Cardinals vs. 49ers (Week 5) | Game Highlights | NFL
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Arizona CardinalsOverall: 5Title track: 43Ownership: 10Coaching: T4Players: 10Fan relations: 8Affordability: 29Stadium experience: 15Bang for the buck: 14Change from last year: +27
With victories comes not just the spoils, but also a fast rise up ESPN"s Ultimate Standings. Cardinals fans" title hopes increased after a 13-3 season last year which ended with them in the NFC Championship Game, and a 27-point jump in these standings soon followed. But their 34 wins in three years had more to do with coach Bruce Arians than anything else.
As we have for the past 13 years, we asked fans to vote on their favorite teams, then ranked all 122 sports franchises from top to bottom.
Full rankings: 1 to 122 | MLB ranks | NBA ranks | NFL ranks | NHL ranks
What"s goodThere are few offensive minds in the history of the NFL that are or were as good as that of Cardinals coach Bruce Arians -- so no surprise that he was named the fourth-best coach in all of sports, tied with Pete Carroll and behind only Bill Belichick among NFL coaches. He has become known as a quarterback whisperer for his work with Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger and Andrew Luck. But where he has worked his true magic is with Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer, who had the best season of his career in 2015 at age 35 (which helped Arizona"s "players" ranking jump to 10th). Arians took over a franchise that was mired in mediocrity and turned it into one of the league"s best while leading the Cardinals to the NFC title game in his third season.
What"s badThough this generation of Cardinals fans has the highest of hopes, this franchise still hasn"t won a title, reflected by a Title Track ranking of 43, Arizona"s lowest score. The closest Arizona has come to a championship was a berth in Super Bowl XLIII, where it lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers (on a last-minute play called by none other than Arians). Arizona came within a game of reaching the Super Bowl a year ago, and it has the roster to get that far again, despite a 1-3 start to 2016. As long as Arians is at the helm, the Cardinals" title drought has a good chance of coming to an end.
What"s newOver the last two years, the Cardinals" ranking in fan relations ranking has improved from 85th place to eighth. They"re clearly doing something right. The Cardinals" digital outreach has increased dramatically over the last few years, and fans rated the team second-best in the NFL in engaging with the fan base on social media. Holding training camp at University of Phoenix Stadium has also been a major factor. It allows the average fan to attend training camp in Glendale instead of driving to Flagstaff, and adds post-practice autograph sessions to boot.
Next: Seattle Seahawks | Full rankings
Source: http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/17835298/arizona-cardinals-rise-27-spots-ultimate-standings-now-fifth-overall
