Revenge of the Birds
The Arizona Cardinals are nowhere near where they thought they would be at the midway point of the schedule. A record of 2-5-0 and dead last in the NFC West Division was not the plan.
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Is the season lost? Depends. In fact, it depends on what happens against the Dallas Cowboys on the road on Monday Night Football.
No, really, it does.
This one game is the day before the NFL trade deadline, set for Tuesday, November 4 at 4:00 pm (Eastern). Why is that so important? Because the Cardinals just could be buyers or end up as sellers. And they won’t know for sure until after the game against Dallas.
The Cowboys (3-4-1) are in second place in the NFC East Division. Dallas needs this win to keep pace in their division. Every team in the NFC West has a winning record except for Arizona. A loss would pretty much place an exclamation mark on the season, and even though the Cardinals would still be mathematically in the playoff race for a Wild Card seed, it would take a run on the final number of games to accomplish this feat.
A win over Dallas could influence the Cardinals’ front office to try to bring in a few chess pieces to help out for the remainder of the schedule. A loss might make GM Monti Ossenfort decide to part ways with a body or two to assist with the salary cap for next year. It’s a business and not a game, you know.
Even though their record is currently a huge disappointment, the team does have some good news about some much-needed help on both sides of the ball.
After the Cowboys’ contest, RB Trey Benson is eligible to come off the IR list and begin practicing if he is ready to come off rehab.
Last week, the team opened up the 21-day practice window for rookie DT Walter Nolen to return. He was able to practice in a limited capacity in his first three days and looked like he just might be ready to get back on the field after being selected with the 16th pick in this year’s NFL draft out of Ole Miss.
Nolen suffered a calf injury before training camp and was subsequently placed on the PUP list before the season began. The thought process after coming off their bye week is that Nolen would debut against Dallas.
On a Zoom call to members of the media this week, Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon gave this assertion about Nolen’s availability against the Cowboys:
“He’s got a big time plan this week. Everyone’s a little bit different with this. It’s not just a week off here. He has to keep progressing as he would if we had a normal week, I would say.”
Another key player found his way back to the huddle with last year’s first-round draft pick DE Darius Robinson. He was able to play against the Green Bay...
