The Arizona Cardinals sit in arguably the toughest division in the NFL: the NFC West.
(I write "arguably" to be politically correct. If you argued against that division being the best, you'd be wrong. Sorry.)
Finishing 2013 at 10-6, the Cardinals were barely squeezed out of the playoffs. Within their division resides the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, NFC runner-up San Francisco 49ers and a sneaky-good St. Louis Rams team.
Wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, however, isn't fretting about facing the Seahawks and 49ers each twice next year.
"That's no problem. We match up very well with those teams, and we love playing against them," Fitzgerald told USA Today's Tom Pelissero.
Fitzgerald said the 2014 Cardinals aren't going to hang their hats on last season's win in Seattle.
"That was last year," he said. "That has no significance on this year and what we're trying to accomplish. We just take it as another game. We expected to go up there and win and we were able to get it done, and that's pretty much all we ever talked about."
The improved play down the stretch was inspiring, and the Cardinals definitely were viewed as a team few wanted to face had they squeaked into the playoffs. However, for any chance to overtake the division, Arizona still must improve the offensive line, running game and pray to the old gods and the new that Carson Palmer magically becomes Kurt Warner.
The latest edition of the "Around The League Podcast" works through our top 101 free agents and responds to some heat from Donte Whitner.
