Folks in Arizona are rightfully wringing their hands after the defending NFC champs laid an egg in the 2009 opener.
But quarterback Kurt Warner thinks that the consternation is constructive.
“The great thing about that is we’ve set an expectation,” Warner said, according to the Arizona Republic. “We expect to live up to it and when we don’t people get disappointed. That’s what we tried to build here, so we can’t get mad at that.”
Right, if the expectations are justified.
As to the Cardinals, they’re not. Indeed, history eventually will tell us that what we saw from the Cardinals in January 2009 was remarkable, because the Cardinals simply weren’t that good.
They went 9-7 in the worst division in the league. In five of the losses, the Cardinals gave up more than 44 points per game on average.
So they were a mediocre team. And they overachieved in dramatic fashion. Now, they’re back in the valley of 0-0 (actually, 0-1), and they have a huge target on their chests.
No matter how Warner spins it, expectations won’t made a so-so team better. Instead, it’ll merely make the players more likely to quit once the wheels start wobbling.
Of course, the wheels already are shaking a little, after losing at home to the 49ers. It’ll only get worse if the Cardinals lose to the Jags at a half-empty stadium on Sunday.