Dec 11th 2008 10:30AM by JJ Cooper (author feed)
Filed under: AZ Cardinals, NFC West

The last time the Cardinals won a division title, Jim Hart was throwing to Terry Metcalf and Mel Gray. In between there has been a franchise move, 30+ years of ineptness, one Jake Plummer-led playoff win and years of disappointments.

But here they are, having wrapped up a playoff spot with three weeks still to go in the season. It hasn’t hurt that the Cardinals play in the NFC West, but Arizona has made some pretty clear steps forward, as they showed by beating Dallas and Miami earlier this season.

What impresses me is how the Cardinals went out and fixed the team’s most glaring problem. Back in the Denny Green days, Arizona had a solid quarterback (Kurt Warner), a big money free agent tailback (Edgerrin James), two outstanding receivers (Anquan Boldon and Larry Fitzgerald), but they were hamstrung by an awful offensive line.
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