RENTON — Ryan Lindley hasn’t heard his many doubters this week for one simple reason.
“My wife on Monday put a social media ban on the house this week,” said Lindley, who on Sunday will become the third quarterback to start for the Arizona Cardinals this season.
Smart woman, that Lindsay Lindley. Despite the fact that the Cardinals own the NFC’s best record at 11-3, few people, Vegas odds makers included, are giving them much of a chance against the Seattle Seahawks and the league’s best defense. But that’s just fine with Lindley and the rest of the Cardinals, who are used to being doubted despite all of their success this year.
“That’s been the sentiment for about a month or six weeks,” Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said on a conference call with Seattle-area media. “I haven’t heard anybody pick us for a long time, so there’s no difference.”
People have been picking against the Cardinals for so long because, quite frankly, they have no business being this good minus so many important players. Arizona has played most or all of this season without defensive tackle Darnell Dockett and outside linebacker John Abraham, who are on injured reserve. Linebacker Daryl Washington hasn’t played this year due to suspension, starting running back Andre Ellington recently went on injured reserve, and Arizona suffered perhaps the biggest blow when quarterback Carson Palmer tore his ACL last month.
And after the Cardinals lost back-to-back road games to Seattle and Atlanta following Palmer’s injury, it seemed they might have finally suffered one injury too many, and that one of the NFL’s best feel-good stories might be headed for an ugly end.
But then Arizona rallied to beat Kansas City, then held on for an ugly win in St. Louis after Palmer’s backup, Drew Stanton went down with a knee injury, setting up what will serve as a de facto NFC West championship game this weekend, while also prompting a pretty funny dig at the Rams from Arians, who told reporters in St. Louis, “I love it when nobody says you have a chance to win. There’s an 11-3 team and a team that is always 8-8. You figure it out.”
While Seahawks fans will obviously be rooting against Arians and the Cardinals Sunday, it would be hard for any neutral fan not to pull for the Cardinals and Arians, not just for the coach’s brashness and sense of humor, but for what he has done with his career and with the Cardinals this season.
A life-long assistant in the pro and college ranks, Arians was 59 before he served as a head coach for the first time, and that only happened when Indianapolis coach Chuck Pagano was diagnosed with leukemia early in the 2012 season, making Arians, the Colts’ offensive coordinator, the interim head coach. Arians went 9-3 in that interim role, earned AP coach of the year honors, and as a result, at the age of 60, earned his first head coaching gig with the Cardinals.
So yeah, a man who has worked this long for this chance isn’t going to feel sorry for himself if his team is suffering more than its fair share of injuries, nor is he going to worry about defying convention, either as an aggressive play-caller or in a press conference.
“He’s a real obvious candidate for coach of the year,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. “I think he’s done all the things you hope to see a guy do. He’s shown consistency, style, and the ability to endure hardships and issues and stuff; he’s done a great job. What I like about Bruce is that he’s got a great style — it’s not just the hat, he’s more than that — he’s got great style about his football and I really admire that.”
So now in what has been a pretty amazing season for the Cardinals, it’s somewhat fitting that their hopes at a division title and home-field advantage — Arizona has already clinched a playoff berth — comes down to a third-string quarterback who was cut earlier this season and spent time on San Diego’s practice squad before making what will be his fifth career start, and first since 2012.
“It’s been a roller coaster, but that’s the NFL,” Lindley said on a conference call. “Everybody’s got a story like that, and I’m really blessed to be in the position I’m at right now and have the opportunity that I do, and I’m just looking to take full advantage of it.”
Conventional wisdom says Lindley, who has zero career touchdown passes, and the Cardinals don’t stand a chance against a defense that is allowing 6.75 points over its last four games, but then again, conventional wisdom says injuries should have derailed Arizona’s season a long time ago, and conventional wisdom also says guys who are overlooked for head coaching gigs until their 60 aren’t going to be great coaches. Plenty of people are doubting the Cardinals and Lindley, but the NFL’s feel good story of 2014 and the third-string quarterback aren’t listening.
“We preach in this building that it’s all about how we feel and what we think about each other inside of this facility,” Lindley said “As long as through this week practice I keep gaining the respect of my teammates, then I’ll feel comfortable going out there on Sunday.”
And the Seahawks, despite beating the Cardinals 19-3 four weeks ago, aren’t about to overlook their next opponent, not after Arizona has spent an entire season exceeding expectations.
“It’s impressive when you have a coach of that caliber who can coach anybody and make them as good as he is doing right now,” defensive end Michael Bennett said. “The Cardinals are a really good team and Bruce Arians is a great coach. The way that he gets them going, and even though he doesn’t have a quarterback that people say is really good or a top-tier quarterback, he’s still winning more games than Jay Cutler. It’s crazy.”
Herald Columnist John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com
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