NFL Arizona Cardinals

Arizona Cardinals, St. Louis Rams Game Epitomizes Parity In NFL

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By @AnthonyIrwinNBA

Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Want a fun exercise? Go back and think about things you’ve said about the NFL this season even a couple weeks ago and put them in perspective now. Go back and find articles from previous weeks and read through them now. Predictions, statements and sports hot takes all seem pretty ridiculous and we have the league’s regulated parity to thank.

Remember when the Cincinnati Bengals looked like Super Bowl contenders? Remember when the Dallas Cowboys were hoping to bottom out for a top-five draft pick? Rumors of the New England Patriots‘ demise were certainly exaggerated, weren’t they? The NFL laughs at our silly angles and would openly welcome a 32-way tie of eight-win teams and pass off the mediocrity as its system’s success.

Sunday, the St. Louis Rams led most of the game against the Arizona Cardinals – who have the league’s best record. The game was a testament to how tough their conference is and what happens when you reward teams with college football’s best talent simply for losing. If that isn’t enough, when teams do draft successfully, the league forces them to lose players because they overachieve and can’t afford to keep them to stay under the salary cap.

Parity is mediocrity; any other explanation simply isn’t true.

I get it — kind of. But wouldn’t it be fun if the Seattle Seahawks’ Legion of Boom didn’t have to be broken up? Ben Roethlisberger has looked great (Sunday withstanding, obviously), but imagine if he still had Emmanuel Sanders and Mike Wallace – both of whom left for larger contracts elsewhere?

Back to Arizona — their receiving core is among the best in the NFL, and will probably be broken up when John Brown and Michael Floyd garner the contracts they’ve earned. St. Louis’ front seven is incredible in its ability to keep offensive coordinators and line coaches up late at night. That won’t last long, as the cap forces changes to be made.

Sunday, Carson Palmer went down with what appeared to be a potential season-ending knee injury. Yes, Drew Stanton threw a touchdown not even a few plays later, but that contract Palmer signed probably spells doom for one of the NFL’s most promising young teams. Yes, knowing anything can happen any given Sunday is fun; but so would be watching super teams compete in the Super Bowl. Otherwise, that championship game could use a renaming.

Anthony F. Irwin is an NBA, NFL, MLB and NCAA Football contributor for www.Rantsports.com. Follow him on Twitter, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google. Send him an email at .

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