ARIZONA CARDINALS

ESPN’s Clayton: Lack of respect for Arizona Cardinals is ‘weird’

Dec 19, 2014, 4:41 PM | Updated: 4:53 pm

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The Arizona Cardinals are 11-3.

Their defense is one of top units in the league.

They haven’t lost a game at University of Phoenix Stadium this season.

Yet, the Cardinals are big underdogs for this Sunday’s home game against the Seattle Seahawks, which could clinch homefield advantage throughout the playoffs for Arizona.

“Here’s the weird part about it, is the lack of respect given to the Cardinals,” ESPN NFL insider John Clayton told Doug and Wolf Friday on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. “Oddsmakers are saying they’re 9-point underdogs? At home? With a 7-0 record?

“How can you be a team with a defense that good and a record like this and a coaching staff like this and be a 9-point underdog?”

OddsShark reported Wednesday that the Cardinals are the biggest 11-3 underdog heading into a home game since 1983.

And really, head coach Bruce Arians and the Cardinals wouldn’t have it any other way. They’ve overcome a multitude of injuries to put themselves in this position and are confident, even though it appears Ryan Lindley will start at quarterback for Sunday night’s game. Lindley started the season fourth on the depth chart and was released during training camp.

Arizona signed him off of San Diego’s practice squad when Carson Palmer went down for the season with a knee injury suffered in Week 10.

Arians has been preaching “next man up” all season, and his team has bought in. The head coach has been key, according to Clayton, who said the rest of the league missed the boat on hiring Arians after the 2012 season when eight head coaching jobs were available.

“Seven other organizations were dumb, I guess,” Clayton laughed. “I think what happens is you look and you think you can outsmart everybody and you don’t look at the accomplishments. I’m sure they looked at Bruce’s age and said ‘let’s not do that.’ Where you look at the (Cardinals) organization and you’ve seen the moves they’ve made both in personnel and in coaching and how smart they’ve been.”

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ESPN’s Clayton: Lack of respect for Arizona Cardinals is ‘weird’