As long as Carson The Unwieldly remains under center for the Cardinals, they will remains competetive, exciting, and the eternal bridesmaid. The team has a lot of good parts, but a good defense will feast on the interceptions he lobs their way.

I agree they haven't really been tested yet. I think they also have one of the easiest schedules in the league this year though. If they are for real, then 15-1 or 16-0 are distinct possibilities barring injuries.

I watched them a bit last year on their initial undefeated run, and they were good but not superb even when playing weak opponents. This year they seem to be scorching hot, and incredibly well balanced on offense and defense.

In the NFC, only the Packers are in the conversation, and while I might give ARI 9/10 grades on both offensive and defensive ability, the Packers I might give 9.5/10 (10/10 with Jordy) on offense, their defense is not superb. It's merely good.

In the AFC, it's the Patriots all by themselves. The Steelers looked great on offense and mediocre on defense, and now they are out QB1 for a while. The Broncos have arguably the most punishing defense in the league, but their offense is in no way close to teams like the Packers, Patriots, Cardinals, or (healthy) Steelers.

The Packers schedule is also pretty weak. Seattle is a 2nd tier team this year, and I don't see any games GB should even worry about other than Denver and Arizona, both away from Lambeau. Home field will be immensely critical for the playoffs with that kind of advantage. If GB has to go to Arizona, I think their chances are dramatically less than if the reverse was required.

The crappy thing about this is with the cakewalk schedules of both Arizona and GB, we won't know probably until December who's got the goods to make it down the stretch.

No, they've looked great on offense for all of one game, against a Niners team that gave up 49 to the Cardinals. When Rapistberger went out they had a whopping nine points against a Rams team that just finished making CousinsMarriage look like a possible NFL starter.

Plus, it's 3 weeks in, trying to call a season this early is an exercise in futility.  How were the Pats looking this time last year?  Not very good.  Many things can happen between now and the post-season.

Top 3 in NFL in my mind regardless of how they started in the first three games are 1. Patriots, 2. Packers, and 3. Seahawks. Believe it or not Kam Chancellor is kind of a big deal in that defense. Not only that, they seem to generally be a slow starting team. Cardinals are fun to watch right now, but it's not sustainable, and they will most likely be a one and done playoff team

Well, we'll have to wait and see.

I think the Seahawks are a worse team this year. Their O line is fundamentally weak, the Unger/Graham trade was bad.

The Cardinals were a sleeper last year that kept knocking down wins in spite of horrific injuries, and I think they're dramatically better this year. Looking at their ludicrously weak schedule, I don't see anyone stopping them from taking the division easily (barring stupid injuries). I think Carson Palmer is a bit underrated due to playing on trash teams most of his career. Now he has Bruce Arians and a very well rounded team, along with a resurgent Larry Fitzgerald.

Rodgers looks ready to take GB anywhere they need to go, with only a slightly more difficult schedule than Arizona.

AFC is 100% Patriots, no other team over there stands a prayer. Before the season started I wasn't 100% sure, but I have seen nothing from any other team that remotely shows promise overall. The Patriots defense isn't fantastic, but it doesn't matter because their offense and coaching is just plain superior. Can you imagine the Patriots offense with the Broncos defense? We'd be looking at scores like 74-3.

Defense wins championships in most sports Arkaign. Pretty much proven time and time again.

That may be true on the average, but last year's SB put the top-tier defensive team Seahawks against a middle-of-the-road defense in the Patriots. But while the Seahawks offense was merely adequate, the Patriots offense was excellent. It still came down to the wire of course, a ridiculously improbable long-ball catch near the goal line for Seattle, then an improbable horrendous throw/call for the INT.

Not recently in the NFL though. When you keep cooking up rules to hamstring the defense, it inevitably shifts the emphasis to the other side of the ball. Recent champions have had decent defenses, but save for the Seahawks I wouldn't say that was their strength.

I was actually thinking that the AFC east would be difficult this year with the upgrades that the Bills and Dolphins made, but man having no good QB makes a huge difference