Bell: Cardinals prove they still have winning formula
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Maybe you thought Bruce Arians was wearing his Kangol hat a bit sideways when he declared last week that even with Carson Palmer's season finished by a torn ACL, the Arizona Cardinals can still win the Super Bowl with Drew Stanton.
Shoot, after helping the Cardinals keep the NFL's best record (9-1) with a 14-6 victory against the Detroit Lions on Sunday, even Stanton himself wasn't ready to publicly walk out on that limb.
"The Super Bowl is three months away, so who knows?" Stanton said. "What's gotten me here is worrying about things I can control.
"I'm going day by day. Week by week."
Well, Stanton's day was good enough to beat his hometown team in his first start since Palmer went down. It capped a pretty eventful week, during which his wife, Kristin, gave birth to the couple's child, daughter Emeric East, on Monday night.
It also provided yet another statement about resilience for the Cardinals, who have personified the universal NFL mantra, "Next man up," by winning despite one setback after another. Entering Sunday, the Cardinals counted 51 games lost by 13 players this season, due to injuries.
"Whoever steps in, steps up," Arians said.
The coach, in his signature Kangol, shrugged when someone asked him to put Stanton's outing in context with doubts that some people had about the team's chances without Palmer.
"He played damn good in September, too," Arians said of Stanton, alluding to three starts that Palmer missed early in the season due to nerve damage in his throwing shoulder. "This is not the first time he jumped out there. This is his fourth game. He's 3-1 as a starter and didn't finish the other."
Stanton threw two first-quarter touchdown passes to Michael Floyd to secure an early lead, but as the game progressed it became increasingly apparent why Arians has so much faith in his team's chances of staying the course.
It was that defense.
The Lions came in with the NFL's No. 1-ranked defense for fewest yards and fewest points allowed through Week 10, but the numbers can sometimes lie.
Arizona's D was No. 1 on Sunday, with the way it took control of the game.
The Cardinals sacked Matthew Stafford four times and blasted him at least a half-dozen other times as they brought relentless heat. With Patrick Peterson handling Calvin Johnson, aka Megatron, on the back end, the Lions couldn't even manage a touchdown with that explosive offense.
By the end, Stafford, who passed for a season-low 183 yards, looked skittish in the pocket and off with his aim.
And just think: the Cardinals came in with the NFL's 30th-ranked pass defense.
More truthful numbers: Arizona, which blitzes more than any team in the NFL under D-coordinator Todd Bowles, had just eight sacks in its first eight games. In the past two games, though, it collected 10 sacks, which is part of the price that Stafford had to pay.
Said Bowles, "They come in bunches."
Which can go a long way to supporting an offense needed to reboot with a new quarterback.
See, quarterbacks gets so much glory, but they never do it alone. It takes a supporting cast.
This time, at least, it didn't seem to matter that Stanton's efficiency tailed off as the game wore on – he peaked with a perfect 158.3 passer rating in the first quarter – and the interceptions came.
That defense showed how resiliency can work, too, with a fill-in quarterback.
"He played well enough to win," Peterson, who held Johnson to five catches for 59 yards, said of Stanton. "I'd think he'd want two throws that he left out there – the two interceptions – but he played well enough.
"Whoever our quarterback is," Peterson added, "we have their back."
Stanton will face stiffer tests in the weeks ahead, and the defense will get more opportunities to provide him significant support. The Cardinals have a commanding three-game lead in the NFC West, but they still have to play the defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks twice – including Sunday at Seattle – and close the regular season with a trip to San Francisco.
The coach also knows the reality of the NFL, with its week-to-week shift changes.
Sunday's game at Seattle might even knock the champs out of a realistic chance of making the playoffs.
"We could lose it all in the next four or five weeks," Arians said. "We could win it all in the next four or five weeks, but we can only win one, and that's this week."
And in 77 days from Sunday, maybe they might win another big game, too.
Follow Jarrett Bell on Twitter @JarrettBell.