Patrick Peterson feels the NFC West is more than just the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers.
In Peterson’s mind, the Arizona Cardinals have as good of a shot as anyone to win the NFC West this season.
The Cardinals finished 2013 as one of the league’s hottest teams, winning seven of their final nine games. Arizona finished with a 10-6 record but missed out on a playoff berth. Four of Arizona’s six losses came to NFC West rivals. They were 0-2 against the 49ers and split with the Seahawks and St. Louis Rams. In fact, the Cardinals are the only team to win a game on the road in Seattle over the last two seasons.
Peterson feels the Cardinals are right there with the Seahawks and 49ers and don’t need to close a massive gap to the division’s best teams.
“We gave San Fran two games last year. Gave them two games last year,” Peterson said, via Tom Pelissero of USA Today. “Came out slow and played Seattle slow in the first game, and we still ended up climbing back in the game to the fourth quarter and we kind of tucked our tail again. We went up to Seattle (and won). And lord knows we gave the Rams the first game we played them.”
“We got what it takes. We’ve got the talent. We’ve got the personnel. We’ve got the great coaching staff, front office. We have everything in the pot that we need to help us win ballgames.”
Arizona’s only two losses over the final two months of the season each came by just a field goal to a pair of playoff teams. The Cardinals lost 24-21 on the road to the Philadelphia Eagles and lost 23-20 to the 49ers at home in Week 17.
However, the Cardinals lost two key pieces on their defense that could be difficult to replace in Daryl Washington and Karlos Dansby.
Arizona is a very talented team and could very well challenge for a playoff spot this season but supplanting the 49ers and Seahawks for the division crown may prove to be too tall a mountain for the Cardinals to climb.