How Cardinals Can Keep Postseason Hopes Alive

The Arizona Cardinals have the keys to victory all laid out ahead of their road trip to Carolina.

Dec 15, 2024; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon against the New England Patriots at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Three games remain for the Arizona Cardinals, and tomorrow’s game against the Carolina Panthers will provide the easiest of the three. Carolina is just 3-11 and has been a pitiful team for most of the season.

To their credit, they’ve played teams tough as of late, making them a team that the Cardinals must take seriously.

Remember, the Cardinals were once 6-4 and in control of their own destiny… now they’re at .500 thanks to snapping a three-game skid a week ago against another awful team. But we’ll discuss this more momentarily.

There are several ways to beat bad teams, but there’s just as many if not more ways to lose games to bad teams. Simply put, Arizona has to be ready to lose or they won’t play their best.

Do you want to beat the Panthers? Here’s a three-step plan to take down a bad team and keep your postseason dreams alive:

Remember the stakes…

I couldn’t care less that the Panthers are 3-11 and are preparing for another top-five draft pick because every game counts right now and the Cardinals need to view the Panthers as a Super Bowl contender. If they don’t, then the Panthers can absolutely upset the Cardinals.

It’s all about confidence and playing hot down the stretch. The Cardinals snapped a three-game losing streak last week against the Patriots, so now’s the time to start a winning streak. Even against two teams that are among the worst in the league, the Cards have to string together wins and remind themselves how important each game is.

One thing should be on the mind of the Arizona Cardinals right now: 7-7.

7-7 is not good enough for the playoffs. 10-7 may not be good enough either, but your chances are still in play.

From now until the end of the season, every game is a playoff game. It’s win or go home. Even if these Panthers had lost 100-straight games, the Cardinals would still need to go into this match with the mentality that they can lose and that everything they worked so hard for would end.

James Conner = The entire offense

The Panthers are literally the worst team against the run this season by ~30 yards, allowing an insane 173 rushing yards per game… I’d say the key to winning is pretty simple here.

Conner is on the cusp of just his second-ever 1,000-yard rushing season, needing just 27 yards to grab the mark. His only other 1k rushing season was a year ago when he posted 1,040 yards on the ground. There’s almost no excuse for him to set a new career-best in this game.

The Cardinals can keep the game plan simple and spoon-feed the ball to Conner, who has seen 20+ carries just twice this season. If they wanted to give him 30 carries, I wouldn’t blink an eye.

However, use Conner to your advantage and air it out. I see a world where Kyler Murray has under 150 passing yards but tosses three touchdowns, but it’s based on how well Conner performs. Consider this a “Step 2a” to the game plan, if you will.

No excuses to not have a career day for Conner.

Forget the pass rush… grab some turnovers

The 7-7 Cardinals have 36 sacks but only 14 turnovers (seven interceptions, seven fumble recoveries). The sacks aren’t winning enough games, however.

The Panthers have been turnover prone all year long. Carolina’s quarterbacks have thrown 15 interceptions combined, which matches their 15 touchdown passes. It’s a unit that can be capitalized on even with Bryce Young playing better, but not great, football.

If the Cardinals want to go to the playoffs, then they need to start creating turnovers. This game against the Panthers is a great way to get things started and build confidence to create more in their final two games.

Best case scenario here is three turnovers. But the bottom line is they can't leave this game without any.