When we laid out this season's craziest playoff scenarios Friday, nothing topped the potentially cruel fate of the Cardinals.
Arizona could beat the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday and knock off the San Francisco 49ersnext week to finish 11-5 -- and still miss the postseason.
Knocking off these two NFC West heavyweights remains a tall order, but coach Bruce Arians doesn't want to hear about what happened last season, when the Seahawks bombed the Cardinals58-0.
"That was another team," Arians told reporters this week, per The Arizona Republic. "It's not our offense or our defense. I mean, who gives a (expletive)."
On last week's "Around The League Podcast," we talked about Arians as a potential back-to-back Coach of the Year candidate. After guiding the Indianapolis Colts to the playoffs last season in relief of Chuck Pagano, Arians has transformed Arizona into one of the NFC's toughest outs down the stretch.
Quarterback Carson Palmer is wholly imperfect, but he's a tangible upgrade over the clown car of quarterback mediocrity that sunk this team one year ago. On defense, the Cardinals have been nasty, and we wouldn't be surprised to see them give Russell Wilson all he can handle Sunday.
"This is a big one," Arians said. " ... It is a barometer. The last time we were there, obviously, everybody knows what happened. But that wasn't 'we' -- that was another team."
We'll find out Sunday just how far these Cardinals have come.
We previewed every Week 16 game in the latest "Around The League Podcast."