL seasons, I’m like, “Oh, that’s the Arizona Cardinals.” The question is, will they follow that path? And that’s yet to be seen. Uh, my guy Steve Holler in the chat, Brock Perie being the best quarterback in the NFC West, like calling Robert Ory the best player in the NBA when he was playing. Um, I think Robert Ory actually might have been better than Brock Birdie was in terms of like, you know, Robert Ory was never a top 40 player in the NBA, but it’s funny because like I actually think he might be better. Um, anyways guys, appreciate you guys being here on the Ben Garcia show and I think the point of all this is to keep the faith in the Cardinals. I know there’s some worry about Kyler and, you know, maybe ins and outs of the team and maybe some weaknesses here and there, but this team, if they play their cards right, can do exactly what the 2023 Detroit Lions did, and that’s a conference championship appearance and probably should have made the Super Bowl. That is not out of the realm for the Arizona Cardinals because I will continue to say that not every season is the same. Things get weird.

The Arizona Cardinals are in their third year of the rebuild and the expectation is playoffs or bust. However, should they be striving for more then that?

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